# Calvin's Institutes



## Greg (Aug 13, 2007)

I'm just beginning reading Calvin's Institutes for the first time. Where can I go to learn more about why Calvin wrote it, what he was addressing specifically, more or less the backdrop behind his writing the Institutes?


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## MW (Aug 13, 2007)

There is a mass of Calviniana, but Ford Lewis Battles' "Interpreting John Calvin," part 1, 'The Origin and Structure of Calvin's Theology,' is a good place to start.


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## VaughanRSmith (Aug 13, 2007)

Make sure you read the Battles translation. I started reading Beveridge, and it took me a year to finish the first volume. I'm waiting until I can afford the new Battles edition to read the next volume. Beveridge is _very_ difficult.


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## Greg (Aug 13, 2007)

Thanks Rev. Winzer.

Hi Vaughan, yes I have the Battles edition. I've only read a little so far, but it reads pretty easy, I like it.

Thanks again for the recommendations.


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## VaughanRSmith (Aug 13, 2007)

Good, good. I really felt hamstrung by the Beveridge translation. Not something you can read before bed!


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## JM (Aug 13, 2007)

Try this free course here.


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## Anton Bruckner (Aug 13, 2007)

Exagorazo said:


> Make sure you read the Battles translation. I started reading Beveridge, and it took me a year to finish the first volume. I'm waiting until I can afford the new Battles edition to read the next volume. Beveridge is _very_ difficult.


Beveridge is the best. shame, shame, shame on you  for not honoring the sophisticated writing style of beveridge.


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## VaughanRSmith (Aug 13, 2007)

Slippery said:


> Exagorazo said:
> 
> 
> > Make sure you read the Battles translation. I started reading Beveridge, and it took me a year to finish the first volume. I'm waiting until I can afford the new Battles edition to read the next volume. Beveridge is _very_ difficult.
> ...



I decided, after a while, that commas, and compounded sentences, while useful, in some situations, really got to me, although I am a patient man, in a way that made my head, with brown hair, spin.


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## Ivan (Aug 13, 2007)

Exagorazo said:


> Slippery said:
> 
> 
> > Exagorazo said:
> ...


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## Philip A (Aug 13, 2007)

Greg said:


> I'm just beginning reading Calvin's Institutes for the first time. Where can I go to learn more about why Calvin wrote it, what he was addressing specifically, more or less the backdrop behind his writing the Institutes?



Muller's _The Unaccomodated Calvin_ is a must.


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## reformedman (Aug 13, 2007)

In my paperback edition of calvin's commentaries, it gives a little history about the pressures placed on him to write of which I didn't read about (or missed) anywhere else.


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## py3ak (Aug 13, 2007)

Richard Muller prefers Beveridge.


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## JohnOwen007 (Aug 13, 2007)

What's really important in all this is to remember that Calvin intended his _Institutes_ to be read side-by-side with his commentaries. Calvin (after his time in Strassbourg) saw his commentary writing as his chief task. His commentaries would give a running explication of the text of Scripture, and if the reader wanted to follow up on particular theological topics (_loci_) they should go to the _Institutes_.

People like Martin Bucer attempted to combine both theological and textual comment in his Romans commentary but it became unwieldy, extending into many volumes. We do Calvin's _Institutes_ a disservice if we think it's like a modern Systematic Theology.

As for translations of the _Institutes_ Beveridge is more exact, but Battles is easier to read;it has some very infelicitous renderings of the underlying Latin. The indexes in Battles are brilliant.


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## CalvinandHodges (Aug 14, 2007)

Greetings:

Read Calvin's prefaces to the Institutes. I wrote a paper for my History of Apologetics class on the Apologetic approach of John Calvin (in which I got an A!) It may be of some help to you in reading Calvin. If you are interested, then PM me with your email address and I will send it to you.

Enjoy your reading!

-CH


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