Portal:Reformed Christianity
The Reformed Christianity Portal
Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation, a schism in the Western Church. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental, Presbyterian, and Congregational traditions, as well as parts of the Anglican and Baptist traditions.
A foundational event that divided the Reformed from the Lutheran tradition occurred in 1529 when reformer Huldrych Zwingli of Zürich broke with Martin Luther on the topic of the Lord's Supper. A separate Reformed tradition developed over several generations, especially in Switzerland, Scotland and the Netherlands.
In the seventeenth century, Jacobus Arminius and the Remonstrants were expelled from the Dutch Reformed Church over disputes regarding predestination and salvation, and from that time Arminians are usually considered to be a distinct tradition from the Reformed. This dispute produced the Canons of Dort, the basis for the "doctrines of grace" or "five points" of Calvinism.
Reformed theology emphasizes the authority of the Bible, the sovereignty of God, and covenant theology, a framework for understanding the Bible based on God's covenants with people. Reformed churches have emphasized simplicity in worship. Several forms of ecclesiastical polity are exercised by Reformed churches, including presbyterian, congregational, and some episcopal. (Full article...)
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Calvin's father was an attorney and in 1523 sent his fourteen-year-old son to the University of Paris to study humanities and law. His Protestant friends included Nicholas Cop, Rector at the University of Paris. In 1533 Cop gave an address "replete with Protestant ideas," and "Calvin was probably involved as the writer of that address." Calvin later settled for a time in Basel, where in 1536 he published the first edition of his Institutes. John Calvin died in Geneva on May 27, 1564. He was buried in the Cimetière des Rois under a tombstone marked simply with the initials "J.C.", partially honoring his request that he be buried in an unknown place, without witnesses or ceremony.
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Did you know...
- ...that for the first four decades of its existence, the altar of the Reformed Dutch Church in Bloomingburg, New York, was on the same end as the main entrance?
- ... that criticisms made by John Cotton (pictured) about the doctrine of preparationism were a factor in the Antinomian Controversy and Anne Hutchinson's banishment from Massachusetts in 1638?
- ...that John Duncan, a Scottish Presbyterian theologian and missionary, was affectionately known as "Rabbi", due to his knowledge of Hebrew and his passion for the Jewish people?
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Topics
Background: Christianity • St. Augustine • The Reformation • John Calvin • Five Solas • Synod of Dort
Theology: Five Points (TULIP) • Covenant Theology • Regulative principle
Documents: Calvin's Institutes • Confessions of faith • Geneva Bible
Influences: Theodore Beza • John Knox • Jonathan Edwards • Princeton theologians • Henry Cooke
Churches: Reformed • Presbyterian • Congregationalist • Reformed Baptist
Peoples: Afrikaner Calvinists • Huguenots • Pilgrims • Puritans • Scots • Ulster Protestants
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