JOHN CALVIN
His life and influence
By Robert L Reymond . Christian Focus. 160 pages
ISBN 1 85792 966 7
John Calvin — the very name evokes a reaction. Some have found great consolation and assurance in the doctrines associated with it. Others, misunderstanding Calvin’s teaching, have regarded it as a spiritual stumbling block.
Any new work on the life and influence of the great Reformer is therefore the more welcome. This book by Professor Robert Reymond originated as four lectures given at a Presbyterian church in Florida in 2002. The first lecture could be dubbed ‘In Praise of Calvin’s Institutes’, and contains a number of longish quotations setting out the worth and excellence of The Institutes of the Christian Religion first published in 1536. It continues by dealing with aspects of Calvin’s youth. In the second lecture the Professor elaborates on Calvin’s early life, his conversion and initial expulsion from Geneva. The third and longest lecture majors on Calvin's massive achievements as a writer, theologian and trail blazer. The fourth lecture, and possibly the most helpful for the ‘ordinary’ reader, deals with the thinking that lay behind Calvin’s support for the death penalty inflicted on Michael Servetus for heresy in 1553, together with the final years of the Reformer’s life.
Even though these lectures receive fulsome accolades from eminent Reformed scholars, it is difficult to decide for whom this book is actually intended. Theological students might well find it useful as an introduction to studies on Calvin, but the average reader could struggle with it. The style tends to be prolix and many of the concepts daunting, with theological terms such as ‘salvifically’ and others, together with numerous Latinisms, scattered throughout, often without explanation.
In all, this book is limited in the extent of its usefulness, but as an introduction to a study of Calvin’s Institutes it is an obvious contribution.
