Was john Calvin a protestant or a puritan?

Answer 1

John Calvin was definitely not a Puritan. Puritans desired to reform the Anglican Church (Church of England) without splitting from it. They are identical to Separatists in England, except for Separatists desired to separate from the Anglican Church. Both Reformation churches saw a need to cleanse the Anglican Church of its Catholic influence. The Anglican Church was initially created as a governmental reform, that lacked any real substantive theological reform.

Calvin sought to break with the Catholic Church despite his early ecclesiastical support from the Catholic Church. Calvin was born in Noyon, France, and after education and several moves, conducted most of his work in Geneva, Switzerland. His ire against the Catholic Church was significant, like the Puritans; however, his theology was significantly different. He believed in paedobaptism and consubstantiation, which are both quite different from Puritanical theology.

Both Puritans and Protestants seek the Gospel, and both have a variety of sects within each group. While there are quite a few similarities, John Calvin's theology is much closer to Luther's and Zwingli's than to any of the notable English reformers.