John Calvin: The making of a reformer 
19 March 2012
3pm
Venue: Patrick Hanan Room (Arts 2 Room 501)
School of Theology guest lecture by Professor Ulrich Gäbler.
Professor Ulrich Gäbler was President of the University of Basel, Switzerland and held chairs in Church History at the Free University of Amsterdam and the University of Basel. He has published fifteen books and 100 articles on a range of topics in religious history from the Middle Ages to the present. He specialises in the history of the Reformation, Pietism, Revivalism and Evangelicalism. He is best known for his work on the Swiss reformer Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531).
Professor Gäbler's lecture will focus on the interaction of the external circumstances of Calvin¹s life (e.g. persecution, exile, homelessness) and the shaping of his theological thinking (especially church discipline, predestination, church and state). The underlying thesis is that one can only understand Calvin by taking seriously the permanent impact of his social and political context.
