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Life in God: John Calvin, Practical Formation, and the Future of Protestant Theology
Contemplates Calvin's Institutes as practical spiritual theologyFor many today, John Calvin is best known as an austere, strictly intellectual teacher of Protestant doctrine. But Matthew Myer Boulton reads him very differently, arguing that for Calvin, Christian theology is properly conceived and articulated primarily for the sake of everyday, practical formation through the church's treasury of spiritual disciplines.Although Calvin famously opposed the cloister, Boulton shows that his purpose was not the eradication but rather the democratization of spiritual disciplines often associated with monasticism. Ordinary disciples, too, Calvin insisted, should embrace such formative practices as close scriptural study, daily prayer and worship, regular Psalm singing, and frequent celebration of the Lord's Supper. This deeply formational approach to Christian doctrine provides a fruitful template for Protestant theology today -- and tomorrow.
242 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 25, 2011
17 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Myer Boulton
7 booksNamed the sixth president of Christian Theological Seminary (Indianapolis, IN), Matthew Boulton was most recently Associate Professor of Ministry Studies at Harvard Divinity School.
In his teaching and research, Boulton has explored ways in which Christian worship founds and forms Christian life. This exploration draws together his interests in the history and practices of Christian liturgy; theology and public life; biblical interpretation and proclamation; and the performing arts, including theater, music, and film.
Boulton is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
In his teaching and research, Boulton has explored ways in which Christian worship founds and forms Christian life. This exploration draws together his interests in the history and practices of Christian liturgy; theology and public life; biblical interpretation and proclamation; and the performing arts, including theater, music, and film.
Boulton is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 11, 2012
Fantastic book that should be read widely, and not just by theologians. Christian educators, especially in the Reformed tradition, will find this to be illuminating and provocative. (Of course, I like it because it basically shows that John Calvin would have endorsed "Desiring the Kingdom"! ;-)
September 29, 2024
Put simply, Boulton argues that Calvin’s project, at its heart, is formational. All his preaching, all of his commentaries, and especially his “Institutions” were aimed toward forming disciples and training them to live life “in God”.
At times, Boulton’s prose is like a finish carpenter who measures cuts down to the 1/32nd. It can be burdensome. And yet, as with a precise finish carpenter, it is also beautiful.
All-in-all, an important book in the conversations of Reformed theology, Calvin studies, and spiritual formation.
At times, Boulton’s prose is like a finish carpenter who measures cuts down to the 1/32nd. It can be burdensome. And yet, as with a precise finish carpenter, it is also beautiful.
All-in-all, an important book in the conversations of Reformed theology, Calvin studies, and spiritual formation.
August 7, 2024
This book will be my new go-to resource to recommend to people wanting a thorough introduction to Calvin and his thinking. Rather than the usual summaries and defense of/attack on the five-point TULIP model, this work aims to retrieve Calvin's concern for Christian formation (paideia) through a close reading of his famed Institutes. Which means, of course, you'll need a good copy of the Institutes by your side as you wade through this volume. I read it in Logos Bible software with convenient hyperlinks so I could move back and forth between this book and Calvin's work, taking in large chunks of the Institutes as I worked through this text. It was a very eye-opening and enlightening exercise. The author also proves surprisingly adept at a poetic or otherwise highly memorable turn of phrase, many of which would prove perfect for sermon illustrations. E.g.:
From page 212: "If we spend our time solemnly or skeptically seeking after intricate proofs or extraordinary evidence of God’s existence or benevolence, we are like miners doggedly digging for a scrap of precious metal (any scrap will do!), though in fact we burrow through a mountain made of gold, with silver shovels in our hands."
From pages 226-227: "The practices I carry out do not and cannot gain me entrance into God’s good graces. Rather, at best, they are in the first place already graceful divine works carried out in and through me. Thus they are not human techniques for 'getting closer to God.' They are not little towers of Babel."
From page 229: "We are like a community to which a benefactor bequeaths a warehouse full of fitness machines and related equipment... If someone objects that a light workout once a week (or less) is hardly enough to produce the transformation our benefactor likely had in mind, we may insist—rather oddly—that what really count are our ideas about the exercises, the machines, the benefactor, and so on."
From page 164: "...they have no right to self-congratulation, which is to say, to self-directed doxology."
Some really good stuff there. This ranks among the best books I've read about Calvinism, and I've been on a bit of Calvin bender since Lent. Now, I reckon, the only thing left for me is to crack the Institutes back open to page 1 and begin to read my loooooong way through that. With this volume under my belt, though, I feel much better acquainted with Calvin's own thought and words, not to mention far more excited about the prospect of actually reading them.
From page 212: "If we spend our time solemnly or skeptically seeking after intricate proofs or extraordinary evidence of God’s existence or benevolence, we are like miners doggedly digging for a scrap of precious metal (any scrap will do!), though in fact we burrow through a mountain made of gold, with silver shovels in our hands."
From pages 226-227: "The practices I carry out do not and cannot gain me entrance into God’s good graces. Rather, at best, they are in the first place already graceful divine works carried out in and through me. Thus they are not human techniques for 'getting closer to God.' They are not little towers of Babel."
From page 229: "We are like a community to which a benefactor bequeaths a warehouse full of fitness machines and related equipment... If someone objects that a light workout once a week (or less) is hardly enough to produce the transformation our benefactor likely had in mind, we may insist—rather oddly—that what really count are our ideas about the exercises, the machines, the benefactor, and so on."
From page 164: "...they have no right to self-congratulation, which is to say, to self-directed doxology."
Some really good stuff there. This ranks among the best books I've read about Calvinism, and I've been on a bit of Calvin bender since Lent. Now, I reckon, the only thing left for me is to crack the Institutes back open to page 1 and begin to read my loooooong way through that. With this volume under my belt, though, I feel much better acquainted with Calvin's own thought and words, not to mention far more excited about the prospect of actually reading them.
April 16, 2017
Excellent Read
A book of this topic is long over due, one that draws out from Calvin's own words, Calvin's view on the topic of spiritual formation. I shall never read Calvin's Institutes in the same way again.
A book of this topic is long over due, one that draws out from Calvin's own words, Calvin's view on the topic of spiritual formation. I shall never read Calvin's Institutes in the same way again.
June 2, 2018
Clear and compelling explanation of Calvin's theology, a critique of his rhetoric, and a rehabilitation of his rhetoric using Calvin's own theology. And all grounded in pietas.
June 5, 2014
4.5 stars
Boulton presents a reading of the institutes in which Calvin isn't simply writing a reformed systematic theology, but is writing theology through the lens of and for the purpose of Christian formation. The book strikes a lot of the same chords as Smith's Desiring the Kingdom and Imagining the Kingdom.
Really well written.
At the end of the book Boulton makes some constructive criticism of the church and its emphasis on theology for the sake of theology and its lack of habitual formative practices.
Here are a few helpful illustrations from the conclusion:
"We take a yoga mat and frame it on the wall. We resolve to run a marathon and enroll in a training program of short runs two or three Sunday mornings a month. We dream of mastering the piano but only rarely sit down at one, and even more rarely practice our scales. We are like a community to which a benefactor bequeaths a warehouse full of fitness machines and related equipment. In our wisdom, we resolve to keep the machines in the warehouse, gather once a week (or less) for an hour or two, lightly engaging the machines, and spending a good portion of the time watching a few of us exercise on behalf of the whole group (we sent them to exercise school, you see, so they are the experts). If someone objects that a light workout once a week or less is hardly enough to produce the transformation our benefactor likely had in mind, we may insist that what really count are our ideas about the exercises, the machines, the benefactor, and so on...
"Calvin would have none of this, of course. For him the church is indeed a social, moral, and credal association, but underlying and determining each of these other dimensions, the church is a gymnasium, a training ground, a school, a community of preparation and practice enrolled in God's sanctifying, transformative paideia..."
Boulton presents a reading of the institutes in which Calvin isn't simply writing a reformed systematic theology, but is writing theology through the lens of and for the purpose of Christian formation. The book strikes a lot of the same chords as Smith's Desiring the Kingdom and Imagining the Kingdom.
Really well written.
At the end of the book Boulton makes some constructive criticism of the church and its emphasis on theology for the sake of theology and its lack of habitual formative practices.
Here are a few helpful illustrations from the conclusion:
"We take a yoga mat and frame it on the wall. We resolve to run a marathon and enroll in a training program of short runs two or three Sunday mornings a month. We dream of mastering the piano but only rarely sit down at one, and even more rarely practice our scales. We are like a community to which a benefactor bequeaths a warehouse full of fitness machines and related equipment. In our wisdom, we resolve to keep the machines in the warehouse, gather once a week (or less) for an hour or two, lightly engaging the machines, and spending a good portion of the time watching a few of us exercise on behalf of the whole group (we sent them to exercise school, you see, so they are the experts). If someone objects that a light workout once a week or less is hardly enough to produce the transformation our benefactor likely had in mind, we may insist that what really count are our ideas about the exercises, the machines, the benefactor, and so on...
"Calvin would have none of this, of course. For him the church is indeed a social, moral, and credal association, but underlying and determining each of these other dimensions, the church is a gymnasium, a training ground, a school, a community of preparation and practice enrolled in God's sanctifying, transformative paideia..."
August 31, 2013
A beautifully written work following Calvin's formation design. Boutlon gives the reader serious material to chew on. Though he works through Calvin appreciatively, following the delicate nuances nicely, the author doesn't fawningly approve of everything Calvin put forward. Nevertheless, it is obvious that Boulton understands who he is examining, how he put things together, and what he was aiming for.
Boulton rightly sees that Calvin's approach to the spiritual disciplines, ecclesiology, sacramentology and theology were for formation of disciples;
"...in Calvin's view, the church is a kind of gymnasium: a society of formation and development, gathering occasionally for guidance and inspiration, but then sent out into the world to exercise all week long, at home and in the fields, day in and day out ( . . . ) in short, it develops her savoir vivre, her "knowing how to live" with and in God" (228).
I highly recommend "Life in God."
Boulton rightly sees that Calvin's approach to the spiritual disciplines, ecclesiology, sacramentology and theology were for formation of disciples;
"...in Calvin's view, the church is a kind of gymnasium: a society of formation and development, gathering occasionally for guidance and inspiration, but then sent out into the world to exercise all week long, at home and in the fields, day in and day out ( . . . ) in short, it develops her savoir vivre, her "knowing how to live" with and in God" (228).
I highly recommend "Life in God."
August 17, 2012
For what it sets out to do, this is a superb book. Bolton argues Calvin's view of monasticism was one of critical appropriation. While its spiritual training was laudable, its practice was too isolated and individualistic. Pointing to the monks of old, Calvin wanted to 'democratize' monastic spirituality and piety and show its relevance and importance for the everyday worker and city dweller. While Bolton provides ample references to consult and offers a few examples, I wish he would have allocated more pages to discuss how Calvin made the city of Geneva a life of training in God. That aside, it's a great work that pushes back on Steinmetz's rather breezy reading.
October 23, 2013
I’m very glad I read it. I must admit I haven’t read a lot about John Calvin - but if I had read this first - I would read a lot more. He makes Calvin and Calvin’s theology - lively and thoughtful and both ancient and contemporary. He creates a beautiful and thoughtful picture of Calvin - that both honors his complexity and the beauty of what he was talking about and crafting there in Geneva and beyond.
August 26, 2012
Thoughtful reappraisal of a much maligned and much needed theologian. Deftly shows what we can salvage in C.,much as C. Showed what could be salvaged from the paideia of the Early Church. Im teaching this book to lay groups in two different denominations this fall.
September 27, 2015
Interessante en frisse kijk op hoe Calvijn in zijn tijd geestelijke oefeningen(of praktijken) vormgaf. Sterker nog, deze vloeiden rechtsstreeks voort uit hoe hij zijn leer uiteen zette. Prikkelend en motiverend, en boven alles calvinistisch.
May 12, 2014
Rich exploration of spiritual formation on John Calvin with some helpful critiques and appropriations at the end.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews