John Knox and John Calvin

Abstract

John Calvin and John Knox were very different personalities, with the Scotsman looking to the French Reformer for religious leadership and defending Calvin’s reputation with fierce loyalty. Their personal relationship was forged between 1554 and 1559 when Knox was based in Geneva and served as co-minister to the English exile congregation in the city. When dealing with this enthusiastic, if independent, Scottish admirer, Calvin demonstrated patience and forbearance. Knox sought to follow Calvin’s lead on predestination but was prepared to go his own way on worship and especially on the validity of resistance to a ruler. Knox’s 1558 resistance tracts, not sanctioned by Calvin, brought major consequences for the way in which Calvin, Beza, and the ‘example of Geneva’ were viewed in Tudor England and Stewart Scotland. This had long-lasting implications for the Protestant identities of the two kingdoms and for the unity of the wider Reformed family.