John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion: A Biography

Bruce Gordon

Published by Princeton University Press 2016

John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion

A Biography

Bruce Gordon

Volume 25 in the series Lives of Great Religious Books

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400880508

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

Bruce Gordon is the Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale Divinity School. He is the author of Calvin and The Swiss Reformation. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut.

Reviews

While Gordon's book will contribute to scholarship on the Reformation in general, and Calvin and the Reformed tradition in particular, it will be particularly beneficial to students and non-specialists who are interested in Calvin but have never read his opus magnum in its entirety. Gordon's biography of the Institutes is a welcome addition to the scholarship and I highly recommend it.---Inseo Song, Reading Religion

Eminent Reformation historian Gordon presents an exceptionally interesting and readable account of the ‘life' of Calvin's great theological classic Institutes of the Christian Religion.

A compelling argument.---Brian Bethune, Maclean's

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.

"Bruce Gordon's biography of Calvin's book is well researched, energetically presented, and broadly informative. Gordon ably situates the Institutes against its author and the complicated history of Calvinism."—Mark A. Noll, author of Protestantism: A Very Short Introduction

While there have been scores of studies tracking the legacy of John Calvin and his theological vision in the history of Christianity and the western world, this new study of the Rezeptionsgeschichte of Calvin's magnum opus, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, is unique. Gordon . . . ably shows that this work well deserves a place in a series devoted to the ‘Lives of Great Religious Books.'---Michael A.G. Haykin, Church History and Religious Culture

"Gordon's book is an invaluable introduction to Calvin and the Institutes, and to the diversity of interpretation surrounding it."—John L. Thompson, Fuller Theological Seminary

Bruce Gordon's short book is worth reading. . . . As an introduction to the complex legacy of one of the magisterial Reformers, Gordon's book is an excellent place to begin.---Judith Maltby, Church Times

This is an excellent volume. I warmly commend it to anyone with an interest in Calvin's Institutes, and the way it has been understood through the centuries.---Tony Lane, Gospel Coalition

[A] compact treatment of the life of one of the great theological texts, John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. . . . Due to the broad intellectual history it develops, this book would work quite well in the classroom as a secondary source on Calvin and Reformed theology for upper-level undergraduates and seminary students. It could also be recommended as a primer on these topics for interested nonspecialists.---Tanner Capps, Renaissance Quarterly

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xvii
Note on The Translation Used Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xix
Introduction: Remembering a Man and His Book Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. A Book Emerges Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
Chapter 2. 1559: The Year of the Book Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
Chapter 3. The Inheritors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	48
Chapter 4. Enlightenment Ambivalence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
Chapter 5. Fashioning a Reformer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
Chapter 6. America’s Calvins Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	110
Chapter 7. “A Very Calvinist Professor” and His Dutch Friends Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
Chapter 8. Titans: Barth and Brunner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
Chapter 9. Prophet of Modernity — Prince of Tyrants Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	148
Chapter 10. Oppression and Liberation: South Africa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	166
Chapter 11. Change and Dissent: China Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Chapter 12. Contemporary Voices Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
Afterword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Appendix 1. Burning a Man and His Books: Michael Servetus and John Calvin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Appendix 2. Calvin’s Editions of Institutes of the Christian Religion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255