FREE ESSAY ON CALVANISM AND THE RELIGIOUS WARS

CALVANISM AND THE RELIGIOUS WARS

Title - Calvinism and the Religious Wars
Place of Publication - New York, 1971
Publisher - Howard Fertig, Inc.
This book is about pretty much the beginning of Calvinism and how it played a major role
in the reforming of mid to late fifteenth century Europe. Franklin Charles Palm tries to
exam the role in which John Calvin used his love for the sacred scriptures and religion
to reform the way he lived, and the rest of the world. Concentrating mostly on Europe at
that time period. Palm breaks down the life of Calvin at first, and then as he proceeds
through this book he leads up to actual formation of the religion. And ultimately then
how this newly formed religion affected or may off even caused some of the religious war.
I unfortunately could not find any info on Franklin Charles Palm, though I even had one
the librarians look for me to.
I feel that Franklin Charles Palm was really not trying to answer any certain question
while he was attempting to write this informative novel at all. In fact I think that his
true purpose for writing this was to give an accurate account of what role Calvinism
played in that time period, because from what I can understand he did not feel that there
was enough information readily available. His work in my own opinion is very relevant to
the study of history, and he has added another great resource to the reference area for
history in any library. I feel that his work does not offer any resonably new information
for students to learn, but it may present an easier way of learning for those who are
tired of reading the same old reference books. This book does though coincide with most
of the notes that we have taken during class periods. This helps out greatly when writing
papers and reviews for essays and reports.
Palm starts the novel out by explaining the early the early life of John Calvin and
explains his life with his family. It talks about his father Gerad Calvin and his working
as the secretary for the bishop of Nylon and as the fiscal agent for his district in
England. It states how this made it possible for Calvin to meet some very influential
people in his early life and made it possible for him to start to develop ideas about
religion and other political views early on in life. When Calvin was at the age of
entering college it made it hard for him to do so with the death of his father, and his
mother having to support six children in the family. His father was able to set aside
some money before he passed on for Calvin which in turn allowed him to attend the College
at Montiaigu, at Paris for four years. This is where John developed a love for the bible
and a tremendous understanding for the scriptures, which would in turn play a major role
in his ideas for changing and for his reforming of the Catholic Church.
After discussing Calvin's early life Palm went on to talk about the Roman Catholic Church
and how they developed a keen sense of hated for Calvin. It stated what they were going
to do with his writings and how they were going to go about dealing with him. Which
evidently lead to Calvin's exile from the country. Some of Calvin's works, cited the
problems that pretty much most of the reformers saw wrong with the church. Such as, the
sale of indulgences which Luther and Erasmus displayed ever so prominently in their
attempts for reform.
Gradually the book moves on to the more important issues of the book. Certain things like
the Religious wars. Also it talks about things like his oppositions and the struggles he
faced with Greut, Servetus, and his triumph over all of them. It shows the certain
economic importance this new religion played in France at the time and the political and
intellectual importance of the new religion of Calvinism. When the religious wars broke
out in France and Francis the 1st proclaimed his development of absolutism it shows how
Calvinism was one of the major elements opposed to it.
Once that Calvinism was starting to take hold it displayed the spread of it throughout
most of Eastern Europe. Like when it started in Italy and Spain, and began to work its
way through Western Germany. Once the religion hit those sections it began its spread
throughout the vast regions of Western Europe too. Last but not least it explains The
Spread of Calvinism into the new world with the Huguenots, the Pilgrims, and the
Puritans.
If there was any case that Franklin Charles Palm was trying to prove in this book; it was
the fact that Calvinism was an important part in the reform of the way people would
eventually go about their religions. Also providing us a look into the future at the
reform of the Roman Catholic Church. In my opinion he did not really display a major
argument with anything thing in the text, but it was more or less an informative piece
based about Calvinism. If in deed you go with that argument then I guess you could say
that he indeed did provide excellent information and plenty of back round information to
prove his point. I was convinced buy his argument because of the fact that I knew only
what I had learned through out my studies in school and that this was really the first
time someone went into any kind of in depth study of the situation. So in a way I was
over whelmed with the amount off info and the resources he used to discuss it.
His resources included some valuable works of history; like the Encyclopedia Britanica.
It was quite confusing when I first read the bibliography. He mentions that for a good
basis on writing something on this topic you should begin with certain books that he
started off with. He states that there was few books written on this topic and it may be
tough for someone without the knowledge of the subject to even begin to write on theses
situations.
Now for the part I have been waiting for, the time I get to give my opinion of the book.
Well let me start of by saying that I personally thought that it was going to be a very
boring book but I was indeed surprised after reading it. I have always thought to
consider myself a sort off history buff so I can see why in turn did enjoy learning about
Calvin's subject matter. I am quite able to say now that I would probably consider
reading other works of Franklin Charles Palm or just books on some of the same subject
matter. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest for these subjects, or
just plan flat out needs to do a report on this topic.
Bibliography
Title - Calvinism and the Religious Wars
Place of Publication - New York, 1971
Publisher - Howard Fertig, Inc.