John Calvin vs. Sadoleto

::Circumstances of the debate::

• Calvinists life to his first visit to Geneva.

1. The young renaissance humanist — back to the source languages in study…
2. All the while this renaissance of biblical and critical languages is occurring while John Calvin was in college.
3. Catholic “reformist” thought in the 1520s…becomes a member of this book club of Scholars.
4. At 25ish years old Calvin has a “sudden conversion”. Which was in the 1530s…
5. Calvin release his first Institutes in 1536.

Farel goes to threaten Calvin…Calvin agrees to stay under certain terms of church discipline.

• Geneva: Calvin’s exile and return.
• Discipline and rejected by city council. Calvin and Farel leave and goes to Strasbourg.
• Was in Strassburg from 1538-1541
• Sadoleto’s Letter to the Genevans, 1539 — Urges them to come back to Catholicism.
• In 1541, he moves back to Geneva after they persuade him to take his old job back.

Sadoleto’s Accusations

A. The ecclesiastical argument.

• Innovation: Protestants as the “new guys”, heretics and schismatics.
• Sadoleto and implicit faith. People need to trust the church and be a member rather than simply trust in themselves.
• The doctrinal argument:
  fideism or “libertinism” — Grace alone means that protestants are forsaking “good works”. No morality.
• Argue about ad hominem — Pride

III The Problem of Authority

A. Scripture and tradition in the Fathers
1. Irenaeus, Tertullian, and the rule of faith.

B. The Medieval Consensus: Two Views
1. Tradition One: Written Only (1 Source)
2. Tradition Two: Written and Unwritten
- Both from Jesus.
-Bishops are more important than “Doctors”

C. The Sixteenth-Century Solutions
1. The Council of Trent-1546
2. Tradition and scripture in Calvin- his antidote to Trent (1547)
- Apocryphal books skew “unwritten” tradition
- Too many apostolic traditions are recent
- Fathers were more modest about Tradition
- Unwritten traditions deal only with polity.
B. The sufficiency of Scripture

What makes the Church’s magisterium?
- What makes the locus of teaching authority?
…for Roman Catholicism

What is the true church?