Református Szemle 106.3 (2013)

John Calvin transformed the Western theology and law concerning sex, marriage and family life. Building on a generation of Protestant reformers, Calvin constructed a comprehensive new theology and law that made marital formation and divorce, children’s nurture and welfare, family cohesion and support, sexual sin and crime essential concerns for both church and state. He drew the Consistory and Council of Geneva into a creative new alliance to guide and govern the reformation of the intimate domestic sphere. Calvin and his colleagues applied and adapted this new theology in hundreds of marriage and family cases that went before the Consistory each year. „He set out his theological and ethical reforms in a rich number of sermons, commentaries, and systematic writings that were elaborated by Reformed preachers, teachers, and theologians” (John Witte).