The Early John Calvin and Augustine: Some Reconsiderations Ueli Zahnd, Basel, Switzerland abstract In recent research it has been argued that in his early career John Calvin developed an autonomous and independent Augustinianism, by means of direct readings, that was detached from any medieval background. Yet, this is problematic since a critical evaluation of Calvin’s first uses of Augustine reveals that he already cherished the African Father long before having read any of his works, while, in his very first writings, he appears to have been familiar with medieval Augustinian compilations. Reconsidering, therefore, the early Calvin’s relation to Augustine, the article argues that Calvin was an Augustinian long before engaging with Augustine, and that Late Medi- eval Augustinianism is all but an unlikely background for his first predilection of the African Father. It is well known that Augustine played an eminent role in the work and thought of John Calvin. Augustine is by far the most extensively cited Church Father in Calvin’s writings, and Calvin’s and Augustine’s understanding of Christian doctrine are in agreement to such a degree that Calvin, with some justification, famously claimed Augustine to be totus noster. 1 Accordingly, based on two groundbreaking collections of Augustinian citations and allusions from all of the Reformer’s works, compiled in the middle of the last century, 2 Calvin’s relation to and use of Augustine have become a common and well- explored topic in modern research that underscores, in general, Calvin’s predi- lection for the African Father. 3 This appears to be true even in Calvin’s earliest 1 John Calvin, De aeterna Dei praedestinatione, ed. Wilhelm H. Neuser, Ioannis Calvini Opera Omnia 3.1 (Geneva, 1998), 30; see J. Marius J. Lange van Ravenswaay, Augustinus totus noster: das Augustinverständnis bei Johannes Calvin, Forschungen zur Kirchen- und Dogmen- geschichte 45 (Göttingen, 1990). 2 Luchesius Smits, Saint Augustin dans l’œuvre de Jean Calvin, 2 vols. (Assen, 1956-8), and Remko J. Mooi, Het Kerk- en Dogmenhistorisch Element in de Werken van Johannes Calvijn (Wageningen, 1965). 3 For a brief overview on the literature until 1997, see Johannes van Oort, ‘John Calvin and the Church Fathers’, in Irena Backus (ed.), The Reception of the Church Fathers in the West. From the Carolingians to the Maurists (Leiden, 1997), 661-700, 661-2. The most recent summary is Anthony N.S. Lane, ‘John Calvin’, in Karla Pollmann (ed.), The Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine (Oxford, 2013), II 739-43. See also Larissa Seelbach, ‘Augustin und Studia Patristica LXXXVII, 181-194. © Peeters Publishers, 2017.