John Calvin Trivia Questions

The first edition appeared in 1536, when Calvin was 26. It was a small book that grew to four volumes in later editions.

Calvin defended infant baptism as a sign of God's covenant, unlike Anabaptists. He saw it as parallel to circumcision in the Old Testament.

Calvin originally studied law at the University of Orléans, switching to theology only after a sudden conversion around 1533.

Calvin and Luther never met. They exchanged some letters, but Luther died in 1546, when Calvin was still establishing his work in Geneva.

There is no evidence Calvin was an ornithologist. He was a prolific writer, but his works focused on theology, not birds.

Calvin accepted the spherical Earth, which was common knowledge among educated Europeans. He never argued for a flat Earth in his writings.

Calvin remained a pastor and teacher, never a magistrate. Yet his emphasis on checks and balances shaped Reformed political thought and later democratic systems.

Calvin and fellow pastor Farel were banished for rejecting the city council's interference in church discipline, returning only in 1541.