Calvin the Humanist

Ryan M. Reeves (PhD Cambridge) is Assistant Professor of Historical Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Twitter: / ryanmreeves Instagram: / ryreeves4
Website: www.gordonconwell.edu/academic...

[@king4him]

Where are your videos that talk about Zwingli. You keep bringing him up in your vids but going through your Reformation playlist, there are no vids discussing who he was. THANKS for the vids by the way! Keep up the good work.

[@marshalldarcy7423]

You should note Calvin's friendship in France with Michael Servetus and his latter ordering the burning to death of Servetus in Geneva (1553). This is clearly a defining element of Calvin even given that he expressed some regret of this.
Did Calvin convert from Humanism to the Protestant movement for certainly when he burned Servetus he was no longer able to consider himself a humanist?

[@RyanReevesM]

Hey Marshall. I actually have a full lecture on Calvin and Servetus nearly done (should be uploaded today) that highlights their acquaintence in Paris. They were not more than acquaintences, though, and knew each other via their different circles. They nearly met to talk but Servetus stood him up in 1532.
As for humanism, the connection between humanism and the burning of Servetus is not the root issue. Calvin would say that he was still a humanist, but the issue within the circles of humanists is they split pretty evenly between those who went Protestant and those who remained Catholic. The main focus here is that Calvin is not a scholastic like Luther but a textual studies person, a lawyer, and steeped in these humanistic disciplines. Humanism, in other words, is more of an educational movement than something you convert FROM or TO.
The issue in the burning of Servetus, I will say though, when that lecture is posted, is that those who turn on Geneva for burning Servetus are those who mainly were former Catholic humanists. They revile the killing of someone for heresy, even though every city in Europe would have done the same. The humanists, by and large, attempted to change Europe's opinion on capital crime for heresy, and so their tracts often took Calvin and Geneva to task for what they believed was betraying humanist principles.

[@marshalldarcy7423]

Ryan Reeves Thank You for your response. I still can not believe that Servetus did not think of himself as a friend of Calvin for clearly he would not have gone to Geneva if he thought he was going to end up being burned to death. He would not have thought Calvin a friend if Calvin had not given him that impression. Servetus I understand did not believe in the trinity. He like Sir Isac Newton could not find it in the bible. Calvin and many Protestants wanted to cut away all that which was not in the bible and if that is so then the trinity had to go. Servetus is revered by Unitarians which in American where first part of the Puritans which are Calvinists.

[@RyanReevesM]

Marshall D'Arcy // Hey there. Yeah I think that's the best way to view it: Servetus was heavily pursuing something of a friendship with Calvin. He piled on letter after letter to him, even after Calvin told him he felt their debate had been exhausted. Servetus only pursued Calvin in this way, even showing up in Geneva when Calvin warned him not to.
But I'm finalizing the edits on the Calvin and Servetus video, so I'll be posting that soon enough. :)