L’École de Dieu

Abstract

Calvin’s primary task as the chief minister in Geneva was to train the lay population in the rudiments of the newly-reformed faith, and one of the most important components in that training was the sermon. The two main ingredients of Calvin’s preaching were teaching and persuasion. His goal was to teach his Genevan congregation the content of the pristine Christian faith as he and other reformers envisioned it, and to persuade them to devote themselves totally to God. Implicitly, he also wanted to persuade the populace of Geneva to support his vision of a godly society. In Calvin’s view, however, teaching and persuasion are the task of the preacher only in a secondary sense. Calvin frequently emphasizes that it is God who is the supreme instructor and irresistible persuader. Although preachers must be learned in Scripture, devout in godliness, and faithful in preaching only the pure word of God, it is God in the person of the Holy Spirit who ultimately persuades a person of the truth, and moves a person to embrace and act upon that truth. In the pulpit, then, Calvin takes on the role of both pedagogue and pleader, endeavoring to teach and persuade, at the same time claiming that any result would be due not to his erudition or eloquence, but to the power of the divine Doctor and Orator.1