Institutes of the Christian Religion (text only) Revised edition by J. Calvin,H. Beveridge

by H. Beveridge J. Calvin

Institutes of the Christian Religion [Hardcover]John Calvin (Author) Henry Beveridge (Translator)

Genres: Theology, Christian, Christianity, Religion

1059 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Caleb Lofthus · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a shame that we live in an age where the attention span & theological depth of many people is too shallow to absorb dense theology.

Calvin’s institutes are an amazing, theologically rich, & mature treatise on the Christian faith! Do I agree with him on everything? No! Do I think that if Calvin lived today he would continue to reform, sharpen, and further develop his beliefs? Yes!

The Institutes should be required reading for every mature believer.

[Jack Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost 6 months of reading and every page was worth it. 😤 I’m grateful to be done 😩

[Peter Kiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened on audiobook. It was very interesting to see how much Calvin thought that he was steering theology back into orthodoxy as he quotes the old fathers, rather than ever departing from orthodoxy or creating anything new. Overall, I loved seeing the birth of reformation theology but I prefer reading Calvin's modern successors for systematics since they go far deeper on certain issues.

[Gloriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, though quite long-winded. I will have to eventually return and read it more thoroughly--as it was I had only time for a light reading of it. Ah, Lordship.

[Ezra Youngren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read about 4/5 of this for school.

“Nothing in nature is more ordinary than that we should be nourished by bread.”

[Seth Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I bought my copy of John Calvin's "Institutes of the Christian Religion," I was actually shopping for shoes on Amazon. Noticing the book in my recommended, I decided 'why not?' I imagined I would get a book like so many others, 200, maybe 300 or so pages. Imagine my surprise when I open the Amazon box a week or so later to see a 988 page behemoth staring back at me! However, being an aspiring reader of Thomas Aquinas's "Summa Theologica," I figured I'd give Institutes an oppurtunity to be my test run, if I failed to finish this book, I would know that I wasn't ready for the Summa.

However, as I read, this book become much more. As a matter of fact, it has quickly became one of my favorite reads of the year. I, and perhaps many others, simply viewed John Calvin as the predestination guy. I was guilty of this when I picked up the book, and was expecting to get my fair share of predestination propaganda. And whilst there is definetly points in the book where Calvin defends his position on predestination, the majority of the book is detached from this theology. I was actually blown away by how well thought out and scripturally supported many of Calvin's claims where, particularly in book IV, covering his disdain for many aspects of the Church as an institution.

As a work of systematic theology, Insitutes is a great piece of well reasoned, well supported ideas that anyone interested in theology will apprecaite reading. That being said, this book is very much a product of its time. It is not uncommon for Calvin to take breaks in the middle of stating theology to dispute ideas by the people of his time or past that may be foreign to the average reader. I myself have been interested in church history for some time and still found many points where Calvin discussed or refuted people whom I had never heard of. Furthermore, he quotes a lot of people in support of his claims. No more are as heavily quoted as Saint Augustine, being my favorite Saint, I loved how often he made appearances in this book. However, the frequent references and niche historical references in this book make it less suited for a beginner theologian.

[Alex Fransen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't even know where to begin.

I started reading the Institutes on the first of January, with the idea to follow a plan which would take me through it in a year. After about 3 months, I started getting behind, and the plan went out the window. I've been reading it at my own pace, which is definitely a lot more stop/start than a consistent plan, but has allowed me to enjoy it more, rather than it feeling like a duty.

I finished it last night, so that's what, six and a half months? Arguably the longest read of mine - Tolstoy's War and Peace will trump this when I finish it though! - but definitely worth it.

Did I understand it all? Nope.
Is all of it particularly relevant to today's society, especially regarding certain aspects of theology? Not as much.
But is it worth reading? Most definitely.

Calvin's deep thinking and his beautiful exposition of Scriptural theology is just gold. His zeal for correct doctrine and his love for people go hand in hand, and the Institutes just oozes the love of Christ.
I will always find it hilarious that a brief exposition took Calvin over 1,000 pages, but considering the times, it was necessary, and his work is one of the most important works of the early Reformed fathers, if not the most important.

[Landon Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall a great set of books. I look forward to referencing sections and going back through my notes.

Given that it took me over a year to read this 4 volume amazing work of systematic theology by Saint John Calvin, I laughed when I read how Calvin described himself: "I have a natural love of brevity, and, perhaps, any attempt of mine at copiousness would not succeed."

But I also could see his point, as his style is direct, logical, and precise.

Nonetheless, that quote stood out as at least slightly ironic to me.

[Carson Knauff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the final boss of my year of reading big books. It is a marvel this book exists as it is so dense, so thought out, so knowledgeable in church history, and covered in Scripture. A resource I will return to often as it is not a core text for TULIP but a core text for Protestant Christianity.

[James Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

The magnitude of this Protestant magnum opus can not be understated. The way Calvin goes about—as Gospel Simplicity would say—“setting the terms of the debate” and continues to the serve the church even now in the 21st century, can only, probably, be bested by Aquinas’ Summa.

Calvin is a true gift to the church.

[Isaiah Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an impressive work. How does someone even begin to write something of this scale?

I'm glad to have read it, but that's about all I can say. I remember maybe like 5% of what I read. But hopefully I'm a better person for having read it. Hopefully, in the words of another author, "Most of the good your reading and education has done for you is not something you can recall at all."

[Weston Schubert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contrary to popular believe, Calvin did not merely push soteriological doctrines down the throat of Christians. He was a faithful pastor and expositor of the word of God. The institutes covers nearly every doctrinal stance, from those deemed orthodox and beyond. Very much recommend!

[Evan Kern · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book as much as it's possible to with a tome of this magnitude. I definitely differ with his opinion on paedobaptism but overall he sticks to a very scripture centric theology which is always good

[Lucas Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too much to write about here, a masterpiece for sure.
I read it on logos, my first time reading a book of this length on a computer, which was interesting.

Worth noting, the logos edition sees this work as 4 books across 3 volumes for about 2,000 pages.

[Seth Bollinger]

I only read most of books 1-3, so I left 25% of this unread. But marking it as finished for now!

[Lachlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

uhh based???

[Cameron Borders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fine Wine. Required reading. Timeless. Maybe the best non inspired book ever written…