An international symposium commemorating the 500th anniversary of the birth of Reformer Jean Calvin (1509-1564) was held May 7 to 9 on the premises of Saleve Adventist University, Collonges-sous-Salève (Upper Savoy/France), near Geneva.

The "Colloque Jean Calvin" was organized at the initiative of the Dean of the School of Theology, Roland Meyer, Saleve Adventist University (SAU), in close collaboration with US-based Andrews University (Berrien Springs/Michigan), supported by the Geneva University Bookshop Payot-Rive Gauche, the reference bookseller in Geneva with an extensive selection of works on religion.

The symposium included lectures, discussions, visits to historical places in Geneva connected with the life and work of the reformer. Geneva is known as the birthplace of the Calvinist Reformation, and is sometimes called the "Protestant Rome".

One part of the program included a panel composed of two professors from the University of Geneva (Marc Vial, Michel Grandjean), two professors from Andrews University (Jiri Mioskala, Denis Fortin), one professor from the Friedensau Adventist University (Thomas Domanyi), three professors from the hosting institution (Roland Meyer, Marcel Ladislas, Jean-Luc Rolland) and Jean-Pierre Meynard, theologian and bookseller. The panel discussed Calvin's contribution to theology, church, society and ultimately his influence on the protestant mainstream Adventism.

"For months the Protestant world has been organizing events to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of the reformer John Calvin. Our school could not ignore this date, since Adventist theology draws some of its origins from Calvinistic thought and because our institution is located less than 10 km from Geneva. I took the initiative to organize this symposium with the support of my colleagues at the Andrew's University in the United States, Professor Jiri Moskala and Dean Denis Fortin. The ties we have with Friedensau Adventist University in Germany naturally brought about the invitation for historian Thomas Domanyi to join us," explained Roland Meyer.

"Academic colleagues from the University of Geneva, the historians Michel Grandjean and Marc Vial, were essential to the success of such an undertaking. The support of theologian and bookseller Jean-Pierre Meynard from Payot in Geneva has been greatly appreciated.

According to Roland Meyer, "the goals in organizing the event were manifold. First, we liked to offer to our students the opportunity to listen to outstanding experts on the Reformation. We wished to initiate the collaboration of specialists from different universities. Finally, we wanted the public to obtain an idea of Calvin's enormous contribution to the reformation movement. This symposium has achieved all of these objectives. The quality of the lectures and the level of discussions have been remarkable

According to Richard Lehmann, former rector of SAU, "This was an occasion to return to the roots of the Reformation, of which we are heirs, and a reminder of the great themes uncovered by the reformation: salvation by faith alone, Scripture as the sole source of authority, sanctification as a necessary result of justification, and a society following the Christian ideal - all of which are still valid 500 years later."

Saleve Adventist University plans to publish a booklet containing all the lectures presented at the symposium. As Denis Fortin, dean of theology at Andrew's University, commented, "This was a great initiative with ample contributions."