Download or read book Calvin the Magistrate written by George J. Gatgounis and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-01-29 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The legal and political scenario of Calvin’s day involved upheavals deriving from the force of religion upon law. Whole cities, provinces, and states came under Reformation influence, ranging from quiet individual conversions to Protestantism to the hysteria of community iconoclasm. The transformation of these societies, however, was not moving away from a religious worldview; rather, the transformation was a movement of one religion to another. In Calvin’s day, secularism, pluralism, and religious toleration were nonexistent. Europe was not in the thrall of the question “Should religion in public life be tolerated?” but rather “Which religion should be enforced, to the banning of all others?” Calvin was a driven man, but a valid question drove him: “What is the true religion?” And deriving from the central question were corollaries: “What law is right law?” and “What government is right government?” Calvin’s trek would lead him to answers. Calvin concluded that, substantively, a correct political and legal system derives from the Bible, and procedurally, the system is applied by democratically elected officials, checking and balancing one another—and his views were consistent with a Reformation consensus.
Download or read book God and the Civil Government written by John Calvin and published by . This book was released on 2020-05-02 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the duties of Christians at the ballot box to the doctrine of the lesser magistrate, John Calvin (1509-1564) had much to say on the institution and workings of civil government. Included in this volume are his thoughts on elections, rulers, judges, and civil office. His writings discuss the role of God's law in jurisprudence and stipulate the standards by which nations must be governed. He examines just magistrates and tyrants, honor and obedience, and the overruling hand of providence found in all offices and positions of authority. He also issues a biblical warning against fearing men or favoring an unjust cause in judgment. Pertinent in its thought and stunning in its applicability to contemporary law and politics, Calvin's sermons and writings present a refreshing analysis of the providential institution of civil government and the various jurisdictions of life. His deep understanding of both the nature of man and the root of rebellion and revolution as well as the duties of rulers and citizens in the civil sphere and before God offers the modern reader a powerful and relevant exposition of Scripture's teachings on government and society. God and the Civil Government is composed of excerpts from Calvin's sermons on Deuteronomy preached in Geneva in 1555 and 1556. The text has been translated from the published version Sermons de M. Jean Calvin sur le v. livre de Moyse nommé Deuteronome (Thomas Courteau, Geneva, 1567) and has been duly compared with Arthur Golding's English translation published in 1583 under the title The Sermons of M. John Calvin upon the Fifth Book of Moses (printed by Henry Middleton for Thomas Woodcocke, London). Alongside these sermons, chapters six through eleven of this volume have been taken from Calvin's writing on the civil government in his Institutes of the Christian Religion.
Download or read book Calvin and the Civil Magistrate written by Joshua Rosenthal and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book John Calvin on God and Political Duty written by Jean Calvin and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Calvin in Context written by David Steinmetz and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-10-14 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book illuminates Calvin's thought by placing it in the context of the theological and exegetical traditions--ancient, medieval, and contemporary-- that formed it and contributed to its particular texture. Steinmetz addresses a range of issues almost as wide as the Reformation itself, including the knowledge of God, the problem of iconoclasm, the doctrines of justification and predestination, and the role of the state and the civil magistrate. Along the way, Steinmetz also clarifies the substance of Calvin's quarrels with Lutherans, Catholics, Anabaptists, and assorted radicals from Ochino to Sozzini. For the new edition he has added a new Preface and four new chapters based on recent published and unpublished essays. An accessible yet authoritative general introduction to Calvin's thought, Calvin in Context engages a much wider range of primary sources than the standard introductions. It provides a context for understanding Calvin not from secondary literature about the later middle ages and Renaissance, but from the writings of Calvin's own contemporaries and the rich sources from which they drew.
Download or read book The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates written by Matthew J. Trewhella and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-08-10 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America has entered troubling times. The rule of law is crumbling. The massive expansion of Federal government power with its destructive laws and policies is of grave concern to many. But what can be done to quell the abuse of power by civil authority? Are unjust or immoral actions by the government simply to be accepted and their lawless commands obeyed? How do we know when the government has acted tyrannically? Which actions constitute proper and legitimate resistance? This book places in your hands a hopeful blueprint for freedom. Appealing to history and the Word of God, Pastor Matthew Trewhella answers these questions and shows how Americans can successfully resist the Federal government's attempts to trample our Constitution, assault our liberty, and impugn the law of God. The doctrine of the lesser magistrates declares that when the superior or higher civil authority makes an unjust/immoral law or decree, the lesser or lower ranking civil authority has both the right and duty to refuse obedience to that superior authority. If necessary, the lower authority may even actively resist the superior authority. Historically, this doctrine was practiced before the time of Christ and Christianity. It was Christian men, however, who formalized and embedded it into their political institutions throughout Western Civilization. The doctrine of the lesser magistrates is a historic tool that provides proven guidelines for proper and legitimate resistance to tyranny, often without causing any major upheaval in society. The doctrine teaches us how to rein in lawless acts by government and restore justice in our nation. "Use this sword against my enemies, if I give righteous commands; but if I give unrighteous commands, use it against me." -Roman Emperor Trajan, speaking to one of his subordinates This is the first book published solely addressing the doctrine of the lesser magistrates in over 400 years. Matthew Trewhella is the pastor of Mercy Seat Christian Church. He is a graduate of Valley Forge Christian College. He and his wife, Clara, have eleven children and nine grandchildren, and reside in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. His research and teaching on the lesser magistrate doctrine is reshaping the thinking of Americans. He was instrumental in publishing the Magdeburg Confession in 2012 - the first English translation of the document since it was written in 1550.
Download or read book Calvin s Political Theology and the Public Engagement of the Church written by Matthew J. Tuininga and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-06 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Calvin's two kingdoms political thought offers a fresh paradigm for constructive Christian engagement in pluralistic liberal societies.
Download or read book Calvin s Doctrine of the State written by Mark J. Larson and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2009-01-08 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary treatments of Calvin's political views often imply that he embraced a theocratic civil polity and that he was committed to holy war doctrine. On the basis of the primary sources, the first half of this volume argues that neither position is correct. Calvin, in his political thought, maintained the superiority of a republic as a civil polity. In addition, he placed himself firmly within the medieval just war tradition that was established by Augustine of Hippo and later reaffirmed by Thomas Aquinas. In terms of his commitment to classical just war teaching, Calvin stood in continuity with Martin Luther, even while he distanced himself from the holy war perspective of the Zurich Reformers Henry Bullinger and Peter Martyr Vermigli. In the thinking of Calvin, a war could only be authorized by the state, not the church. War had to be prosecuted with humanity and restraint, and not in the tradition of the medieval crusade. The second half of the book sets forth what Calvin actually believed on the matter of government and war. Here we examine his teaching on parliamentary resistance to monarchical tyranny and the full dimensions of his commitment to justice of war categories. Unlike Luther and Bullinger, Calvin provided a parliamentary remedy for the perennial evil of tyranny. With Vermigli and Theodore Beza siding with Calvin on this right, a body of Reformed doctrine was established to which succeeding generations could appeal for teaching, direction, and justification for taking up arms. It is clear that Calvin's political legacy is profoundly evident in the American Revolutionary War and in the constitutional determination for a republic in the United States of America. Calvin's ecclesiastical republicanism, as it came to fruition in Presbyterian church government, was a powerful impetus toward the creation of republican institutions in civil government.
Download or read book The Necessity of Reforming the Church written by and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Reformation Europe written by Ulinka Rublack and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-21 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first survey to utilise the approaches of the new cultural history in analysing how Reformation Europe came about.
Download or read book Uncommon Decency written by Richard J. Mouw and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2011-08-29 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few if any people in the evangelical world have conversed as widely and sensitively as Richard Mouw. That's why Mouw can write here so wisely and helpfully about what Christians can appreciate about pluralism, the theological basis for civility, and how we can communicate with people who disagree with us on the issues that matter most.
Download or read book John Calvin s Institutes of the Christian Religion written by Bruce Gordon and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-05-17 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential biography of the most important book of the Protestant Reformation John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion is a defining book of the Reformation and a pillar of Protestant theology. First published in Latin in 1536 and in Calvin's native French in 1541, the Institutes argues for the majesty of God and for justification by faith alone. The book decisively shaped Calvinism as a major religious and intellectual force in Europe and throughout the world. Here, Bruce Gordon provides an essential biography of Calvin's influential and enduring theological masterpiece, tracing the diverse ways it has been read and interpreted from Calvin's time to today. Gordon explores the origins and character of the Institutes, looking closely at its theological and historical roots, and explaining how it evolved through numerous editions to become a complete summary of Reformation doctrine. He shows how the development of the book reflected the evolving thought of Calvin, who instilled in the work a restlessness that reflected his understanding of the Christian life as a journey to God. Following Calvin's death in 1564, the Institutes continued to be reprinted, reedited, and reworked through the centuries. Gordon describes how it has been used in radically different ways, such as in South Africa, where it was invoked both to defend and attack the horror of apartheid. He examines its vexed relationship with the historical Calvin—a figure both revered and despised—and charts its robust and contentious reception history, taking readers from the Puritans and Voltaire to YouTube, the novels of Marilynne Robinson, and to China and Africa, where the Institutes continues to find new audiences today.
Download or read book John Calvin written by T. H. L. Parker and published by Presbyterian Publishing Corp. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Calvin was one of the most important leaders of the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. In this revision of his major biography, T. H. L. Parker explores Calvin's achievement against the backdrop of the turbulent times in which he lived. With clear and concise explanations of Calvin's theology, analyses of his major works, and insights into his preaching, this definitive biography brings this crucially important reformer and his world to life for readers.
Download or read book Calvin s Theology and Its Reception written by J. Todd Billings and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique resource for the study of John Calvin's theology, its reception, and insights for today.
Download or read book Calvin written by Bernard Cottret and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2000-09 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Modesty, softness, and mildness"-such was John Calvin, in his own words. This brief self-portrait will surprise posterity, quick as it is to detect in Calvin a deeply passionate man of zealous action. Calvin adds elsewhere: "I acknowledge myself to be timid, soft, and cowardly by nature." He repeated the same idea feelingly on the eve of his death, calling himself "timid" and "fearful" before an astounded group of pastors who knew by experience that the old fellow could raise up storms. These various descriptions of Calvin strongly underline the vigor of a character that owed all its energy to God alone. At the same time, the apparent contradictions within Calvin's personality make it hard to capture his true nature. The large number of biographies attempted to date attest to this fact, many of which simply picture Calvin as a rigid fundamentalist or as a totalitarian who ruled Geneva with an iron hand. Such interpretations, however, are much too one-dimensional. This sterling new biography by Bernard Cottret opts for a Calvin "in movement," thus distinguishing itself from works that present Calvin as a man of relatively static character. The aim of this book is simply to recover the truth, or rather to reclaim the intelligibility of a man in his time. This is a historian's Calvin, the work of a university professor who is neither a theologian nor an ordained minister. Cottret's welcome approach sheds new light on the great Reformer's personality by concentrating on the milieu in which Calvin did his life's work. In the largest part of the book, Cottret explores Calvin's life chronologically. We are introduced to the world into which Calvin was born, a Europe in the throes of upheaval owing to the development of the printing press and divergent religious views. We follow Calvin from his birth and childhood in Noyon to his school years in Paris. We accompany Calvin on his humanistic and literary pursuits in Basel, his early ministry in Geneva, and his halcyon Strasbourg years. Finally, we move again to Geneva, where the brunt of Calvin's serious-and better known-life was lived. Along the way we encounter the major issues of Calvin's day-the sacrifice of the Mass, iconoclasm, predestination, the Arianism of Michael Servetus-issues to which he reacted with all his religious emotion. We tarry with him in Geneva and get an up-close look at the governance of Calvinism's "holy city." And we share in Calvin's joys and sorrows through a reading of his prolific correspondence. In the final chapters, Cottret explores thematic aspects of Calvin's persona-Calvin the polemicist, the preacher, and the writer-and looks in greater depth at his foremost work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion. Widely acclaimed in its French edition, this balanced and beautifully written biography will take its place among the best-and most enjoyable-portraits of Calvin's life, work, and lasting influence.
Download or read book The Reformed Faith of John Calvin written by David Engelsma and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A succinct, systematic summary of John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion that sets forth the essence the reformer's teachings in his Institutes on all the truths of the Christian religion. This summary is either expressed or supported by the most important and vivid statements of Calvin, so the readers hears Calvin himself. The book also gives a brief explanation of certain of Calvin's teachings, offers analysis of his doctrine, applies his teachings to contemporary doctrinal issues, and sometimes even criticizes Calvin's doctrine. The book provides exact references to the Institutes enabling the reader to compare the summary with Calvin's presentation.
Download or read book Luther and Calvin on Secular Authority written by John Calvin and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1991-09-27 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Martin Luther and John Calvin were the principal 'magistral' Reformers of the sixteenth-century: they sought to enlist the cooperation of rulers in the work of reforming the Church. However, neither regarded the relationship between Reformed Christians and the secular authorities as comfortable or unproblematic. The two pieces translated here, Luther's On Secular Authority and Calvin's On Civil Government, constitute their most sustained attempts to find the proper balance between these two commitments. Despite their mutual respect, there were wide divergences between them. Luther's On Secular Authority would later be cited en bloc in favour of religious toleration, whereas Calvin envisaged secular authority as an agency for the compulsory establishment of the external conditions of Christian virtue and the suppression of dissent. The introduction, glossary, chronology and bibliography contained in this volume locate the texts in the broader context of the theology and political thinking of their authors.
