What the CALVINIST religion and most outstanding characteristics

Throughout the 16th century, numerous religions appeared starting from the more traditional Christianity, all these being the result of the Luther's theories who were looking for a great change in the religious world. It was the calls Protestant religions and they served as a counterpart for the Catholics. To talk about one of the most important, in this lesson from a Teacher we are going to talk about the characteristics of Calvinist religion.

The Calvinism is a Protestant religion originated in Switzerland in the 16th century, being created by the French religious thinker John Calvin and that throughout the centuries it has expanded to places as distant and different as northern Europe, North America and even some countries in southern Africa.

The main idea of ​​Calvinism, and that centers the rest of the elements, is that God's authority is superior to anything, since human beings are evil by nature and need to follow God's designs to lead a truly holy and dignified life.

Calvinism has grown over the centuries, with several

main churches who have belonged to or who have been influenced by this doctrine, some of them are Presbyterian, Congregational, Reformed, Reformed Baptists, and Huguenots.

The birth Calvinism took place in the century XVI, during the second phase of the Protestant Reformation, which took place after being Luther excommunicated by Pope Leo X. In this place appeared the figure of Calvin, a French theologian very influenced by the ideas of Luther during his university studies.

In 1533, Calvin changed his religion and converted to Protestantism that Luther defended, accepting elements of reformism such as the denial of the power of the Church, the the center of everything in the Bible and that the only way to find life with God after death is through faith.

Fleeing the persecutions that were beginning to emerge in the French zone against the Protestants, Calvin reached Geneva, where he wrote a work called Institution of the Christian Religion, in which he laid the foundations for his evolution of the ideas of Luther, being the source of what would later be called Calvinism.

To lay the foundations of his own religion, before his own death, Calvin wrote the call Geneva Bible, being a Protestant version of the Bible that, over the years, spread to many countries, serving as the basis, even, for other Protestant religions that were not Calvinists.

Expansion of Calvinism

The first expansion of Calvinism took place in the sixteenth century, spreading through Netherlands, from there to other regions that limited, such as France, Germany, England, Scotland, Sweden, or Hungary.

A century later, and due to emigration to the new conquered regions, Calvinism spread throughout North America and South Africa, Dutch Calvinists being the first Europeans to conquer African soil.

To conclude with this lesson on characteristics of Calvinist religion we must talk about the defining elements of this religion and get to know it in depth; thus, we will be able to differentiate it from other religions of the same type such as Lutheranism or the Anglican religion. The main characteristics of the Calvinist religion are the following:

• Reject the power of the Vatican and the Pope, the only power figure of religion must be God, and no one on Earth should be able to take this power or influence.
• The Bible is the only source to which believers must heed when having faith, being the word left by God.
• God is the creator, preserver, and ruler of the world, therefore he is the central figure of everything and whom we must worship.
• Salvation is a grace given by God, no human being can be good by nature and save himself, we must believe in God so that he helps us to be good.
• Believe in the call double predestination, being a thought in which it is said that God knows from the beginning who will be saved and who will not, helping worthy people along the way.
• Think that God does not grant eternal life to people for their good deeds or their charity, but it is only for people who really have faith.
• Like the rest of Protestant religions, flee from the representation of images, since it considers that it is not necessary to represent God, but only to believe in him.
• Just accept the sacraments of baptism and eucharist, being those mentioned by Jesus and therefore the only valid ones.
• Believe in the Holy Trinity, formed by God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
• The priests They are in charge of transmitting the sacraments, but they do not function as intermediaries between God and the faithful, since the only intermediary is Jesus.
• Religious figures may have marriage and family.