From socks to sandals. Calvin's Joseph

If Mary hardly occupies a place in Calvin's theology, unlike Luther's, Joseph is even less present. In his Treatise on Relics (1543), Calvin first mocks the sock-relics found in some churches, but he makes room for Jesus' earthly father when he comments on a passage from the Infancy Gospel, when he uses the expression filius Ioseph torefer to Jesus, when he bases a sermon on one of these passages, and even once in theInstitution of the Christian Religion. In this way, we can sketch out the figure of Joseph in Calvin's writings and see in what way it is original.