Between Paris and Geneva: Some Remarks on the Approval of the Gallican Confession (May 1559)

This article analyses the approval of the Gallican Confession during the so-called first national synod of the French Reformed churches, held in Paris in May 1559. The established consensus is that Calvin had a starring role in the adoption of the Confession by the pastors assembled in Paris. The la...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Early Modern Christianity
Main Author: Braghi, Gianmarco 1987- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: De Gruyter 2018
In: Journal of Early Modern Christianity
Year: 2018, Volume: 5, Issue: 2, Pages: 197-219
IxTheo Classification:KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance
KBG France
KCC Councils
KDD Protestant Church
Further subjects:B Gallican Confession
B Sixteenth Century
B Calvin
B Calvinism
B Geneva
B French Reformation
B 1559
B synod of Paris
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Summary:This article analyses the approval of the Gallican Confession during the so-called first national synod of the French Reformed churches, held in Paris in May 1559. The established consensus is that Calvin had a starring role in the adoption of the Confession by the pastors assembled in Paris. The latter are believed to have modified and promulgated the Gallican Confession based on a draft that the former had authored and sent to the synod. This paper will test the hypothesis that Calvin never sent any draft to Paris for approval in May 1559 and that a 1557 Parisian document—the letter-confession Au Roy —was used as the basis for the text of the Gallican Confession. We will also show that in May 1559 Calvin was not opposed to the promulgation of a confession of faith, but to its untimely disclosure and/or publication in print. This article offers a different interpretation of the relationship between Geneva and the brethren assembled in Paris at this crucial stage, and suggests that the categories of agreement/disagreement between Calvin and some French pastors, normally applied to this event, might not be appropriate.
ISSN:2196-6656
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of Early Modern Christianity
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1515/jemc-2018-0006