Similarities Between John Calvin And The Eucharist

John Calvin was a French man that lived in Geneva, and he eventually became arguably the second most influential person of the reformation by spreading his beliefs that came to be known as Calvinism. Although he was once banished from Geneva, he was eventually allowed to return and was embraced by the people. A key component in Calvin’s theology is a focus on the Word of God; liturgies of the time were very wordy with copious amounts of scripture. In terms of the Lord’s supper, Calvin advocated and practiced a form of closed communion. Not all were welcome to receive the Eucharist in Calvinist Churches.

Most people would describe Calvin’s beliefs about real presence in the Eucharist as “symbolic parallelism”, a term coined by Brian Gerrish.