Gage Browning of Experimental Calvinism has given us a wonderful series of posts providing glimpses into the life of John Calvin. He details the background to Calvin’s influential Institutes of the Christian Religion, offers a fascinating account of Calvin’s answer to an attempt by a Catholic apologist to win Geneva back to Roman Catholicism, and discusses in detail the infamous execution of Servetus. And through it all, he really opens a window on the man Calvin. My respect for him has grown, and I am sure you will be blessed by his recounting of Calvin’s influential life.
In Gage’s last post, he summed up the life of Calvin as follows:
…He was a reluctant reformer. He was the most private of all the reformers. He wrote one of the ten best books ever written, which is the Institutes of the Christian Religion. He wrote commentaries on all the books of the Bible except Revelation and 2nd and 3rd John. He preached methodically, through the Bible verse by verse. He was the first ever to do thorough expositions of the Bible from the pulpit. Before Calvin died, he left instructions to be buried in a common grave, a grave where poor people were buried. He wanted no marker, and no monument, and to this day, no one knows his burial site. John Calvin did not want to become an object of admiration. It is because of that very kind of self-deprecation that we cannot help but admire him. John Calvin had something to say in his life and in his preaching. He is one of the most influential men the church has ever seen….
Be sure to read this series:
∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 \”¢ Rom. 15:5-7
Bob,
Thanks for your kind words and for linking my post on Calvin. I hope people will actually read Calvin after learning a little more about the man.
Blessings,
Gage Browning
Experimental Calvinism
Me too!
I need to start his Institutes, now that I have it.
Someday…
I read Gage’s series in one sitting…very informative. His statements conflicted with much of what I was told regarding Calvin.
Good job, Gage.
The more I think about it lately, the more clear it is that popular knowledge of the real Calvin would fall through the cracks in an individualistic, revivalistic, man-centered society like ours. How thankful I am that even today there is a remnant “who has not bowed the knee to Baal,” and that their views are becoming more and more noticed by the mainstream of the Evangelical world.
Even my organist friend, Martha, told me just last night that in her online search for good church music, she’s beginning to learn about Reformed theology, and was curious if this was errant, in its different emphasis on evangelism and worship. I was very happy to inform her the Reformed faith is the pure undistilled theology of the Reformation, and the original theology of the Baptist tradition in particular, and that, yes, Martha, to subscribe to Reformed theology is to go in the right direction!
Naturally, Martha already has an email in her inbox in which I link her to this introductory post which links to my man, Gage’s, series.
Reformata, Semper Reformanda!!!!!
Thanks Bob again for posting my series on Calvin. I’m also very pleased to see that there is some interest in the life of Calvin. I will do a series on Luther soon, after my series on the Nicene Creed.
Blessings,
Gage Browning
Experimental Calvinism
Thank you, Gage. And I look forward to the series on Luther!
God bless,
Bob Hayton
[...] Having recently read Gage Browning’s posts on the life of John Calvin, I was intrigued to see that Reformation 21’s latest e-zine issue included an article on Calvin and Missions. [...]