Consciences and the Reformation

Abstract This book examines the contentious relationship between oath-taking, confessional subscription, and the binding of the conscience in John Calvin’s reform. Calvin and his closest Reformed colleagues routinely distinguished what they believed were impious rules and constitutions in the Roman Church—human traditions claiming to bind the consciences of the faithful by putting them in fear of losing their salvation—and legitimate church observances, such as oaths and formal subscription to Reformed confessional standards. Doctrinal and moral reform in the cities became especially difficult, however, when friends and foes alike accused Calvin and his partners of burdening consciences with extra-Scriptural statements of faith composed by human authorities—a claim that, if true, would necessarily shape the assessment of the integrity of Calvin’s Reformation. In light of these conflicts, Consciences and the Reformation offers a close reading of the texts and controversies surrounding Calvin’s struggle for reform, especially as they reveal the unique challenges Calvin and his pastoral colleagues encountered in their attempts to employ oath-swearing and formal confession of faith as a means to consolidate the reformation of church and society. The principal goal of this study is to demonstrate how oaths and vows were used to shape confessional identity, secure social order, forge community, and promote faithfulness in public and private contracts, as well as to illustrate the complex and difficult task of simultaneously protecting the individual conscience as part of bringing a new take on Christian freedom to Reformed communities.