Every four years, the International Calvin Congress gathers a wide spectrum of presenters from leading scholars to early-career researchers to learn from each other through several days of plenary lectures, panel sessions, and discussions. This volume of collected essays features current research on John Calvin, with a focus on the impact of the exile experience in early modern Europe. Several contributions explore how exile and return shaped Calvin and Reformed communities more generally, while others shed light on key topics in Calvin research, including explorations of his biblical exegesis, theological insights, and the impact of debates with his contemporaries. This volume brings together both senior scholars and newer voices in Calvin studies.

John Calvin was known foremost for his powerful impact on the fundamental doctrines of Protestantism, and his biblical interpretation continues to attract interest and inquiry. Calvin, the Bible, and History investigates Calvin's exegesis of the Bible through the lens of one of its most distinctive and distinguishing features: his historicizing approach to scripture. Barbara Pitkin here explores how historical consciousness affected Calvin's interpretation of the Bible, sometimes leading him to unusual, unprecedented, and occasionally controversial exegetical conclusions. Through several case studies, Pitkin explores the multi-faceted ways that historical consciousness was interlinked with Calvin's interpretation of biblical books, authors, and themes, analyzing the centrality of history in his engagement with scripture from the Pentateuch to his reception of the apostle Paul. First establishing the relevant intellectual and cultural contexts, Pitkin situates Calvin's readings within broader cultural trends and historical developments, demonstrating the expansive impact of Calvin's concept of history on his reading of the Bible. Calvin, the Bible, and History reveals the significance of his efforts to relate the biblical past to current historical conditions, reshaping an earlier image of Calvin as a forerunner of modern historical criticism by viewing his deep historical sensibility and distinct interpretive approach within their early modern context.

In the Early Modern period, the religious refugee became a constant presence in the European landscape, a presence which was felt, in the wake of processes of globalization, on other continents as well. During the religious wars, which raged in Europe at the time of the Reformation, and as a result of the persecution of religious minorities, hundreds of thousands of men and women were forced to go into exile and to restore their lives in new settings. In this collection of articles, an international group of historians focus on several of the significant groups of minorities who were driven into exile from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The contributions here discuss a broad range of topics, including the ways in which these communities of belief retained their identity in foreign climes, the religious meaning they accorded to the experience of exile, and the connection between ethnic attachment and religious belief, among others.

John Calvin was known foremost for his powerful impact on the fundamental doctrines of Protestantism, and his biblical interpretation continues to attract interest and inquiry. Calvin, the Bible, and History investigates Calvin's exegesis of the Bible through the lens of one of its most distinctive and distinguishing features: his historicizing approach to scripture. Barbara Pitkin here explores how historical consciousness affected Calvin's interpretation of the Bible, sometimes leading him to unusual, unprecedented, and occasionally controversial exegetical conclusions. Through several case studies, Pitkin explores the multi-faceted ways that historical consciousness was interlinked with Calvin's interpretation of biblical books, authors, and themes, analyzing the centrality of history in his engagement with scripture from the Pentateuch to his reception of the apostle Paul. First establishing the relevant intellectual and cultural contexts, Pitkin situates Calvin's readings within broader cultural trends and historical developments, demonstrating the expansive impact of Calvin's concept of history on his reading of the Bible. Calvin, the Bible, and History reveals the significance of his efforts to relate the biblical past to current historical conditions, reshaping an earlier image of Calvin as a forerunner of modern historical criticism by viewing his deep historical sensibility and distinct interpretive approach within their early modern context.

John Calvin was one of the most important leaders of the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. In this revision of his major biography, T. H. L. Parker explores Calvin's achievement against the backdrop of the turbulent times in which he lived. With clear and concise explanations of Calvin's theology, analyses of his major works, and insights into his preaching, this definitive biography brings this crucially important reformer and his world to life for readers.

During the glory days of the French Renaissance, young John Calvin (1509-1564) experienced a profound conversion to the faith of the Reformation. For the rest of his days he lived out the implications of that transformation—as exile, inspired reformer, and ultimately the dominant figure of the Protestant Reformation. Calvin's vision of the Christian religion has inspired many volumes of analysis, but this engaging biography examines a remarkable life. Bruce Gordon presents Calvin as a human being, a man at once brilliant, arrogant, charismatic, unforgiving, generous, and shrewd. The book explores with particular insight Calvin's self-conscious view of himself as prophet and apostle for his age and his struggle to tame a sense of his own superiority, perceived by others as arrogance. Gordon looks at Calvin's character, his maturing vision of God and humanity, his personal tragedies and failures, his extensive relationships with others, and the context within which he wrote and taught. What emerges is a man who devoted himself to the Church, inspiring and transforming the lives of others, especially those who suffered persecution for their religious beliefs.

An introduction to the essential life and thought of one of history's most influential theologians, who considered himself first and foremost a pilgrim and a pastor. July 10, 2009, marks the five-hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Calvin. As controversial as he was influential, his critics have named a judgmental and joyless attitude after him, while his admirers celebrate him as the principal theologian of Reformed Christianity. Yet his impact is unmistakable-a primary developer of western civilization whose life and work have deeply affected five centuries' worth of pastors, scholars, and individuals. What will surprise the readers of this book, however, is that Calvin did not live primarily to influence future generations. Rather, he considered himself first and foremost a spiritual pilgrim and a minister of the Word in the church of his day. It was from that "essential" Calvin that all his influence flowed. Here is an introduction to Calvin's life and thought and essence: a man who moved people not through the power of personality but through passion for the Word, a man who sought to serve the gospel in the most humble of roles.

When church and culture look the same... For the many Christians eager to prove we can be both holy and cool, cultural pressures are too much. We either compartmentalize our faith or drift from it altogether—into a world that’s so alluring. Have you wondered lately: Why does the Western church look so much like the world? Why are so many of my friends leaving the faith? How can we get back to our roots? Disappearing Church will help you sort through concerns like these, guiding you in a thoughtful, faithful, and hopeful response. Weaving together art, history, and theology, pastor and cultural observer Mark Sayers reminds us that real growth happens when the church embraces its countercultural witness, not when it blends in. It’s like Jesus said long ago, “If the salt loses its saltiness, it is no longer good for anything…”

Through countless retellings, from the Talmud to Archibald MacLeish and since, the story of Job has been a fixture in the cultural imagination of the West, captivating the human imagination and forcing its readers to wrestle with the most painful realities of human existence. In this study, Susan E. Schreiner analyzes interpretations of the Book of Job by Gregory the Great, Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas, and particularly John Calvin. Reading Calvin's interpretation against the background of his medieval predecessors, she shows how central Job is to Calvin's struggles with some basic theological issues. Calvin and his predecessors put forth a variety of explanations for Job's wisdom, focusing on discussions of suffering, inferiority, enlightenment, union with the Active Intellect, immortality, providence, and faith. The one unifying feature of these precritical Joban commentaries is a concern with intellectual perception - in particular, with what Job saw or understood. What did the friends, who defended God, misperceive? Why did they not see the situation correctly? How does one explain Job's perceptual superiority over his friends? These texts raise basic questions about the human capacity for knowledge: Can suffering, particularly inexplicable suffering, elevate human understandings about God and self? Can humans truly perceive the workings of providence in their personal lives? Are evil and injustice a reality that we must confront before finding wisdom? In her final chapter, Schreiner shows that such concerns are not abandoned in modern critical commentaries and literary transformations of the Joban legend. Her study concludes by tracing the trajectory of these concerns through thewide array of twentieth-century interpretations of Job, including modern biblical commentaries, the work of Carl Jung, and literary transfigurations by Wells, MacLeish, Wiesel, and Kafka. The result is a compelling demonstration of the vital insights the history of exegesis can yield for contemporary culture.