An introduction to the complete Calvin corpus is available in English for the first time, placing information on the Geneva Reformer's exegetical and controversial work within easy reach. This survey also includes a biography focusing on the people and events that swirled through his life. Throughout the guide de Greef relates Calvin's publications to their historical context. Interpretive biblical works, essays and confessional treatises, and theological debates are covered, along with Calvin's correspondence and miscellaneous writings. One chapter follows the development of the Institutes of the Christian Religion through its successive revisions. Extensive indexes and notes on major Calvin studies are included. The guide avoids quoting the works themselves but shows where to turn for Calvin's thoughts on a subject. Bibliographical data have been reworked from the Dutch edition to point out English translations.

John Calvin (1509-64) influence reaches from the Reformation to Karl Barth and beyond. Outstanding as biblical scholar, preacher and practical Church reformer, Calvin intended all his work to serve the Word of God. Although couched in 16th century terms, his theology drew on the wealth of previous Christian thought and continues to be relevant to the situation of the Church today.This book is a comprehensive introduction to the whole range of Calvin's theology. Concentrating on Calvin's major work The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Parker explains it's relevance to Christians of all times. This volume will give readers a full and serious sense of Calvin both as a Christian and as a thinker.

In this careful study of John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, Reformed theologian Yudha Thianto sets Calvin's writings in their historical context and outlines the significant aspects of his theology for those who would know more about Calvin's works and through it, the God who inspired them.

A colossal milestone of Christian thought—at an irresistible price! Here in a convenient one-volume edition is John Calvin’s magnum opus. Written as an introduction to the Christian life, the Institutes remains the best articulation of Reformation principles and is a marvelous introduction to biblical Christianity. Newly retypeset for clarity, this volume translated by Henry Beveridge offers a more affordable edition of one of the last millennium’s must-have works. This book will appeal to libraries, seminarians, pastors, and laypeople. Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin is an introduction to the Bible and a vindication of Reformation principles by one of the Reformation’s finest scholars. At the age of twenty-six, Calvin published several revisions of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, a seminal work in Christian theology that altered the course of Western history and that is still read by theological students today. It was published in Latin in 1536 and in his native French in 1541, with the definitive editions appearing in 1559 (Latin) and in 1560 (French). The book was written as an introductory textbook on the Protestant faith for those with some learning already and covered a broad range of theological topics from the doctrines of church and sacraments to justification by faith alone. It vigorously attacked the teachings of those Calvin considered unorthodox, particularly Roman Catholicism, to which Calvin says he had been “strongly devoted” before his conversion to Protestantism. The overarching theme of the book—and Calvin’s greatest theological legacy—is the idea of God’s total sovereignty, particularly in salvation and election. John Calvin (1509–1564), a French theologian and reformer, was persecuted as a Protestant. As a result, he traveled from place to place. In 1534 at Angouleme he began the work of systematizing Protestant thought in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, one of the most influential theological works of all time.

Honoring the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Christopher Elwood offers an insightful and accessible overview of John Calvin's theological ideas within their historical context. A Brief Introduction to John Calvin discusses the trials and tribulations Calvin encountered as he ministered and taught in Geneva, paying special attention to the theological controversies associated with the Trinity and predestination. In this concise introduction, Elwood explores the development of Calvinism and its influence in today's world.

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.

The book illuminates Calvin's thought by placing it in the context of the theological and exegetical traditions - ancient, medieval, and contemporary - that formed it and contributed to its particular texture. Steinmetz addresses a range of issues almost as wide as the Reformation itself, including the knowledge of God, the problem of iconoclasm, the doctrines of justification and predestination, and the role of the state and the civil magistrate. Along the way, Steinmetz also clarifies the substance of Calvin's quarrels with Lutherans, Catholics, Anabaptists, and assorted radicals from Ochino to Sozzini. For the new edition he has added a new Preface and four new chapters based on recent published and unpublished essays. An accessible yet authoritative general introduction to Calvin's thought, Calvin in Context engages a much wider range of primary sources than the standard introductions. It provides a context for understanding Calvin not from secondary literature about the later middle ages and Renaissance, but from the writings of Calvin's own contemporaries and the rich sources from which they drew.

An essential biography of the most important book of the Protestant Reformation John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion is a defining book of the Reformation and a pillar of Protestant theology. First published in Latin in 1536 and in Calvin's native French in 1541, the Institutes argues for the majesty of God and for justification by faith alone. The book decisively shaped Calvinism as a major religious and intellectual force in Europe and throughout the world. Here, Bruce Gordon provides an essential biography of Calvin's influential and enduring theological masterpiece, tracing the diverse ways it has been read and interpreted from Calvin's time to today. Gordon explores the origins and character of the Institutes, looking closely at its theological and historical roots, and explaining how it evolved through numerous editions to become a complete summary of Reformation doctrine. He shows how the development of the book reflected the evolving thought of Calvin, who instilled in the work a restlessness that reflected his understanding of the Christian life as a journey to God. Following Calvin's death in 1564, the Institutes continued to be reprinted, reedited, and reworked through the centuries. Gordon describes how it has been used in radically different ways, such as in South Africa, where it was invoked both to defend and attack the horror of apartheid. He examines its vexed relationship with the historical Calvin—a figure both revered and despised—and charts its robust and contentious reception history, taking readers from the Puritans and Voltaire to YouTube, the novels of Marilynne Robinson, and to China and Africa, where the Institutes continues to find new audiences today.