# New book of Calvin writings from Vintage...



## TimeRedeemer (Jan 27, 2006)

Maybe this is known about among people who follow such things (upcoming books and all that), but this was surprising:

John Calvin: Steward of God's Covenant : Selected Writings (Vintage Spiritual Classics) (Paperback)
by John Calvin, John F. Thornton (Editor), Marilynne Robinson (Preface) 

Paperback: 464 pages 
Publisher: Vintage (February 14, 2006) 
Language: English 
ISBN: 1400096480 

*Book Description*
"This selection of the writings of John Calvin (1509"”1564) is the first for general readers to appear in many years. It showcases his powerful legacy, which has had far-reaching consequences for the development of religion and culture in Western Europe and in the shaping of American identity.
Calvin was a prodigious preacher and writer, and his sermons, Bible commentaries, tracts, and letters fill dozens of volumes. The works chosen for John Calvin: Steward of God´s Covenant highlight ideas central to the Reformation but also to his influence on modern life, e.g., the importance of a work ethic and the notion of being "œcalled" to action in the world; his belief in universal education for boys and girls; and his belief in the sanctity and freedom of individual conscience. Calvin´s theology of the "œelect" of God motivated the English and Dutch Calvinists who settled the Atlantic seaboard, their Promised Land. The traditions of their communities and churches and laws produced the widespread present-day American belief in a divinely favored national destiny. 

In her brilliant preface to this edition, Pulitzer Prize"”winning novelist Marilynne Robinson makes the clearest connection between John Calvin´s own biblical and patristic heritage and the heritage he in turn left the modern world."

[Edited on 1-28-2006 by TimeRedeemer]


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## TimeRedeemer (Jan 27, 2006)

Title has been changed from "Wow, look at this..."

[Edited on 1-28-2006 by TimeRedeemer]


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## ReformedWretch (Jan 27, 2006)

Cool.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jan 27, 2006)

Marilynne Robinson has served as a "deacon" in a Congregational church, where she preached as well. She wrote a book in 1998 called _The Death of Adam_ which includes essays defending, among other things, John Calvin and the Puritans from a "bad rap," as well as a 1999 book called _Puritans and Prigs_. Her writings seem uncoventional but not necessarily orthodox. Her books are not on my reading list.


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## TimeRedeemer (Jan 28, 2006)

Rip the preface out. No big. She didn't edit it. 

Look at the book description (which I assume is from the copy on the back of the book since Amazon usually gets their editorial descriptions from the books themselves). That description is unusually not-negative. It even shows some understanding of Calvin and history. 

At 464 pages it's a large selection as well. 

All in all surprising to see...


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## TimeRedeemer (Jan 28, 2006)

It's occured to me, based on the tone of the moderator's note (the way he retitled the thread before I retitled it yet again - in accordance with Rule #2) and the comment about the preface, that perhaps it's not widely known that Vintage is a major book label or imprint (owned I think by Random House) and is not some new-age, (and not necessarily) liberal imprint. In the series this Calvin book is a part of they've published Bunyan and a'Kempis, etc. 

Look, if a secular publishing house does anything regarding Calvin and the only problem is they have to hire the default-liberal - or whatever is going on with her - writer to preface it that's not such a bad thing. I can picture myself when I was a teenager pouring over shelves of stores like Tower or Barnes and Noble (no Christian book stores for me back then!) and I can see how good a thing it is that a volume of Calvin would be available in that evironment... I'd have gravitated towards it, checked it out. At least read the back and learned that there was a person named Calvin and writings by this person. That alone is bigger than we all recognize after we already have discovered and connected with everything...

[Edited on 1-28-2006 by TimeRedeemer]


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## TimeRedeemer (Feb 5, 2006)

Here's the table of contents of this new book.


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## beej6 (Mar 16, 2006)

Not to get off on a track here - but by happenstance my wife happened upon one of Marilynne Robinson's books, Gilead, which was referenced briefly in one other thread here. I'm not sure she's as liberal as the representation of her as a 'deacon in a Congregational church' implies. In a PBS interview (Religion & Ethics Newsweekly), she mentions Bonhoeffer and Barth as her favorite theologians (ok, we'll have to give her a pass on Barth, anyway ;-). And _The Death of Adam_ looks to be an interesting counterculture, or rather anticulture, take.

And she's not a theologian, so I wouldn't hold her to that standard certainly. If only she would read RC Sproul


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## CDM (Mar 16, 2006)

> _Originally posted by beej6_
> Not to get off on a track here - but by happenstance my wife happened upon one of Marilynne Robinson's books, Gilead, which was referenced briefly in one other thread here. I'm not sure she's as liberal as the representation of her as a 'deacon in a Congregational church' implies. In a PBS interview (Religion & Ethics Newsweekly), she mentions Bonhoeffer and Barth as her favorite theologians (ok, we'll have to give her a pass on Barth, anyway ;-). And _The Death of Adam_ looks to be an interesting counterculture, or rather anticulture, take.



All I have to read in order to label her as a liberal or unorthodox is:



> Marilynne Robinson has served as a "deacon" in a Congregational church, where she *preached* as well...


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## beej6 (Mar 16, 2006)

Ah! I missed that one, Chris. Mayhaps she is not preaching anymore? Repented?

I picked up her book (Death of Adam) at the library, we'll see... But I want to read Michael Horton first


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Mar 17, 2006)

New Yorker interview with Marilynne Robinson (September 13, 2004):



> [Q.:]I understand that you are a deacon, and have delivered sermons at your church.
> 
> [A.:]I am a Congregationalist. This is one of the most democratic branches of Calvinist tradition. It is so democratic that one´s term as deacon expires after a time, and one becomes an ordinary citizen"”as I am now. It is also so democratic that members of the congregation are sometimes called upon to speak, when the pastor (who is elected) has to be away. I have enjoyed the problem of exploring the sermon as a form. It is a deeply instructive experience, a very interesting way to think. And the situation is interesting"”to stand in a pulpit does focus the mind, or it should.


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## beej6 (Mar 17, 2006)

Hm... I smell a topic in "Ecclesiology" coming. Thank you, VH for that link.

For the church government specialists: Isn't Ms. Robinson making an error of class? My simple mind holds that the three options for gov't are congregational, presbyterian, and episcopalian, at least among Protestants (with popery being a particularly bad form of episcopalianism?).


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