The Reformation in Switzerland and France 109rality dictated by the Bible, would put an end to some of life’s haunting
uncertainties.
With this in mind, Calvin developed in his Institutes of the Christian
Religion (1536-1559) the doctrine of election or predestination: “God’s
eternal decree.... For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eter
nal life is foreordained for some, eternal damnation for others.’’ The belief
in predestination called into question the efficacy of good works. If one’s
fate were predestined and if good works in themselves (as the Catholic
Church claimed) did not bring eternal salvation, why lead a righteous life?
Calvin believed that good works were signs of having been chosen by God
for eternal salvation, though they did not in themselves guarantee Heaven.
Whereas medieval theologians had condemned lending money for profit,
Calvin, unlike Luther, distinguished between usury and productive loans
that would raise capital and increase the well-being of the entire community.
Replacing penance as a means of imposing individual discipline, Calvin
preached collective, communal discipline in the pursuit of holiness. Validat
ing economic activity, later Calvinists came to view prosperity, along with
“sober living,” as a sign of election by God. In the late nineteenth century,
this came to be known as the “Protestant ethic.”
Late in 1536, Calvin went to the Swiss lakeside city of Geneva, a town of
about 13,000 people. With the first successes of the Reformation, word of
which had originally been carried there by German merchants, Geneva
broke away from the domination of the Catholic House of Savoy. Earlier that
year, troops of the Swiss canton of Bern, which had embraced Zwinglian
reform, occupied the city. Bern established a protectorate, with Geneva
retaining its nominal independence. Citizens elected magistrates and mem
bers of two representative councils.
In 1537, Calvin persuaded the smaller and most powerful of the two
councils to adopt a Confession of Faith, swearing that the people of Geneva
“live according to the holy evangelical law and the Word of God.” Residency
in Geneva would be contingent on formal adherence to the document. The
Mass was banned, and priests were informed that they had to convert to
reformed religion or leave the city.
Calvin hoped to impose Christian discipline and asceticism on the city in
order to construct a righteous society. His “Ecclesiastical Ordinances” would
provide for the organization of religious life in reformed Geneva, but they
threatened the powers of the councils. Calvin insisted that the Consistory,
the judiciary of the reformed church made up of lay elders (called pres
byters), would have the right to discipline all citizens and to dispense harsh
penalties against those who transgressed Geneva’s religious laws. These
penalties would include excommunication from the church, exile, imprison
ment, and even execution. Calvin wanted municipal supervisors to monitoi
the religious behavior of the people, but the councils hesitated to surrendei
their authority to Calvin, who was French, or to assume such a supervisory
role. In 1538, the councils told Calvin to leave Geneva.