Calvin's Conversion as his First Step Towards the Ministry

Abstract

Scholars proposing an early date for Calvin's ‘sudden conversion’ (between late 1527 and 1529) are influenced by Theodore Beza's account (1564). Those who propose a later dating (1533-1534) have looked for signs that show Calvin as a convinced Protestant. A crucial question is whether his conversion actually coincided with his break with the Church of Rome. In this study we follow especially the thread Calvin offers in the preface to his Psalms commentary (1557). This leads to a breakthrough date of about December 1532. It also points to his conversion and later entry into the ministry as a unity, the former as the beginning, the latter as the conclusion. During the Disputation of Lausanne (late 1536) Calvin distanced himself both from the Church of Rome and from the strategy of prudence which the évangeliques of Meaux advocated: Calvin's anti-Nicodemism was born.