Refusing to Kiss the Slipper Opposition to Calvinism in the Francophone Reformation

History has long viewed French Protestants as Calvinists. Refusing to Kiss the Slipper re-examines the Reformation in francophone Europe, presenting for the first time the perspective of John Calvin's evangelical enemies and revealing that the French Reformation was more complex and colorful than previously recognized. Michael Bruening brings together a cast of Calvin's opponents from various French-speaking territories to show that opposition to Calvinism was stronger and better organized than has been recognized. He examines individual opponents, such as Pierre Caroli, Jerome Bolsec, Sebastian Castellio, Charles Du Moulin, and Jean Morély, but more importantly, he explores the anti-Calvinist networks that developed around such individuals.

Each group had its own origins and agenda, but all agreed that Calvin's claim to absolute religious authority too closely echoed the religious sovereignty of the pope. These oft-neglected opponents refused to offer such obeisance-to kiss the papal slipper-arguing instead for open discussion of controversial doctrines. They believed Calvin's self-appointed leadership undermined the bedrock principle of the Reformation that the faithful be allowed to challenge religious authorities. This book shows that the challenge posed by these groups shaped the way the Calvinists themselves developed their reform strategies. Bruening's work demonstrates that the breadth and strength of the anti-Calvinist networks requires us to abandon the traditional assumption that Huguenots and other francophone Protestants were universally Calvinist.

Michael W. Bruening is a professor of history at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He specializes in the history of the Reformation in francophone Europe and is the author of A Reformation Sourcebook, Calvinism's First Battleground, and Epistolae Petri Vireti. During the 2020 worldwide shift to online instruction, his YouTube parody of "I Will Survive" went viral among educators.

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1. Reforming The French National Church: Marguerite Of Navarre's Network

Chapter 2. The Formation Of The Farellian And Calvinist Networks

Chapter 3. Anti-Calvinists of Francophone Switzerland

Chapter 4. The Consolidation of Anti-Calvinism in Francophone Switzerland

Chapter 5. Sebastian Castellio's Liberal Challenge

Chapter 6. Castellio's Long Shadow

Chapter 7. The Gallican Evangelicals: State-Sponsored French Religious Reform Revisited

Chapter 8. Jean Mor?ly's Assault on Calvinist Ecclesiology

Conclusion

Glossary of Key Individuals
Maps and Figures
Bibliography