Francis Turretin

Francis Turretin

4 Sermons
Francis Turretin (October 17, 1623 – September 28, 1687) was a Genevan-Italian preacher, pastor, and theologian whose ministry defended Reformed orthodoxy and shaped Protestant theology in the 17th century. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, to Bénédict Turrettini, a theology professor and pastor of the Italian church, and Louise Turrettini, he was raised in a scholarly, devout family of Italian descent—his grandfather Francesco having fled Lucca in 1574 for Geneva’s Reformation haven. He studied philosophy at the Geneva Academy, then theology there (1640–1644), followed by advanced studies in Leiden, Utrecht, Paris, Saumur, Montauban, and Nîmes, engaging with luminaries like Pierre Gassendi and David Blondel. Turretin’s preaching career began in 1648 as pastor of Geneva’s Italian congregation, serving Italian-speaking refugees with sermons rooted in Calvinistic precision, a role he held until his death. Appointed professor of theology at the Geneva Academy in 1653, he preached and taught against the moderate Calvinism of Saumur’s Moïse Amyraut, co-authoring the 1675 Helvetic Consensus to uphold the Synod of Dort’s predestination stance. His sermons, preserved in his Institutes of Elenctic Theology (1679–1685), a three-volume masterpiece, offered meticulous biblical defenses of Reformed doctrine, influencing Puritans and later theologians like Jonathan Edwards. Married to Isabelle de Masse in 1652, with whom he had four children—two surviving infancy—he died at age 63 in Geneva after a long illness.
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