Following a series of disagreements with the Geneva city council over the right to refuse communion to individuals “they regarded as upsetting the unity of the Church,” Calvin and Farel left Geneva (Bruce Gordon, Calvin 79). They unsuccessfully pled their case in Zurich, where Calvin was labeled the primary instigator of the problems. They sought refuge in Basel before being invited to lead Reformed congregations in Neuchâtel (Farel) and Strasbourg (Calvin).
The Sixteenth-Century French Pamphlet Project