Theology of Calvin, The

by Wilhelm Niesel, Harold Knight (Translator)

Short The range and sweep of John Calvin's theology have rarely been more comprehensively presented than by Niesel in this important book, which has long been recognized by Calvin scholars and students of Reformation theology as an essential work.

Genres: Christian, Theology

258 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

Reviews

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid and clear if now somewhat dated summary of Calvin's theology. Niesel does not try to identify a central dogma in Calvin, although (in Barthian fashion) he does make the self-revelation of God in Christ something of a gravity well that attracts other doctrines toward it. Also in keeping with Barth, Niesel is hostile toward natural law/theology and toward doctrines of predestination that invoke a "hidden counsel" of God.

Highly useful is Niesel's use of the "distinct but not separate" structure to illuminate several areas of Calvin's thought: Christology, sacraments, justification and sanctification, Trinity. There are many penetrating comments throughout.

Somewhat annoyingly there is no gathered bibliography. Also the author refers to Calvin's writings other than Institutes only by their position in Corpus Reformatorum, which means that the reader often does not know which work is being cited without checking and that the work's usefulness is diminished for readers without a background in Latin.