
In Calvin's Company of Pastors, Scott Manetsch examines the pastoral theology and practical ministry activities of Geneva's reformed ministers from the time of Calvin's arrival in Geneva until the beginning of the seventeenth century. During these seven decades, more than 130 men were enrolled in Geneva's Venerable Company of Pastors (as it was called), including notable reformed leaders such as Pierre Viret, Theodore Beza, Simon Goulart, Lambert Daneau, and Jean Diodati. Aside from these better-known epigones, Geneva's pastors from this period remain hidden from view, cloaked in Calvin's long shadow, even though they played a strategic role in preserving and reshaping Calvin's pastoral legacy.Making extensive use of archival materials, published sermons, catechisms, prayer books, personal correspondence, and theological writings, Manetsch offers an engaging and vivid portrait of pastoral life in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Geneva, exploring the manner in which Geneva's ministers conceived of their pastoral office and performed their daily responsibilities of preaching, public worship, moral discipline, catechesis, administering the sacraments, and pastoral care. Manetsch demonstrates that Calvin and his colleagues were much more than ivory tower theologians or "quasi-agents of the state," concerned primarily with dispensing theological information to their congregations or enforcing magisterial authority. Rather, they saw themselves as spiritual shepherds of Christ's Church, and this self-understanding shaped to a significant degree their daily work as pastors and preachers.
This book investigates how the ministers of Geneva's Venerable Company of Pastors defined their professional identity and executed their pastoral duties between 1536 and 1609. Scott M. Manetsch, a professor of church history, utilizes a vast array of primary archival sources—including correspondence, sermons, and consistory records—to challenge the perception that these men were merely extensions of state authority. He argues that these ministers operated primarily as dedicated spiritual shepherds whose daily labor was defined by a specific theological framework of pastoral care.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Scholars and historians recognize this work as a definitive study on the practical application of Reformed theology in early modern Geneva. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous and well-documented account of the daily lives of sixteenth-century clergy.
Page Count:
448
Publication Date:
2015-02-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0190224479
ISBN-13:
9780190224479
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