This work focuses on a rarely noted side of the Protestant reformer John Calvin: the theologian as a man appreciative of the details of God's creation, an admirer of those who investigate nature, and a leader that accepted their discoveries and conclusions. John Calvin and the Natural World explores the content of Calvin's scientific outlook by reviewing his views on the structure of the cosmos; the nature of matter and motion; weather; the age, shape, place, and history of the Earth; and the behaviors and characteristics of animals, plants, the human body, and disease. Also drawn out, are the classical, biblical, and medieval influences on Calvin's ideas about nature. Professor Davis A. Young concludes the work with a discussion of Calvin's attitudes, practices, and ideas with respect to science in comparison to how these ideas are carried out in the contemporary church. Professor Young surmises that the judicious application of Calvin's principle of accommodation would help the church to deal in a more thoughtful and balanced way in respect to science and nature, and to defuse some of the rancorous debates surrounding the age of the Earth, flood geology, and evolution.

This work focuses on a rarely noted side of the Protestant reformer John Calvin: the theologian as a man appreciative of the details of God's creation, an admirer of those who investigate nature, and a leader that accepted their discoveries and conclusions. John Calvin and the Natural World explores the content of Calvin's scientific outlook by reviewing his views on the structure of the cosmos; the nature of matter and motion; weather; the age, shape, place, and history of the Earth; and the behaviors and characteristics of animals, plants, the human body, and disease. Also drawn out, are the classical, biblical, and medieval influences on Calvin's ideas about nature. Professor Davis A. Young concludes the work with a discussion of Calvin's attitudes, practices, and ideas with respect to science in comparison to how these ideas are carried out in the contemporary church. Professor Young surmises that the judicious application of Calvin's principle of accommodation would help the church to deal in a more thoughtful and balanced way in respect to science and nature, and to defuse some of the rancorous debates surrounding the age of the Earth, flood geology, and evolution.

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson is one of the most eminent public intellectuals in America today. In addition to literary elegance, her trilogy of novels (Gilead, Home, and Lila) and her collections of essays offer probing meditations on the Christian faith. Many of these reflections are grounded in her belief that the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformer John Calvin still deserves a hearing in the twenty-first century. This volume, based on the 2018 Wheaton Theology Conference, brings together the thoughts of leading theologians, historians, literary scholars, and church leaders who engaged in theological dialogue with Robinson's published work-and with the author herself.

Creation is the theater of God's glory. Scripture is like a pair of glasses that clarifies our vision of God. Justification is the hinge on which religion turns. These and other affirmations are often associated with John Calvin, the 16th-century French Protestant Reformer best known for his ministry in Geneva and his authorship of the Institutes of the Christian Religion. Over the course of his lifetime and through several editions, Calvin expanded the Institutes from a brief study to a four-volume book that covers the main doctrines of the Christian faith and continues to shape the theology of the Reformed tradition. In this volume, Reformed theologian Yudha Thianto guides readers through a careful study of Calvin's Institutes. After setting Calvin and his writing in their historical context, he outlines the most significant aspects of Calvin's theology, guiding those who would know more about his work and, through it, the God who inspired him. Books in the Explorer's Guide series are accessible guidebooks for those studying the great Christian texts and theologians from church history, helping readers explore the context in which these texts were written and navigate the rich yet complex terrain of Christian theology.

A great deal has been written about the influence of humanism on the Reformation. The present study reverses the question, asking: how did the Reformation affect humanism? Although it is true that humanism influenced the course of the Reformation, says Erika Rummel, the dynamics of the relationship are better described by saying that humanism was co-opted, perhaps even exploited, in the religious debate. Both Reformers and Catholic reactionaries took from humanism what was useful for the advancement of their cause and suppressed what was unsuited to their purpose.

In this novel exploration of Reformed spirituality, Belden C. Lane uncovers a "green theology" that celebrates a community of jubilant creatures of all languages and species. Lane reveals an ecologically sensitive Calvin who spoke of himself as ''ravished'' by the earth's beauty. He speaks of Puritans who fostered a ''lusty'' spirituality in which Christ figured as a lover who encouraged meditation on the wonders of creation. He presents a Jonathan Edwards who urged a sensuous ''enjoyment'' of God's beauty as the only real way of knowing God.
Lane argues for the ''double irony'' of Reformed spirituality, showing that Calvinists who often seem prudish and proper are in fact a people of passionate desire. Similarly, Reformed Christians who appear totally focused on divine transcendence turn out at times to be closet nature mystics, exulting in God's glory everywhere. Lane also demonstrates, however, that a spirituality of desire can be derailed, ending in sexual excess and pantheism. Ecologically, holy longing can be redirected from a contemplation of God's splendor in the earth's beauty to a craving for land itself, resulting in disastrous misuse of its resources.
Between the major chapters of the book are engaging personal essays drawn from the author's own love of nature as a Reformed Christian, and providing a thoughtful discussion of contemporary issues of species diversity and the honoring of an earth community.

These chapters explore how a religious minority not only gained a toehold in countries of exile, but also wove itself into their political, social, and religious fabric. The way for the refugees' departure from France was prepared through correspondence and the cultivation of commercial, military, scholarly and familial ties. On arrival at their destinations immigrants exploited contacts made by compatriots and co-religionists who had preceded them to find employment. London, a hub for the "Protestant international" from the reign of Elizabeth I, provided openings for tutors and journalists. Huguenot financial skills were at the heart of the early Bank of England; Huguenot reporting disseminated unprecedented information on the workings of the Westminster Parliament; Huguenot networks became entwined with English political factions. Webs of connection were transplanted and reconfigured in Ireland. With their education and international contacts, refugees were indispensable as diplomats to Protestant rulers in northern Europe. They operated monetary transfers across borders and as fund-raisers, helped alleviate the plight of persecuted co-religionists. Meanwhile, French ministers in London attempted to hold together an exceptionally large community of incomers against heresy and the temptations of assimilation. This is a story of refugee networks perpetuated, but also interpenetrated and remade.

In this volume, leading systematic theologians and New Testament scholars working today undertake a fresh and constructive interdisciplinary engagement with key eschatological themes in Christian theology in close conversation with the work of Karl Barth. Ranging from close exegetical studies of Barth's treatment of eschatological themes in his commentary on Romans or lectures on 1 Corinthians, to examination of his mature dogmatic discussions of death and evil, this volume offers a fascinating variety of insights into both Barth's theology and its legacy, as well as the eschatological dimensions of the biblical witness and its salience for both the academy and church. Contributors are: John M. G. Barclay, Douglas Campbell, Christophe Chalamet, Kaitlyn Dugan, Nancy J. Duff, Susan Eastman, Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Grant Macaskill, Kenneth Oakes, Christoph Schwoebel Christiane Tietz, Philip G. Ziegler.

Puritanism has a reputation for being emotionally dry, but seventeenth-century Puritans did not only have rich and complex emotional lives, they also found meaning in and drew spiritual strength from emotion. From theology to lived experience and from joy to affliction, this volume surveys the wealth and depth of the Puritans' passions.

This book unearths the practical social theology of the 19th Century Church in Scotland. It has been widely believed that the church was largely mute on the widespread poverty and deprivation which accompanied the rapid expanse of urban life. This study asserts that the church was not lacking in commitment to improving such conditions, through the example of theologians Robert Flint and the parish minister Frederick Lockhart Robertson. Flint's publication of Christ's Kingdom upon Earth led the Church of Scotland in Glasgow to investigate slum housing conditions and led to the idea that religion could not be complacent about the need for social action. It shines new light on the history of the Church of Scotland. It shows how religion was a reforming movement in an age of deprivation. It highlights the importance of social reformist writers within the Church.

For ordinary people, the impact of the Reformation would have centred around local parish churches, rather than the theological debates of the Reformers. Focusing on the Calvinists, this volume explores how the architecture, appearance and arrangement of places of worship were transformed by new theology and religious practice. Based on original research and site visits, this book charts the impact of the Reformed faith across Europe, concentrating in particular on France, the Netherlands and Scotland. While in some areas a Calvinist Reformation led to the adaptation of existing buildings, elsewhere it resulted in the construction of new places of worship to innovative new designs. Reformed places of worship also reflected local considerations, vested interests and civic aspirations, often employing the latest styles and forms of decoration, and here provide a lens through which to examine not only the impact of the Reformation at a local level but also the character of the different religious settlements across Europe during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. -- .

The doctrine of deification or theosis is typically associated with the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Indeed, the language of participation in the divine nature as a way to understand salvation often sounds like strange music in the ears of Western Christians despite passages like 2 Peter 1:4 where it appears. However, recent scholarship has argued that the theologies of some of the most prominent figures in the history of the Western church, including Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Wesley, share more in common with deification than has been acknowledged. In this New Explorations in Theology volume, theologian James Salladin considers the role of deification in the theology of another well-known Western theologian: Jonathan Edwards. In addition, he reflects upon the question of how Edwards's soteriology compares with the rest of the broader Reformed tradition. Here, we discover how Edwards's theology affirms what it means for sinners to be brought into the hands of a loving God. Featuring new monographs with cutting-edge research, New Explorations in Theology provides a platform for constructive, creative work in the areas of systematic, historical, philosophical, biblical, and practical theology.

The original is in Dutch (left hand page). The right hand page is an English translation of these lectures that give a tightly formulated introduction to Calvinist philosophy. Introduction by Anthony Tol. Preface by Calvin Seerveld.

In this provocative study, David W. Hall argues that Calvinism had a greater influence on America's founders than contemporary scholars, and perhaps even the founders themselves, have understood. Calvinism's insistence that human rulers tend to err played a significant role in the founders' prescription of limited government and fed the distinctly American philosophy in which political freedom for citizens is held as the highest value. Hall's timely work countervails many scholars' doubt in the intellectual efficacy of religion by showing that religious teachings have led to such progressive ideals as American democracy and freedom.

This book examines the social, political, and religious relationships between Calvinists and Catholics during Holland's Golden Age. Although Holland, the largest province of the Dutch Republic, was officially Calvinist, its population was one of the most religiously heterogeneous in early modern Europe. The Catholic Church was officially disestablished in the 1570s, yet by the 1620s Catholicism underwent a revival, flourishing in a semi-clandestine private sphere. The book focuses on how Reformed Protestants dealt with this revived Catholicism, arguing that confessional coexistence between Calvinists and Catholics operated within a number of contiguous and overlapping social, political, and cultural spaces. The result was a paradox: a society that was at once Calvinist and pluralist. Christine Kooi maps the daily interactions between people of different faiths and examines how religious boundaries were negotiated during an era of tumultuous religious change.

Charles Hodge (1797-1878) was one of nineteenth-century America's leading theologians, owing in part to a lengthy teaching career, voluminous writings, and a faculty post at one of the nation's most influential schools, Princeton Theological Seminary. Surprisingly, the only biography of this towering figure was written by his son, just two years after his death. Paul Gutjahr's book, therefore, is the first modern critical biography of a man some have called the "Pope of Presbyterianism. " Hodge's legacy is especially important to American Presbyterians. His brand of theological conservatism became vital in the 1920s, as Princeton Seminary saw itself, and its denomination, split. The conservative wing held unswervingly to the Old School tradition championed by Hodge, and ultimately founded the breakaway Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The views that Hodge developed, refined, and propagated helped shape many of the central traditions of twentieth- and twenty-first-century American evangelicalism. Hodge helped establish a profound reliance on the Bible among evangelicals, and he became one of the nation's most vocal proponents of biblical inerrancy. Gutjahr's study reveals the exceptional depth, breadth, and longevity of Hodge's theological influence and illuminates the varied and complex nature of conservative American Protestantism.

The year 2009 marked Calvin's 500th birthday. This volume collects papers initially written as the plenary addresses for the largest international scholarly conference held in connection with this anniversary, organized in Geneva by the Institute of Reformation History. The organizers chose as theme for the conference ''Calvin and His Influence 1509-2009, '' hoping to stimulate reflection about what Calvin's ideas and example have meant across the five centuries since his lifetime, as well as about how much validity the classic interpretations that have linked his legacy to fundamental features of modernity such as democracy, capitalism, or science still retain. In brief, the story that emerges from the book is as follows: In the generations immediately after Calvin's death, he became an authority whose writings were widely cited by leading ''Calvinist'' theologians, but he was in fact just one of several Reformed theologians of his generation who were much appreciated by these theologians. In the eighteenth century, his writings began to be far less frequently cited. Even in Reformed circles what was now most frequently recalled was his action during the Servetus affair, so that he now started to be widely criticized in those quarters of the Reformed tradition that were now attached to the idea of toleration or the ideal of a free church. In the nineteenth century, his theology was recovered again in a variety of different contexts, while scholars established the monument to his life and work that was the Opera Calvini and undertook major studies of his life and times. Church movements now claimed the label ''Calvinist'' for themselves with increasing insistence and pride. (The term had largely been a derogatory label in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.) The movements that identified themselves as Calvinist or were identified as such by contemporaries nonetheless varied considerably in the manner in which they drew upon and understood Calvin's thought. Calvin and His Influence should become the starting point for further scholarly reflection about the history of Calvinism, from its origin to the present.

The Reformation thinker John Calvin had significant and unusual things to say about life in public encounter, things which both anticipate modern thinking and, says William Stevenson, can serve as important antidotes to some of modern thinking's broader pretensions. This study attempts to give a coherent picture of Calvin's political theory by following the stream that flows from Calvin's fascinating short essay "On Christian Freedom," which constitutes one coherent chapter in Book Three of the Institutes of the Christian Religion. Stevenson argues that a full examination of this essay yields not only a more thorough explication of Calvin's political ideas proper but also a more complete and coherent picture of their theological underpinnings.

The book illuminates Calvin's thought by placing it in the context of the theological and exegetical traditions - ancient, medieval, and contemporary - that formed it and contributed to its particular texture. Steinmetz addresses a range of issues almost as wide as the Reformation itself, including the knowledge of God, the problem of iconoclasm, the doctrines of justification and predestination, and the role of the state and the civil magistrate. Along the way, Steinmetz also clarifies the substance of Calvin's quarrels with Lutherans, Catholics, Anabaptists, and assorted radicals from Ochino to Sozzini. For the new edition he has added a new Preface and four new chapters based on recent published and unpublished essays. An accessible yet authoritative general introduction to Calvin's thought, Calvin in Context engages a much wider range of primary sources than the standard introductions. It provides a context for understanding Calvin not from secondary literature about the later middle ages and Renaissance, but from the writings of Calvin's own contemporaries and the rich sources from which they drew.

George Smith (1833 1919) spent many years in India as an educator and editor of the Calcutta Review. He was a great supporter of missionary work and became secretary of the foreign mission committee of the Free Church of Scotland in 1870. He also wrote popular books of missionary biography including this two-volume Life of Alexander Duff (1879). Duff (1806 1878) was the first foreign missionary of the Church of Scotland and a leading figure in promoting Christian education in India. Duff pioneered what he called 'downward filter theory' which centred on educating India's upper caste through English in the hope that this elite group would then take responsibility for the evangelisation and modernisation of South Asia. Volume 1 describes Duff's life until 1843, covering his education in Scotland, his arrival in Calcutta and the founding of his school, the General Assembly Institution.

George Smith (1833 1919) spent many years in India as an educator and editor of the Calcutta Review. He was a great supporter of missionary work and became secretary of the foreign mission committee of the Free Church of Scotland in 1870. He also wrote popular books of missionary biography including this two-volume Life of Alexander Duff (1879). Duff (1806 1878) was the first foreign missionary of the Church of Scotland and a leading figure in promoting Christian education in India. Duff pioneered what he called 'downward filter theory' which centred on educating India's upper caste through English in the hope that this elite group would then take responsibility for the evangelisation and modernisation of South Asia. Volume 2 describes Duff's life from 1843 until his death in 1878, covering his contribution to the 1854 educational reforms in India and the founding of the University of Calcutta.