John Calvin (1509-1564) was an influential Frenchtheologianand the leading second-generation Protestant reformer, second only to Martin Luther in influence. His Christian theologywas later calledCalvinism.
Born into a Roman Catholic family, Calvin was schooled in Latin, Hebrew, Greek, philosophy and law. Around 1533 he had experienced areligious “conversion”, and by 1534 religion had become foremost in his writing and work. In March 1536, Calvin published the first edition of hismost important work Institutes of the Christian Religion (final edition in 1559), which is regarded the as the clearest, most systematic treatise of the Reformation.
In that year, Calvin was recruited by another Frenchman Farel to help reform the church in Geneva. The city council resisted the implementation of Calvin's and Farel's ideas, and both men were forced to leave. At the invitation of Martin Bucer, Calvin went to Strasbourg, where he became the minister of a church of French refugees. He continued to support the reform movement in Geneva, and was eventually invited back to lead its church in 1541.He condemned the practice of usury and interest; he envisioned that the literal meaning of Bible could serve as the human law; he succeeded in establishing such a Protestant order in Geneva, with an authority of doctors, pastors, deacons and elders to impose and judge moral codes upon the citizens. In doing so, he became the first major political thinker to model social organization entirely on biblical principles. By the mid-1550s Geneva was thoroughly Calvinistic in thought and social structure, becoming the Protestant center in Europe throughout the rest of the century.
Calvin appealed to the radical thinkers of his time. His vital belief was predestination. He maintained that human beings had no choice over salvation; salvation was pre-decided by God from the beginning of time; those who could attain salvation were “the elect” and these people must be the population of the Calvinist Church. This vision accounted for the popularity of his church reforms and his idea of legislating biblical codes.
Like Luther, Calvin insisted on the priority of Scripture, the omnipotence（万能） of God, and the power of redemptive grace（救赎的恩典）, while challenging the authority of the priesthood and saints（牧师和圣徒）. More than Luther, he stressed the enormous power of Godto govern the universe and to determine the destiny of individual human beings.
Calvin had an immense influence upon European Protestant life. The commentaries he wrote on the Bible are still in use today; Calvinism became the major theological system in Scotland, the Netherlands, France, Poland, part of Germany and the like. Many Calvinists settled in New England in America, making Calvinism a lasting theme in American cultural history.
References：
[1] 孙有中《西方思想经典导读》，外语教学与研究出版社
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin