Calvin's Preaching on the Prophet Micah: The 1550-51 Sermons in Geneva

Status
Not open for further replies.

VirginiaHuguenot

Puritanboard Librarian
Michael Parsons, Calvin's Preaching on the Prophet Micah: The 1550-51 Sermons in Geneva (2006)

There is a review here:

Michael Parsons, Calvin’s preaching on the prophet Micah: The 1550-1551 Sermons in Geneva. Lewiston, New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2006. Pp. 335. $ 119.95 cloth (ISBN 0-7734-5804-2).

Calvin’s sermons have in the last few years increasingly become the subject of study in Calvin research. In his study Michael Parsons focuses his attention on the 28 sermons which Calvin held on the prophet Micah in the years 1550-1551. He confines himself to the soteriological and pastoral aspects of Calvin’s teaching in those sermons.

The author mentions in the introduction that every chapter can be read as a separate study. That is the reason why every chapter ends with short reflections. Nevertheless the chapters are so carefully ordered that you can compare the book with a building. First the foundations are laid and the building is constructed on those foundations. The foundations concern the two poles in Calvin’s theological thinking: God and people.

Parsons describes at first how negatively Calvin speaks about people in their relationship to God because people turn away from God. After that he focuses his attention on God’s relationship to people and he uses the images of God as Judge and Father. Parsons emphasizes the last picture, because God wants to be our Father in spite of all our misery. That is why Calvin in his sermons calls on people to make the move in all humility, dependence and gratitude from God as Judge to God as Father.

In one of the following chapters Parsons pays attention to Calvin’s view of the city Geneva. This city is indeed the context for Calvin’s sermons. Furthermore the prophet Micah provides Calvin with more than enough material to speak about the relationship between Geneva and God. Owing to the reformation Geneva is endowed by God just like Jerusalem in the past. But the real state of affairs, for example how people get on with each other, does not reflect God’s care for Geneva. But even though God’s people are not faultless, God loves them deeply.

Parsons gives a lot of attention to Calvin’s view on the calling and tasks of the prophets (especially that of Micah), not only to get a perception of the way Calvin interprets himself as a reformer, but to understand as well the expectations which Calvin had of the ministers. They have to be “waiters” who wake the people up. Preaching is a divine and a human activity. The centre of the preaching is God’s desire for our salvation. Those who like Micah experiences that their preaching has no positive effect, will nevertheless have to hold on to their calling, convinced that God will use them in his service. Parsons also pays attention to Calvin’s view on mission. In that regard it is important to notice Calvin’s own context. The author focuses especially on the link that Calvin makes between the content of the Gospel and the effect which the Gospel has on our relationships with other people. And so in Calvin’s view mission is speaking with other people about God’s gifts in Christ, being an example for others of God’s grace in our lives and praying constantly for the salvation of those who don’t yet live in relationship with God.

A subject that Parsons brings up is Calvin’s view on the kingdom of Christ. That kingdom is in Calvin’s opinion present where Christ is recognized as king. That’s why there is also a strong relationship between that kingdom and the church. In his sermons Calvin raises the matter how the kingdom of Christ can actively take shape in our lives.

In the last chapter Parsons puts forward how Calvin in his sermons calls on people’s own responsibility to receive the Word that has been brought to them. Jesus Christ is the centre of that Word. We have to be ‘reformed’ Christians.

Parsons’ study is orderly and clearly written. In each chapter the author introduces the subject in discussion with other researchers and goes on to give Calvin’s view. Parsons concludes his book with a review of the most important results of his research. Those results concern the relationship between God and people, the eschatological context and the relationship between Geneva and its preachers. Parsons’ study is a valuable contribution to the Calvin research.
 
The sermons themselves are also available in print:

John Calvin, Sermons on the Book of Micah, translated and edited by Benjamin Wirt Farley, P&R 2003.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top