Doctrine
The Institutes of Christian Religion
By John Calvin
Why would anybody today want to read a book written almost 450 years ago? To answer that question we must see who Calvin was, why he wrote the book, and understand how it has shapes history.
John Calvin lived during the great Reformation in the sixteenth century, mostly residing in Geneva, Switzerland. He eventually became the leading theologian of Reformed Protestantism.
He usually preached 200 times a year, and was a prolific writer. His commentaries on the Bible were classed by the great C. H. Spurgeon as "second only to Scripture itself." His most important work, the The Institutes, remain one of the greatest Protestant works of all time, and it has had a profound influence on, not only Christian history, but world history also.
The Institutes were intended to be an introduction and guide to the Bible. Calvin designed this book to be useful for practical, holy living. It is said that his "ink is not dry yet", so relevant to our modern times is much of Calvin's work.
It is carefully organized, with the longest chapter being on Prayer. Calvin's theology is based on the divine sovereignty of God in all aspects of life. This work is soaked in scripture and has eighty chapters, starting with The Knowledge of God and ending with Civil Government.
For over four centuries Calvin has amazed and delighted those who agree with him and dismayed and angered those who do not.
It is a shame his writings are not more read today, for all who seriously take time to consider what they had to say would profit in the Christian religion.
This book is available at the St. Thomas Evangelical Library. Please call (519) 633-8282 or e-mail the librarian, John Van Eyk, at elibrary@execulink.com for more information on this work or any other book you may be interested in.
Spurgeon vs. Hyper-Calvinism: The Battle for Gospel Preaching
By Iain H. Murray
Charles Spurgeon is best known today for the extraordinary ministry which he carried out in 19th century London, the fruits of which abound to this very hour. But few people are aware of the intense opposition which Spurgeon faced in his early years of preaching. Fearlessly and compassionately proclaiming the universal invitiation of the gospel and man's responsibility to repent and believe, Spurgeon was vehemently attacked by many who considered themselves orthodox Calvinists.
In this highly informative yet readable account, Iain Murray takes us back to the crucial "battle for gospel preaching" between Spurgeon and his detractors. Many treatments of the tension between predestination and the free offer of the gospel are so abstract that they can only be understood by advanced theologians. This book addresses that apparent contradiction in the "flesh and blood" of a man who loved to preach Christ and who loved the doctrines of sovereign grace, and whose ministry was unquestionably crowned by the blessing of God.
If you are convinced of the bedrock truths of Calvinistic teaching, yet you want to maintain the same passion and burden for lost sinners that Spurgeon had, this book will ground you in essential biblical perspectives on preaching and evangelism. Thoughtfully consumed, it may well inoculate our churches from imbalance and error for years to come.
Iain Murray's doctrinal treatise can be borrowed from the St. Thomas Evangelical Library. Please call (519) 633-8282 or e-mail the librarian, John Van Eyk, at elibrary@execulink.com for more information on this work or any other book you may be interested in.
The review on Calvin's Institutes was written by St. Thomas Evangelical Library librarian John Van Eyk and appeared in the local newspaper, the St. Thomas Times-Journal.
The contents of the review on Iain H. Murray's Spurgeon vs. Hyper-Calvinism: The Battle for Gospel Preaching first appeared in a Trinity Book Service booklist in April 1996. To purchase this book and/or other Christian literature, visit their web site at www.trinitybookservice.org or write to them at Post Office Box 569, Montville, New Jersey, U.S.A., 07045.
