Today marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, the French theologian who helped carry the Protestant Reformation into the heart of Europe and shatter the spiritual hegemony of the Catholic Church. Though Calvin was never the theocratic thug of popular imagination, neither was he a champion of individual freedom. If his system of thought inspired later democratic reformers–especially the Puritan ministers who backed the American Revolution–it was largely because they sought to overcome Calvinism’s internal contradictions.

Calvin was born on July 10, 1509, into a religious world already in crisis–a cacophony of superstitions, inquisitions, clerical concubines, and souls for sale. After coming under the influence of Martin Luther, he converted to Protestantism. A severe crackdown on the “new heresy” in Catholic France forced him to seek refuge in Switzerland, where he settled in Geneva. Over the next 25 years Calvin would combine his powerful intellect and elegant prose to become the Reformation’s leading theologian.