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The chapter explores the question of Calvin's relationship to the Swiss Reformed churches, which has been largely ignored by historians with one or two exceptions. Yet there is no ignoring the fact that Calvin developed in the context of the Swiss Confederation before becoming a figure of international importance. The chapter then examines Calvin's delicate relationship with Bernese and Zurich theologians, taking predestination and the Eucharist as starting points. The final section is devoted to the European repercussions of Calvin's thought. The chapter concludes that the myth of the solitary leader as promulgated by many historical studies is not applicable to Calvin any more than it is to Luther.

When Calvin returned to Geneva in 1541, he was entrusted not just with the Ecclesiastical Ordinances but also with leading the committee to write what would become Geneva’s first, post-Revolutionary constitution. Significantly, he would also be involved, near the end of his life, with the drafting of the city-state’s second constitution. The chapter shows that the Genevan Reformation was powered by a level of political and civic activism and involvement that explains not only many of the problems it faced but also why fishwives felt free to discuss the things of faith—albeit not always with a level of discernment pleasing to the Company of Pastors. On the international level this made Geneva an exhilarating and inspiring model to follow.

Chapter 1 explores the key events leading up to Geneva’s Reformation in 1536 and the strategic role that Calvin played thereafter in constructing a city church that was reformed in doctrine and practice. Particular attention will be paid to the manner in which Calvin and his pastoral colleagues organized Geneva’s city and countryside parishes, and the ways that Geneva’s religious constitution, known as the Ecclesiastical Ordinances (1541), shaped a distinctive form of pastoral ministry and daily church life. The most important features of Geneva’s reformed church included the fourfold Christian ministry (the offices of pastor, elder, deacon, and professor), a cooperative relationship between civil and religious authorities, distinctive religious institutions such as the Company of Pastors, the Consistory, and the Congregation, and a vision of Christian worship that was faithful to the Scripture.

In 1532 Guillaume Farel began Reforming preaching in Geneva. Fribourg’s Catholicism estranged it from Geneva (and Lausanne, where there was evangelically tinged hostility towards the bishop), but still asserted its claims on the Vaud. Bern, always more reluctant to force a breach with Savoy, now was willing to abandon claims to the entire Vaud in return for the pledge of four strategically important communes. Unrest in Geneva led to the (temporary) expulsion of Farel, while Fribourg felt compelled by its Catholicism to renounce its Burgrecht, but was still insisting on payment of war expenses (as was Bern). By 1535 Bern was willing to recognize Savoy’s rights over Geneva if the duke were willing to tolerate evangelical preaching.