Everything about Institutes Of The Christian Religion totally explained
Institutes of the Christian Religion is
John Calvin's seminal work on
Protestant systematic theology. Highly influential in the Western world and still widely read by theological students today, it was published in
Latin in
1536 and in his native
French in
1541, with the definitive editions appearing in
1559 (Latin) and in
1560 (French).
The book was written as an introductory textbook on the Protestant faith for those with some learning already and covered a broad range of theological topics from the doctrines of
church and
sacraments to
justification by faith alone and
Christian liberty, and it vigorously attacked the teachings of those Calvin considered
unorthodox, particularly
Roman Catholicism to which Calvin says he'd been "strongly devoted" before his conversion to Protestantism. The over-arching theme of the book – and Calvin's greatest theological legacy – is the idea of God's total sovereignty, particularly in
salvation and election. It overshadowed the earlier Protestant theologies such as
Melanchthon's
Loci and
Zwingli's
Commentary on the True and False Religion, and according to historian
Philip Schaff, it's a classic of theology at the level of
Origen's
On First Principles,
Augustine's The City of God, and
Thomas Aquinas's
Summa Theologica, and
Schleiermacher's
The Christian Faith.
The Latin word
institutio can mean
arrangement, custom, introduction, or
education. The English word
institute can mean
elementary principle or
a brief, intensive course of instruction devoted to technical fields. Perhaps a better rendering for this part of the title would be
introduction or
catechism. This is supported by something Calvin himself says in his prefatory address to King Francis: "My intention was only to furnish a kind of rudiments, by which those who feel some interest in religion might be trained to true godliness." A more accurate English title would probably be
Introduction to Christian Piety or
Basic Christian Piety, but the current English title is quite well established and unlikely to be replaced in popular or academic usage.
Contents
The opening chapter of the
Institutes is perhaps the best known, in which Calvin presents the basic plan of the book. There are two general subjects to be examined: the creator, and his creatures. Above all, the book concerns the knowledge of God the Creator; but "as it's in the creation of man that the divine perfections are best displayed", there also is an examination of what can be known about humankind. After all, it's mankind's knowledge of God and of what he requires of his creatures, that's overall the issue of concern for a book of theology. In the first chapter, these two issues are considered together, to show what God has to do with mankind (and other creatures), and especially, how knowing God is connected with human knowledge.
To pursue that explanation of the relationship between God and man, Calvin adopts a traditional structure of
Christian instruction used in Western Christianity, by arranging the material according to the plan of the
Apostles' Creed. First the knowledge of God is considered as knowledge of the Father, the creator, provider and sustainer. Then it's examined how the Son reveals the Father, as only God is able to reveal God. And finally, the third section of the
Institutes describes the work of the Holy Spirit, who raised Christ from the dead, and who comes from the Father and the Son to affect a union in the Church through faith in Jesus Christ, with God, forever.
Further Information
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