John Calvin helped shape Western religion, politics and economics, yet asked to be buried in an unmarked grave. This episode traces his path from a French prodigy pushed into law by his father to a Reformation thinker who read scripture like a legal document and wrote the Institutes of the Christian Religion while in exile.

We follow how William Farel pressured him to stay in Geneva, his expulsion over the communion bread dispute, his reluctant return, and the Consistory he created to enforce moral discipline. We also examine the trial and execution of Michael Servetus, his struggle with the Libertines, and the lasting influence of his ideas.

• How legal training and Renaissance humanism shaped Calvin’s theology
• Why the bread dispute was really a fight over church versus city authority
• The personal grief and relentless preaching of his Geneva years
• How the Servetus trial became a political trap and a turning point for Calvin’s power
• Double predestination, checks and balances, and Calvin’s links to modern capitalism