40 - Calvin’s Catholic Critics

Summary

Was Calvin another Luther? Certainly in the early decades of the Reformation it was a common perception among Catholics that the evangelicals were united in their opposition to Roman tradition and hierarchy, and that subtle differentiations were of little consequence when seeking to curtail a movement that challenged the authority of the Catholic Church. Thus it is not rare to find “Lutheran” used as the generic term for evangelicals, a term intended to contrast not with “Catholic” but “Christian.” (The term reciprocates the pejorative “Papist” and the reverence for the pope it implies.) Given the ease with which Catholic opponents grouped all evangelicals together with little concern for points of difference among them, Calvin was indeed seen as another Luther and, like his counterpart in Wittenberg, a dangerous enemy of the church.