http://www.patheos.com/blogs/frankviola/shockingbeliefsofjohncalvin/

“Whether you agree with Calvin’s theological system or not, there’s no question that John Calvin has made an indelible mark on today’s Christianity, especially American evangelicalism. And like all highly influential Christians, Calvin has been hailed and hammered, loved and loathed, adored and abhorred.” – Frank Viola, Patheos 

I have been  reading about the Protestant Reformation. I am a novice here: I must defer to historians and theologians to access the Facts –  if such they are.

“Among all those who have been born of women, there has not risen a greater than John Calvin; no age, before him ever produced his equal, and no age afterwards has seen his rival. In theology, he stands alone, shining like a bright fixed star, while other leaders and teachers can only circle round him, at a great distance — as comets go streaming through space — with nothing like his glory or his permanence” . . . “the longer I live the clearer does it appear that John Calvin’s system is the nearest to perfection.”

~ Charles Spurgeon

Disquieting, given that,

“Jacques Gruet was also a man who disagreed with Calvin. He called Calvin an ambitious and haughty hypocrite. The administrations of Geneva tortured Gruet twice daily until he confessed, and with Calvin’s concurrence, Gruet was tied to a stake, his feet were nailed to it, and his head was cut off for blasphemy and rebellion.”-Frank Viola, Patheos

So much for Calvin shining like a bright fixed star.

The author of the essay at Patheos cautions against hasty judgements against the Reformers; I guess there is something surreptitious and subversive in my rummaging around in the pathologies of that time. It is a subterfuge on my part aimed at retaliating against the Calvinist apologist at CARM who selfrighteously told me I was going to hell.