Calvinism

Calvinism, or Reformed Christianity, grew out of the Swiss Reformation of Huldrych Zwingli and Heinrich Bullinger. The Frenchman John Calvin published his Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536 and made Geneva its centre. Worship is kept free of images, Christ is present in the Eucharist spiritually rather than bodily, and congregations are ruled by pastors and elected elders.

Calvinism spread widely after 1550. The Heidelberg Catechism was drawn up in 1563, Queen Jeanne d'Albret of Navarre publicly turned Calvinist in 1560, and the French Huguenots fought the Wars of Religion from 1562 to 1598. The Dutch Reformed Church adopted its standards in 1571, and the Synod of Dort in 1619 condemned the Arminians on predestination.