‘Any who wish to encounter Calvin’s systematic theology at its most pastoral, freest from controversial preoccupations, and mediated through superlative translation, should devour this rendering of the Reformer’s own French version of the second edition of his Institutes.’ — J. I. PACKER
The Institutes of the Christian Religion is Calvin's single most important work, and one of the key texts to emerge from the Reformation of the sixteenth century. The book accompanied the Reformer throughout his life, growing in size from what was essentially an expanded catechism in 1536 to a full-scale work of biblical theology in 1559-60. Yet, as many who have purchased an English translation of the final Latin edition of 1559. know only too well, the sheer size of the work and the proliferation of technical details and polemical themes do not make for easy reading. It has left many wishing for an edition that avoided such things but yet kept intact the very heart and soul of Calvin's teaching.
This is such an edition, and it is not the work of an editor or an abridger, but of Calvin himself. The Reformer's 1541 French edition of his Institutes really ought to be better known than it is because it avoids the technical details and much of the polemics of the final work, and instead offers the reader a clear yet comprehensive account of the teaching of the whole Bible of the work of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in creation, revelation and redemption, in the life of the individual Christian and in the worship and witness of the church. Here is doctrine but here too is life-shaping application, for the practical use of Christian doctrine is always Calvin's abiding concern. The author of the Institutes invites us both to know and to live the truth, and thus allow God's Spirit to transform us.
Robert White's translation of the 1541 French edition of the Institutes makes Calvin live once again, and it has been designed and annotated with the needs of a wide readership in mind. The reader will be truly amazed at both the power and the relevance of the Reformer's doctrine and application for Christian living in the twenty-first century.
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