A Reformation Debate John Calvin & Jacopo Sadoleto

by Olin, John C.

• ISBN13: 9780823219919
• ISBN10: 0823219917
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: INGRAM

Summary

In 1539, Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto, Bishop of Carpentras, addressed a letter to the magistrates and citizens of Geneva, asking them to return to the Roman Catholic faith. John Calvin replied to Sadoleto, defending the adoption of the Protestant reforms. Sadoleto's letter and Calvin's reply constitute one of the most interesting exchanges of Roman Catholic/Protestant views during the Reformationand an excellent introduction to the great religious controversy of the sixteenth century. These statements are not in vacuo of a Roman Catholic and Protestant position. They were drafted in the midst of the religious conflict that was then dividing Europe. And they reflect too the temperaments and personal histories of the men who wrote them. Sadoleto's letter has an irenic approach, an emphasis on the unity and peace of the Church, highly characteristic of the Christian Humanism he represented. Calvin's reply is in part a personal defense, an apologia pro vita sua, that records his own religious experience. And its taut, comprehensive argument is characteristic of the disciplined and logical mind of the author of The Institutes of the Christian Religion.

Author Biography

John C. Olin is Professor Emeritus of History at Fordham University.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction	1	(22)
Sadoleto's Letter to the Genevans	23	(20)
Calvin's Reply to Sadoleto	43
Appendix:
I Calvin on Justification	89
II The Council of Trent on Justification	108