Calvin's Origins

[Dave]

I've known many Protestants who think of Calvin as a wonderful, God-fearing person, much like they think of Martin Luther. It makes me wonder if they really know the full story. Wait a minute, I'm sure they don't.

[popestpiusx]

I think the reason Calvin is often considered more, or even the most, influential prot. revolutionary is that he was willing to take Luther's first principles to their logical end. Luther was appalled by much of what happened after his initial break (not to defend a heresiarch here). He wanted to hold his first principles but still maintain things contradictory to them. It wass for this reason that his influence never realy left northern Europe. Calvin, on the other hand, was willing to take those principles and run like hell with them. He was very intelligent and was very politcal. He knew how to manipulate the public. He was much more even keeled than a Zwingli and his friends and this gave him some credibility in the public eye. So it seems that it is accurate, at least to some extent, to say that Calvin was the most influential. It is definately accurate to say that he was the most influential on American religion.

As far as the sodomy charge, I would not be surprised. Most founders of new (false) religions have some reason for it (most often, a sexual reason).

[God Conquers]

[quote]heresiarch[/quote]

sweet, I learned a new word... I like it.

[Sojourner]

[quote name='popestpiusx' date='Apr 23 2004, 11:38 AM'] As far as the sodomy charge, I would not be surprised. Most founders of new (false) religions have some reason for it (most often, a sexual reason). [/quote]
It's interesting, I recently heard someone else talking about that, who said that every major split in the church can be traced back at some point to a disagreement about teachings about marriage/sexuality. The most obvious, of course, would be the Anglican church, but apparently other splits can be be traced to this as well. It's something I'd like to study at some point ...

[God Conquers]

It's because sexual perversion is the perversion of the most beautiful, God-given expressions of love, so the damage it causes is huge. It provokes incredible pride and incredible shame, and so is a key to the most heated of bitter disagreements.

[Dave]

That's also why several professional anti-Catholics such as Bart Brewer broke with the Church. In Brewer's case, it was his dislike for priestly celibacy.