Dr Paul Allen

John Calvin (1509-1564) is the most influential pastor in church history. He wrote commentaries on nearly the entire Bible , which are still in print today. His systematic theology, The Institutes of the Christian Religion , is arguably the most significant Christian book ever published. Calvin was the architect of Protestant theology , and his teachings gave rise to republican government, public education, and even capitalism. Calvin was first and foremost a preacher, generally giving six sermons a week. He moved the baptismal to the back of the church, and placed the pulpit in the middle, marking a change in the purpose of corporate worship— Christians would no longer gather for sacraments, but instead for the preaching of the Word. Born north of Paris , he was converted to Christ in his 20’s and then forced to flee France—Protestants were not welcome there. He eventually settled in Geneva , where he spent the rest of his life pastoring. Under Calvin’s preaching, Geneva was ...

John Calvin (1509–1564) is easily the most important Protestant theologian of all time and remains one of the truly great men who have lived.  A world-class theologian, a renowned teacher, an ecclesiastical statesman, and a valiant Reformer, Calvin is seen by many as the greatest influence on the church since the first century. Apart from the biblical authors themselves, Calvin stands as the most influential minister of the Word the world has ever seen.  Philip Melanchthon revered him as the ablest interpreter of Scripture in the church, and therefore labeled him simply "the theologian." And Charles Spurgeon said that Calvin "propounded truth more clearly than any other man that ever breathed, knew more of Scripture, and explained it more clearly." Calvin was born on July 10, 1509, to Gerard and Jeanne Cauvin in the French cathedral city of Noyon, some sixty miles north of Paris. Gerard was a notary, or financial administrator, for the Roman Catholic...