who was john calvin

John Calvin (1509–1564) was a French theologian, pastor, and key figure in the Protestant Reformation. He developed the system of Christian theology known as Calvinism, focusing on doctrines such as predestination and God's absolute sovereignty in salvation. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, Calvin broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530 and became an influential reformer in Geneva, where he introduced new forms of church government and liturgy. He wrote the seminal work Institutes of the Christian Religion and many biblical commentaries, shaping Protestantism across Europe and beyond. Calvin's theology profoundly impacted various Reformed churches and remains significant today.