God,not the word of the clergy. German language "The individual",Luther believed,is as alone before the 3.John Calvin (1509-1564)and Calvinism almighty as a man facing the evening sky-nothing can stand John Calvin was a French theologian who became increasingly between him and God.Martin said flatly,"The Christian man interested in the rebellion against the conservative theology and the must examine and judge for himself." movement of reformation of the Church.He put his theological thoughts in his Institutes of the Christian Religion,which was Before the Reformation,very few people in Europe read the considered one of the most influential theological works of all times. Bible.Martin Luther,with his translation of the New Testament Calvin rejected the papal authorities and devoted himself to the and later,the whole Bible into the vernacular made the Bible work of reformation in Geneva,where he set himself the task of accessible to every man,to the average church goer.Because of that constructing a government based on the subordination of the state to Martin could claim that the average man was better educated than the church,a type of government which later came to be known as many priests had formerly been and with that the control Pope had on the Presbyterian government.Calvin's influence was widespread, the German mind could never be restored. particularly in England and Scotland,and the Netherlands Calvinism stressed the absolute authority of the God's will, c.Gospel of Love and Ideas of Equality holding that only those specially elected by God are saved.Its belief Direct communication with God meant that the absolute control was that any form of sinfulness was a likely sign of damnation of the Catholic Church over the minds of the people was now losing whereas ceaseless work could be a sign of salvation.This belief serves ground.As Martin Luther declared that all believers were priests,so so well to help the rising bourgeoisie on its path that many historians he preached that all occupations were holy,from the blacksmith at have suggested that Calvinism was one of the main courses of the his forge to the potter at his wheel.In spite of his democratic ideas, capitalist spirit. however,Martin Luther stoutly opposed the peasants'war(1524- 1525)in Germany,a revolt his own spirit helped to foster.In the 4.Reformation in England history of Germany,Martin Luther was more than a religious leader, By the middle of the sixteenth century,all northern Europe was he was a fighter for democracy and nationalism,a humanist who aroused in the Protestant Revolt.The ideas of Martin Luther and helped to build a competent educational system and a writer Calvin had spread to as far as the Scandinavian kingdoms.And whose forceful language helped fix the standards of the modern through John Knox,a priest and a follower of Calvin,protestantism was established in Scotland,and was generally known as Scottish D Great Ages of Man:-Reformation Presbyterianism. 146 147