John Calvin

John Calvin (1509–1564), French reformer and theologian, is one of the most significant figures of the Protestant Reformation. Based in Geneva from 1541, he shaped Reformed theology through his Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536; final edition 1559) and an enormous body of biblical exposition. Calvin's commentaries cover nearly the entire Bible — all the NT epistles and Gospels, most of the OT prophets, the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and more — and were published in Latin between 1540 and 1565. They are characterised by rigorous attention to the original languages, clarity of argument, avoidance of allegory, and a pastoral concern to apply the text to the life of the church. Translated into English in the nineteenth century and long since public domain, Calvin's commentaries remain an essential reference in Reformed biblical scholarship.