John Calvin Had 58 People Executed in Geneva? - Reply to Johnson C. Philip (Part 6)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5


[1]The statistic of fifty-eight executions strongly appears to find its genesis from Galiffe. It was he that went through the old Genevan registers and counted. Galiffe was no fan of Calvin.[2][3] Richard Stauffer points out that Galiffe was from an "old Genevese family" extremely bitter towards Calvin "not only as a foreigner, but also as an intruder and usurper in the life of the old city."[4] Stauffer includes him as presenting a picture of Calvin in which the Reformer isn't recognizable. Schaff notes that the Galiffe's (father and son scholars) viewed Geneva as "independent and free" until Calvin came along.  In Galiffe's presentation, the emphasis is that whatever evils may have been present in Geneva, Calvin made them much worse once he arrived. It appears that Galiffe's research (same with Johnson C. Philip’s also) suffers from the logical error of post hoc ergo propter hoc. Everything that happened in Geneva once Calvin arrived was portrayed as the fault of John Calvin. Going through Galiffe's research, there is not a direct line of evidence that Calvin "caused fifty-eight people to be executed." Nor is their a direct line of evidence that those executed suffered for theological reasons or for some disagreement with Calvin's theology (i.e., Calvinism). Most telling is that twenty of the number were executed for the ordinary sort of crimes that were punishable during this time period. These executions were not something out of the ordinary in western Europe during this time period. But what about those other thirty-eight who died as the result of questioning through torture?  The Genevan judical system operated like other sixteenth century judicial systems: through the process of inquisition. Robert Kingdon explains, “The basic principle of this system is a procedure known as inquisition process. It assumes that the real truth of any criminal charge is most likely to emerge from intensive, and repeated questioning of the parties involved.”[5]  Kingdon details the entire process that operated in Geneva, much of which preceded Calvin's arrival. He points out that during the progressive process of questioning, the Genevan system allowed for torture along with the interrogation. One would wish that Calvin repudiated the system, but he did not. That he didn't repudiate it settles the matter for many that are opposed to Calvinism. Others, like myself , try to put people in their historical contexts and understand them in the world they lived in. 


Part 7


[1] The relevant content is taken from https://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2019/06/john-calvin-had-58-people-executed-in.html (James Swan, June 19, 2019).

[2] Sober, Strict, and Scriptural: Collective Memories of John Calvin, 1800-2000, edited by Johan de Niet, Herman Paul and Bart Wallet, pp. 28-29.

[3] Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church

[4] Richard Stauffer, The Humanness of John Calvin, Abingdon Press, p. 27.

[5] Robert M. Kingdon,  Adultery and Divorce in Calvin’s Geneva.

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