Calvin’s Company of Pastors OXFORD STUDIES IN HISTORICAL THEOLOGY Series Editor David C. Steinmetz, Duke University Editorial Board Irena Backus, Universit é de Gen è ve Robert C. Gregg, Stanford University George M. Marsden, University of Notre Dame Wayne A. Meeks, Yale University Gerhard Sauter, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universit ä t Bonn Susan E. Schreiner, University of Chicago John Van Engen, University of Notre Dame Geoff rey Wainwright, Duke University Robert L. Wilken, University of Virginia GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS ON THE READING AUGUSTINE IN THE TRINITY AND THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD REFORMATION In Your Light We Shall See Light The Flexibility of Intellectual Authority in Christopher A. Beeley Europe, 1500–1620 Arnoud S. Q. Visser THE JUDAIZING CALVIN Sixteenth-Century Debates over the Messianic SHAPERS OF ENGLISH CALVINISM, Psalms 1660–1714 G. Sujin Pak Variety, Persistence, and Transformation Dewey D. Wallace, Jr. THE DEATH OF SCRIPTURE AND THE RISE OF BIBLICAL STUDIES THE BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION OF Michael C. Legaspi WILLIAM OF ALTON Timothy Bellamah, OP THE FILIOQUE History of a Doctrinal Controversy MIRACLES AND THE PROTESTANT A. Edward Siecienski IMAGINATION The Evangelical Wonder Book in Reformation ARE YOU ALONE WISE? Germany Debates about Certainty in the Early Modern Philip M. Soergel Church Susan E. Schreiner THE REFORMATION OF SUFFERING Pastoral Theology and Lay Piety in Late EMPIRE OF SOULS Medieval and Early Modern Germany Robert Bellarmine and the Christian Ronald K. Rittgers Commonwealth Stefania Tutino CHRIST MEETS ME EVERYWHERE Augustine’s Early Figurative Exegesis MARTIN BUCER’S DOCTRINE OF Michael Cameron JUSTIFICATION Reformation Theology and Early Modern MYSTERY UNVEILED Irenicism The Crisis of the Trinity in Early Modern England Brian Lugioyo Paul C. H. Lim CHRISTIAN GRACE AND GOING DUTCH IN THE MODERN AGE PAGAN VIRTUE Abraham Kuyper’s Struggle for a Free Church in The Theological Foundation of Ambrose’s Ethics the Netherlands J. Warren Smith John H. Wood KARLSTADT AND THE ORIGINS OF THE CALVIN’S COMPANY OF PASTORS EUCHARISTIC CONTROVERSY Pastoral Care and the Emerging Reformed A Study in the Circulation of Ideas Church, 1536–1609 Amy Nelson Burnett Scott M. Manetsch Calvin’s Company of Pastors Pastoral Care and the Emerging Reformed Church, 1536–1609 scott m. manetsch 1 3 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offi ces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 © Oxford University Press 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Manetsch, Scott M. Calvin’s company of pastors : pastoral care and the emerging Reformed Church, 1536–1609 / Scott M. Manetsch. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978–0–19–993857–5 1. Geneva (Switzerland)—Church history—16th century. 2. Reformed Church— Switzerland—Geneva—History—16th century. 3. Pastoral theology—Reformed Church. 4. Religious refugees—Switzerland—Geneva—History—16th century. 5. Calvin, Jean, 1509—1564. I. Title. BX9415.M36 2013 284'.249451609031—dc23 2012018345 ISBN 978–0–19–993857–5 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper To my wife, Catherine, and daughters Hannah and Melissa This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Acknowledgments i x Abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 chapter 1 Geneva and Her Reformation 11 chapter 2 The Company of Pastors 38 chapter 3 The Pastoral Vocation 68 chapter 4 Pastors and Their Households 98 chapter 5 Rhythms of Ministry 123 chapter 6 The Ministry of the Word 145 chapter 7 The Ministry of Moral Oversight 182 chapter 8 Pastors and Their Books 221 chapter 9 The Ministry of Pastoral Care 255 Epilogue 299 Appendix 309 Notes 317 Bibliography 395 Index 417 This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The idea for this book was fi rst conceived nearly ten years ago dur- ing a summer in residence at the H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies (Grand Rapids, Michigan) as I read through the published sermons of Theodore Beza and became intrigued by the prominent pastoral themes that they contained. The vital spirituality and practical ministry concerns that I encountered in the sermons did not match popular caricatures which portrayed Beza’s theology as stagnant, speculative, or scholastic. That initial discovery served as the impetus for a more expansive study of the pastoral theology and practical ministry activities of John Calvin, Beza, and the other members of the Company of Pastors who served Geneva’s church during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The gesta- tion of this book over the past decade has required four summer research trips to Geneva, consumed two sabbaticals, and invited rich and valuable conversations with scholarly colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Along the way, my daughters Hannah and Melissa, who were preschoolers when I began this book project, have grown into beautiful teenagers. The passage of time is unrelenting, but God has been good to us. I t is with sincere gratitude that I would like to thank several institutions and the many friends and colleagues that have contributed to this writing project over the years. Research trips to Geneva were made possible by generous fi nancial support provided by the Christian Scholars Foundation and the Lilly Foundation-ATS Faculty Research Grant. The Institut d’histoire de la Ré f ormation at the University of Geneva also awarded me a research stipend and served as my scholarly “home away from home,” providing me with research space and access to its outstanding collection of early modern books. I am greatly indebted to the director and professors of the Institute, Maria-Cristina Pitassi, Irena Backus, and Philip Benedict, as well as the remarkable group of scholars who work there, including Alain Dufour, Nicolas Fornerod, Hervé Genton, Bé a trice Nicollier-de Weck, Max