John Calvin

July 10, 1509 – May 27, 1564 AD, a French Protestant theologian during the Protestant Reformation. He helped develop the system of Christian theology called Calvinism.

Calvin received an excellent education. He expected to become a priest, and at the age of twelve he was tonsured. When a person was tonsured his hair was cut, leaving the top of his head bald. This represented giving your life to Jesus, because in that day and age, long hair symbolized secular power.

In 1523, Calvin began attending the University of Paris. Here, he was exposed to Protestant thinking for the first time. Eventually the Protestant thinkers at the University won Calvin to their way of thinking, and he became an open Huguenot. However, in 1534 King Francis I began persecuting the Huguenots, and Calvin had to flee Paris. During a short stay in Basel, Switzerland, he completed his masterpiece Institutes of the Christian Religion, which outlined the Protestant faith and explained why Protestant doctrine was not heretical. In 1536, during an intended overnight stay in Geneva, Switzerland, Calvin met William Farel, another reformer. Farel, although a very strong preacher, lacked eloquence and the ability to argue well. He wanted Calvin to remain in Geneva and assist him in his preaching there. Calvin had no wish to remain in Geneva. He wanted, instead, to continue his journey to Strasbourg. However, when Farel lost his temper with Calvin's stubborness and shouted,"If you refuse to dedicate yourself here with us to this work of God, God will curse you, for you seek yourself rather than Christ!", Calvin felt that God had called him to Geneva. At that time, Geneva was said to be a very immoral city. The people did not take kindly to Calvin clamping down on their " liberty" (which was merely the liberty to do whatever thing-immoral or otherwise- they wanted). Calvin was threatened many times, banished once for three years, and insulted by having stray dogs named "Calvin" after him. However, his hard work for reform in Geneva paid off. In later years, the liberal attitude of Geneva allowed the city to become known as the "Protestant Rome". It became a safe haven for persecuted Reformed (also known as Prestyberian) scholars from Scotland and England during the Catholic rules of "Bloody" Mary I and Mary Stuart.

Calvin's ideas later became distorted into the Calvanist belief in predestination: the concept that since God knows everything, it is already a fixed and immutable fact whether a person would go to heaven or hell, and hence since the end result is already decided, it didn't matter what people do. This philosophy has influenced Puratinism, although it has been renounced by most Christian sects. Calvin also created some tension between himself and other Christians when, regarding the execution of Michael Servetus for the preaching of Nontrinitarianism and anti-paedobaptism, he suggested that Servetus should be executed by beheading, rather than by being burned at the stake. Even though this gesture was a generous display of Christ-like compassion, Calvin was quickly rebuked for his undue leniency.