History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin: Volume 1
Overview
Published over the span of fifteen years, Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigne’s 8-volume History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin offers a sweeping history of the second generation of the Reformation. D’Aubigne not only conceived of the Reformation in theological and ecclesiastical terms, but defined it as a watershed moment for all of human history. His 8-volume history of the Reformation describes not only theological and ecclesiastical reform, but also the implication of the Reformation on culture, the arts, philosophy, and science in the centuries which followed.
Although John Calvin figures prominently in the History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, this work is not biographical. Instead, Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigne uses Calvin’s life and the church in Geneva to narrate the comprehensive scope of religious reform during the sixteenth century. These books outline the people, places, and ideas which shaped the Reformation in France, England, Spain, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands. He argues that not only religious, but also political emancipation results from the Reformation, and explores the nature of religious freedom, political liberty, and the influence on human history in the three centuries following the Reformation.
The History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin not only became a best-selling and widely praised account of the Reformation, but remains one of the most compelling and influential Reformation histories more than a century after its original publication. With Logos, you get access to these massive volumes with the power and speed of your digital library. Perform searches, create footnotes and citations, and click your way through one of the most comprehensive Reformation histories ever written! These volumes are ideal for Reformation scholars, church historians, and theologians.
Key topics in Volume One:
- The city of Geneva
- The first Huguenots
- Struggle for religious and political liberty in Geneva
- Persecution in France
- The spread of the Reformation across the Rhine
- Calvin’s early studies, struggles, and conversion
- Comprehensive and detailed history of the Reformation during the sixteenth century
- Significant people and events of the Reformation in France, England, Spain, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands
- Connects theology and ecclesiology with philosophy, art, and politics
Top Highlights
“Now, what chiefly distinguishes the Reformation of Calvin from that of Luther is, that wherever it was established, it brought with it not only truth but liberty, and all the great developments which these two fertile principles carry with them.” (Page 4)
“Supreme among the great principles that Calvin has diffused is the sovereignty of God. He has enjoined us to render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s; but he has added: ‘God must always retain the sovereign empire, and all that may belong to man remains subordinate. Obedience towards princes accords with God’s service; but if princes usurp any portion of the authority of God, we must obey them only so far as may be done without offending God.’* If my conscience is thoroughly subject to God, I am free as regards men; but if I cling to anything besides heaven, men may easily enslave me. True liberty exists only in the higher regions. The bird that skims the earth may lose it at any moment; but we cannot ravish it from the eagle who soars among the clouds.” (Page 5)
“Christianity was intended to be a power of liberty; Rome, by corrupting it, made it a power of despotism; Calvin, by regenerating it, set it up again and restored its first work.” (Page 18)
“FACTS alone do not constitute the whole of history, any more than the members of the body form the complete man. There is a soul in history as well as in the body, and it is this which generates, vivifies, and links the facts together, so that they all combine to the same end.” (Page 1)
“Let them undeceive themselves: the oppression that revolts them may be pagan, jewish, papal, or worldly … but it is not christian. Whenever christianity reappears in the world, with its spirit, faith, and primitive life, it brings men deliverance and peace.” (Page viii)
Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigne’s volumes had a wider circulation, at least in the English translations, than any other book on church history.
The most popular. . . Protestant history of the Reformation ever written.
—J. W. Thompson
- Title: History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin: Volume 1
- Author: Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigne
- Translator: William L. R. Gates
- Publisher: Longman, Roberts & Green
- Publication Date: 1863
- Pages: 580
Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigne (1794–1872) was born in Geneva. He studied theology at the Académie de Genève. He was ordained in 1817, and moved to Berlin to study at the University of Berlin under August Neander. An 1817 celebration of Martin Luther’s life inspired him to write A History of the Reformation.
In 1818, Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigne became minister at the French Reformed Church in Hamburg, where he remained until he became pastor of a church in Brussels from 1823 to 1830. He returned to Geneva in 1831 to help found the theological seminary there, and became professor of church history. The 5-volume History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century was published in French between 1835 and 1853, and The History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin was published between 1863 and 1878, the last three volumes published posthumously. During his lifetime, Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigne received honorary doctorates from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and the University of Berlin.