Who founded the Calvinist tradition, emphasizing predestination and a righteous life as evidence of faith?

Who founded the Calvinist tradition, emphasizing predestination and a righteous life as evidence of faith?

• A. King Henry VIII
• B. William Shakespeare
• C. John Calvin
• D. Erasmus

Answer: (C)

Calvinism centers on the sovereignty of God and the doctrine of predestination, teaching that God has already chosen who will be saved. John Calvin, a French reformer in the 16th century, articulated this systematic view in his Institutes of the Christian Religion and in his ministry in Geneva. Because salvation is God’s work alone, the life of a believer should reflect that grace through a disciplined, moral, and devout conduct—evidence that someone is among the elect. Calvin’s ideas spread across Europe and gave rise to Reformed churches, influencing later groups such as Presbyterians. King Henry VIII started the Church of England for political and personal reasons, not to establish a predestinarian, disciplined theology; Erasmus was a humanist reformer who aimed to reform the church but did not found Calvinism.

Calvinism centers on the sovereignty of God and the doctrine of predestination, teaching that God has already chosen who will be saved. John Calvin, a French reformer in the 16th century, articulated this systematic view in his Institutes of the Christian Religion and in his ministry in Geneva. Because salvation is God’s work alone, the life of a believer should reflect that grace through a disciplined, moral, and devout conduct—evidence that someone is among the elect. Calvin’s ideas spread across Europe and gave rise to Reformed churches, influencing later groups such as Presbyterians. King Henry VIII started the Church of England for political and personal reasons, not to establish a predestinarian, disciplined theology; Erasmus was a humanist reformer who aimed to reform the church but did not found Calvinism.