On the 27th May we commemorate the death of an influential figure during the Protestant Reformation. John Calvin, a celebrated French theologian and pastor, died on this day in 1564 after a lifetime of writing and preaching which provided the seeds for a new expression of Christian theology in his time.
He gave his name to what is now known as Calvinism, which John Calvin preached in the newly founded Reformed churches throughout the 16th century. His views generated much controversy in a period of history when religious tensions were provoking violent uprisings against Protestants in France. Such tensions increased to the point that he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530 and fled to Basel, Switzerland.
He was born on 10th July, 1509 and worked across Europe, mainly in Geneva and Strasbourg. His most famous writing was Institutes of the Christian Religion (Institutio Christianae religionis) which was originally published in 1536 in Latin but also translated into French in 1541. This is still widely read by theological students today. In addition to the Institutes, he wrote commentaries on most books of the Bible as well as theological treatises, much of which was based on the sermons he had preached in Geneva.
“Perhaps even more so than Martin Luther, Calvin created the patterns and thought that would dominate Western culture throughout the modern period” Richard Hooker (d. 1600)
However, Calvin’s life and work was part of a bigger story. Over two hundred years earlier in the 14th Century another John, John Wycliffe, had been influencing Christian understanding concerning the accessibility and authority of Scripture through his work in translating scripture into the common language. In this early period it was Wycliffe who recognised and formulated one of the great principles of the Reformation—the unique authority of the Bible for the belief and life of the Christian. His work in translating the scriptures had also sown the early seeds of reformation. Like Calvin much later, John Wycliffe and his followers were also criticised and persecuted severely as a consequence of their work.
It is astonishing to realise that over 400 years after Calvin’s death, and over 600 years after John Wycliffe, there remain over 350 million people in over 2,000 languages who still do not have God’s word in their own language in any form, either written or audio. Today, Wycliffe Bible Translators, along with many other organisations and individuals worldwide continue the story by working towards this aim: that a Bible translation programme is begun in all the remaining languages that need one, so that people of every language can have God’s message of love in the language they understand best.
Could you be part of this story? Find out more about how to get involved.
Five hundred indigenous and Brazilian missionaries are needed to strengthen and continue work already started. In addition, 147 ethnic groups are unreached. Of these, 27 are very remote and 25 are little known. In the last few years, many communities have asked for God’s word, but no-one has been available to help.
There are people in remote places supporting a small office and coping with dust, intermittent power and lightning strikes. There are people in large offices developing systems to keep track of our 10,000 staff, or to store the massive amount of data we have on many languages.
