Calvin

Geneva in its early life was influenced by Calvin. No, not this Calvin.

Definitely not this Calvin.

Yes, this Calvin.

  We visited St. Peter's Cathedral (Cathedrale St-Pierre) where Calvin was pastor.

Construction for this building began in 1160 and lasted 110 years.

The Catholic cathedral of St. Peter became a Protestant church in 1536. John Calvin preached here from 1536 to 1564, and the cathedral became the guiding center of Protestantism. Calvin set about attaining his aim of a mature church by preaching daily to the people. His preaching influenced civic life as well as contemporary theological thought. Calvin had found an effective agent of change: God's Word in people's hearts. 

He began to preach to the people of Geneva twice on Sunday and daily during the week. At the week day services Calvin preached series on books of the Bible, chapter by chapter.

His listeners must have had more stamina than what many of us would have today.   On Friday, June 7, 1555, Calvin began a six-week series of preaching on the Ten Commandments, which fell within a larger series on the book of Deuteronomy. He started this series In March of that year, and continued preaching daily through Deuteronomy for sixteen months until the following summer, July 1556. A swift calculation reveals over three hundred sermons in this series alone.  Get ready CPC!  I see a sermon series coming when I get back.