There are influences today that, should Christ tarry, will be regarded as of immense importance at some future moment. Which same influences in our time are presently viewed as simply background; or which not speaking so directly or loudly on the current "burning issue," are not rated as highly as those now in the spotlight. There is no way to know what material will rise to the surface over time.
There were more than a few cities and territories of Reformation in the 1500s. Calvin was a notable figure in a constellation of notable men of his time. But then he and his generation died. What mattered were the ripples each created, and few people regard such things when the splashes are going on and there is lots of other activity.
Calvin's work had staying power, his influence outlasting his own life and that of many of his contemporaries, at least when measured by perennial acknowledgement of his utility. Everyone's life influences some circle of persons, for good or ill; and that effect remains in the human pool forever, long after any measurable notice has dissipated. "No man is an island..." A few, however, for this reason or that have fresh propagations of their labors periodically reminded to the world, with deliberate attribution.
Other figures have been forgotten and resurrected. Turretin, Witsius, for example. Will they continue to be read after this century? Will they be replaced again? Calvin and Luther are destined to be remembered (already we can say) within certain circles at least, alongside Augustin and Jerome. Both pairs serve as particularly useful exemplars of a much larger body of voices in a critical era.
Always, there is debate over how much a man "deserves" to be chosen by after-generations of literati to fill such a role. But the fact remains, he does; and we are left to look at his remains and try to answer the question, "Why?," to our own satisfaction.
