J. I. Packer, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Iain Murray, and Ernest Kevan are among the distinguished contributors to this compilation of papers on a wide range of topics pertaining to Puritan and Reformed teaching, piety, and life. This volume, the first in a series, captures the principles and passion of Puritan belief as presented in the Puritan and Reformed Studies Conferences of 1956-1959.

The twenty-three papers gathered here are, by design, "practical and constructive, not merely academic", says Packer, and therefore helpful to pastors as well as the whole church.

An introduction to the essential life and thought of one of history's most influential theologians, who considered himself first and foremost a pilgrim and a pastor.

July 10, 2009, marks the five-hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Calvin. As controversial as he was influential, his critics have named a judgmental and joyless attitude after him, while his admirers celebrate him as the principal theologian of Reformed Christianity. Yet his impact is unmistakable-a primary developer of western civilization whose life and work have deeply affected five centuries' worth of pastors, scholars, and individuals.

What will surprise the readers of this book, however, is that Calvin did not live primarily to influence future generations. Rather, he considered himself first and foremost a spiritual pilgrim and a minister of the Word in the church of his day. It was from that "essential" Calvin that all his influence flowed.

Here is an introduction to Calvin's life and thought and essence: a man who moved people not through the power of personality but through passion for the Word, a man who sought to serve the gospel in the most humble of roles.