Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
This was my first time “reading” it. I listened to the 60+ hours at 1.25 pace. This allowed me to finish sooner. It took more than six months listening to it for about half an hour on my way to work. It is in essence a systematic theology of the Christian faith.
– Very logical and methodical. Everything is well organized with numbers for each chapter and sections. It is very organized and argued well with Scripture. He often refers to important figures of the Christian church and leaders like St Augustine, Luther, Aquinas and many others to either support a point or argue away a point that he doesn’t agree with. He is a fierce critic of “Papists” (Roman Catholic) and Anabaptists. He often refers to them in harsh tone.
– It is very succinct. Calvin’s use of language is masterful (I listened to an English translation of a French edition, so I am not totally certain). He makes the point and explains clearly without too much fuzz. There are no personal illustrations.
– I like all of this perhaps because I think in a similar manner.
– Some things that I found not liking: He is very rigid in his viewpoints and argues they are “the” biblical views. His tone is harsh and negative to opposing views. This was an “aha” moment for me to understand Calvinists/Reformed people today. Given, not everyone is the same, a lot of people who have followed Calvin’s teaching have the same tone.
– Calvin does really well in explaining basic theological truths such as the Trinity. He does really well in explaining Roman Catholicism views of salvation and rituals. He adds a bit of history of the papacy as well.
– Of course, I disagree with him on some points, especially infant baptism. He sees it as equivalent to circumcision in the Old Testament. He doesn’t argue how this comes about, but he does this with the Old Testament in general. This is how covenant theology works. His support is very weak in the New Testament, (there is not a single mention of infant baptism), repeats it over and over affirming it as the truth.
-Reading Calvin’s view of government, he would be considered a Nationalist today. In fact, historically it was true in Europe during the Reformation. Geneva, where Calvin resided became Protestant. Reformers gave approval condemning to their deaths many Anabaptists who opposed many of their views, in particular infant baptistm.
– Overall, good read. There is much biblical theology that one can use for Bible studies. Calvin had an incredible grasp of Scripture, history, and theology in general.
