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"Mrs. Van Halsema’s book … , though it reads as smoothly as a well written novel, it is crammed with important facts. It is scholarly and popular at the same time. …
"The author has entered sympathetically into the life and times of Calvin, the Genevan Reformer. She has allowed his life to stand as its own defense and testimony.”
--J. H. Kromminga, President, Calvin Seminary.
This Was John Calvin, Thea B. Van Halsema, Zondervan, 1959.
The
library has obtained a copy of this useful out-of-print book, an
accessible biography of John Calvin. Written to appeal to youth, it is
an easy to read, informative account for adults as well. The author’s
goal was “to make John Calvin come alive.”
John’s father, lawyer for the church, in 1523 sent 14 year old John off to Paris to study theology in preparation for the priesthood. John got his degree in four years, but by that time, due to various problems with the church, John’s father had decided that his son should become a lawyer. John was sent to study at Orleans, where, as it happened, he met a German of Lutheran leanings named Wolmar. In addition to the law, John begin to study New Testament Greek. By the time John was 22 his father had became seriously ill, and John returned home for two years. After his father died, 24 year old John decided he would become a scholar in ancient languages, and so he returned to Paris to further study Greek, Latin, and Hebrew
But in a short time John had become a hunted man, and had to leave the country for refuge in Strasbourg, then in Germany. Why? The ideas of the reformation and his studies of the Bible had born fruit. “God, by a sudden conversion, subdued … my heart.”
Part 1, “God So Led Me,” is about the period from Calvin’s birth in 1509 till he first took refuge in Geneva at age 27. Read about old Professor Lefevre who had rediscovered the truths of the Bible, and, when John was three, had published a new Latin edition and commentary on the epistles of Paul. Later Lefevre, nearly one-hundred years old by then, and Calvin, at age 25, met for the first time. No one knows what happened there, but it seems that somehow the mantle was passed from the first leader of the French reformation to the man who would become its champion.
Part 2, “Man of Two Cities,” is about Calvin’s first, difficult, time in Geneva, and the aftermath. Much of the later criticism of Calvin is directed toward events of this period. This was a time of struggle between his enemies and his followers. As events progressed, it seemed that his enemies had won, and Calvin had lost. He was forced to leave his pastorate and home in Geneva, and for the second time he went to Strasbourg for refuge. This part of the book includes Calvin’s efforts to reform the Genevan church and society, his further writing, his poverty, and his many struggles.
Part 3, “After Darkness Light.” Calvin was vindicated. He was able to return to Geneva, this time fully accepted and effective. What happened? Read the book and find out.
Excerpts from this book appeared in Cornerstone’s Rock and Pit during August and September, 2006.
--Dean Brown
Before the astonished clergy of his home town, twenty-five year old Calvin renounced his place and future in the church. Two years later, unsafe anywhere in France, he was knocking on the gates of Strasbourg over the German border.
In the meantime he had conceived of and written the first edition of his famous Institutes. Intended at first to teach the people about the teachings of the Bible, in the changing political environment it became a statement of the Protestant’s belief, belief sealed with the burning flesh of the martyrs of France.
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