Institutes of the Christian Religion

Though there are many formats of the "Institutes of the Christian Religion", most usually it is the last edition, the 1559, which is presented, as it should be. This was completed by John Calvin roughly five years before he passed: four Books, 80 chapters; his 'final statement' on Christian Doctrine. Yet of this edition there are at least three well known translations: by, respectfully, John Allen, Henry Beveridge, and Ford Lewis Battles; the last of which is widely recognized as the most authoritative. Henry Beveridge was a member of the Calvin Translation Society, and did Calvin's commentary on Joshua. Our translation, the Allen, is the oldest at roughly 200 years; but is completely modern, well spoken English. Personally, I admire Mr. Allen's translation very much. Although I cannot compare translations, as I have only read this one, yet I am reasonably familiar with Calvin's thought to say a fair job was done here indeed. There is some concern over the propriety of the translation, at times, as Master Calvin can be subtle; nonetheless, on the whole, I believe the translation excellent. ----------------------------------------------------------------- This particular presentation of the Allen, published in 1816 by Hezekiah Howe and Philip Nicklin, the First American edition of the Allen translation, happens to be the only *three volume* American presentation of the Institutes by any translator, that I know of. And no wonder: the whole work is some 1500 pgs. long. As publishers nowadays like to save money, one typically encounters a two volume set or, even at times, one! Even the later editions of the Allen translation were always two... However, the Nicklin presentation of 1816, was quite a classy production for its day: full leather with marbled boards, dark green swatch on the spine stating "Calvin's Institutes"; three volumes, all numbered on the outside. Additionally, the pages were well signified, and all volumes had a proper title page. I believe the publishers really tried hard on doing a first class job; and succeeded. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Would I recommend reading Calvin's Institutes today, nearly 500 years later? If you are a Calvin scholar, certainly; and even a Reformed scholar. However, a fair portion of the Institutes are in fact polemic in nature, and too much so. Calvin would however argue always in a philosophical manner, of course; nonetheless, much of his leading work is unfortunately to some degree set in the time from which it came. But I say *to some degree*. Frankly, I prefer his commentaries: here we see Calvin issuing his rich spiritual insights in a more direct, and one may say, expedient, manner. But even so, there is much to cull from this great work.Additionally, I would propose, the third book (of the four) as the finest.

Unless you have a deep interest in the formation of early protestant thought you will find this tough going. If you are a serious student or researcher not crippled by a deep fixation on wiki and want a true insight in the formation of Protestant beliefs this will give you a look into the thinking of key doctrinal formation.. If you lack the stamina take notes into the teacher's view of Calvin rather than your own. Remember he probably never read the book himself/ Ignorance is easily transmitted but the price of knowledge is a painful one.

For years, I had feared trying to read this, assuming it would be confusing, difficult, and too much for someone not having pastoral training. I wad surprised joyously at how clear Calvin's writing is, how beautifully stated each point is. It DOES take some time, as you will be forced to ponder each sentence and allow it to plant in the heart. I highly recommend this to all who have grown tired of yet another sermon on some relational-cultural how to behave issue and who want to hear about God in terms not simplified for the masses. The bigger God is, the more likely you are to behave well.

Great book but not an easy read. The difficulty goes through the roof however when an entire chapter has 30% of the words randomly smashed together. That being said, for the money is still buy it again.

It takes me a long time to get to great books like this, but with the audio-book I am more likely to sit back and listen some times. It is read well, and though I haven't gotten past the introduction, it is interesting, and I hope to hear it all eventually! I've had the book on my shelf for about 25 years, but hardly read it at all... but I read and heard enough to know it is a treasure!! I hope I'll do better with the kindle book and audio version.

In the description of this version of Calvin's Institutes, it says, "Under Dr. McNeill's personal supervision ..." - which led me to believe that it was edited by John T. McNiell. My hard copy book is edited by John T. McNiell and translated by Ford Lewis Battles copyright 1960. This is what I thought I was getting.Instead, this appears to be the translation in 1845 by Henry Beveridge.I feel Battle's translation is more accurate and much easier to read.Amazon should be required to list all of the information of their books in the description of them. (This should include author, publisher, copyright date, translators and editors.)[Since this only cost me $.99 I'm not going to demand my money back.]

MY OLDER KID ORDERD THIS ALONG WITH MANY OTHER BOOKS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT AS HE IS STUDYING THIS AT COLLEGE AS PART OF HIS MAJOR. HE HAS NOT SAID ANYTHING TO ME ABOUT DISLIKING IT, BUT I'M GLAD HE IS READING.

Is a little difficult to follow, is piece mill.

Occasionally you come across a writer from earlier days who writes in a clear "modern" style. Augustine is one such, and it seems that Calvin is as well. The subject matter is unavoidably a bit dry in places, but it is clear to read. The Institutes are divided thematically in to four books ("Of the knowledge of God the Creator"; "Of the knowledge of God the Redeemer"; "Of obtaining the Grace of Christ"; and "Of the holy catholic Church"). These are further divided in to chapters and sections, with a summary at the start of each which helps to find your way around. The arguments are made clearly, and the translation in to English is good.The whole is so well written, that I would not say that you need a separate "guide" to Calvin, apart from one major problem - no index! If you want to find something like what Calvin said about predestination, you will need to look up a reference elsewhere, which makes you a bit vulnerable to selective indexing.

For the price, one certainly can't complain, but this is one of those printouts of a digitized copy of the book reliant on OCR, not a proper (copy-edited) publication, so contains blips (''twm' a'' is presumably OCR's handling of a Greek term), and the page breadth is uncomfortable.

I always wanted these books and this version is very affordable , more so that i'm a student

Still on the first book (The knowledge of God). There's really much to know about God, the authority of the Bible etc. I'm sure there's more to learn from this collection. It's somewhat a tough read

I love this book very much. recommend it.