Why Read Calvin's Institutes? What versions exist? Tips for finishing! // John Calvin's Institutes
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- čas přidán 28. 07. 2024
- “Calvin’s Institutes (5th edition, 1559) is one of the wonders of the literary world,... of the spiritual world,... and the theological world” and you can and should read it. - J. I. Packer
In this video I am sharing about John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, why read them, what english versions exist, and tips for reading and finishing.
Links:
Crossway PDF Link to proposal for new translation (Due out 2025): uploads.crossway.org/excerpt/...
Derek Thomas Article with six tips for reading Calvin's Institutes: www.crossway.org/articles/6-t...
Justin Taylor on How to Read Calvin's Institutes: www.thegospelcoalition.org/bl...
Year reading plan for Calvin's Institutes by Chapel Library: www.chapellibrary.org/api/boo...
Section Titles:
0:00 - Teaser & Welcome
1:03 - Video Sections
2:04 - Why this video
3:50 - Short History on Calvin. Why Read John Calvin?
9:29 - Why Read the Institutes of the Christian Religion?
13:47 - History of the Institutes/Editions
20:47 - What English Translations Exist?
25:54 - Which Version to Get & Read? (English Translations - Major three, and a forth)
31:49 - Where to Start
36:14 - Tips for Finishing Calvin's Institutes
42:47 - Sources of Research Used for Making this Video
43:31 - Final Encouragements
#Back2theWord, Following Jesus is the Greatest Adventure! Read, Treasure, and Follow the Word!
Impressive, appreciate your efforts in guiding the flock to one of the Lord’s great pastors and scholars. May it and all you do continue to bear fruit. Godspeed.
Thank you soooo much! This is a video that I didn't know I needed as I have been called to hear Calvinism "from the horses mouth." Just as for decades I had so many misconceptions about the Bible and unknowingly believed many lies about it until I read it, I feel I need to read his own words rather than rely on what other people say, and be as a Berean to search the scriptures to see if things are true. Part of the move of Proverbs 18: 13 that has been driving me for months. Your prayers appreciated as I thank God for His holy spirit which leads us into all truth. ♥️✝️🙌
Amazing work. Congrats.
Thanks for sharing this. I just finished CI after starting in early summer. What a project, but so worth it. Very rich and edifying experience.
My thoughts on The Institutes of the Christian Religion. Full disclaimer: I haven’t read all of it, though I do aim to read it in its entirety someday. Yet what I’ve read is wonderful. Not only is it solidly scriptural and theological, and quite philosophical in the best sense, but I was surprised to find it edifying in a devotional sense too. The Institutes is not a staid theological textbook written for eggheads, but an immensely practical book for Christians in general. For his time and place, Calvin was a first rate exegete, a strong philosophical theologian, and a pious pastor. And his Institutes is proof positive of all this.
Edit. Paul Helm's Calvin: A Guide for the Perplexed is a very helpful introductory book to orient one to Calvin's Institutes.
You can listen to Calvin Institute on CZcams, there is a Audio reading of it.
@@jmg6547thanks for the in formation 🎉
❤ GOD BLESS ALL HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE
John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion is a classic. The two most frequently suggested English translations today seem to be the older Henry Beveridge translation and the newer John McNeill and Ford Lewis Battles translation. But it's hard for a layperson like me to know which English translation is "best." So for what it's worth, if anything, I thought the following quotations from Christian scholars might be helpful to some people:
1. Here's what Reformed Christian scholar and theological philosopher Paul Helm (who himself has studied and contributed several works on John Calvin) says:
"Incidentally, if you have the need of a translation of the Institutes, then the reissue of the Beveridge translation (newly published by Hendrickson) may be just the thing. It has new indexes, and has been 'gently edited', which means, I hope, only the removal of typos and other detritus. (I have not yet had the chance to check). Beveridge is superior to Battles in sticking closer to the original Latin, and having less intrusive editorial paraphernalia."
2. Here's another Calvin scholar, Richard A. Muller, on the two translations (from the preface of The Unaccommodated Calvin):
"I have also consulted the older translations of the Institutes, namely those of Norton, Allen and Beveridge, in view of both the accuracy of those translation and the relationship in which they stand to the older or 'precritical' text tradition of Calvin's original. Both in its apparatus and in its editorial approach to the text, the McNeill-Battles translation suffers from the mentality of the text-critic who hides the original ambience of the text even as he attempts to reveal all its secrets to the modern reader."
3. The following is from J.I. Packer in the foreword to A Theological Guide to Calvin's Institutes:
"No English translation fully matches Calvin's Latin; that of the Elizabethan, Thomas Norton, perhaps gets closest; Beveridge gives us Calvin's feistiness but not always his precision; Battles gives us the precision but not always the punchiness, and fleetness of foot; Allen is smooth and clear, but low-key."
4. Finally, the following is from David Calhoun:
"Let me just say a few words about English translations. The first was Thomas Norton back in the sixteenth century. Calvin was very fortunate with his first English translator. Norton did an exceptionally good job. Very soon after the completion of the Institutes in 1559, which was written in Latin, it was translated by Calvin into French and then quite soon into English. John Allen was the second translator. John Allen and Henry Beveridge were both nineteenth-century translators. The Beveridge translation is still in print. It was until fairly recently anyway. Those are not bad but not very good either. Ford Lewis Battles' 1960 translation is the one that we are using. Even though it has been criticized some, it is by far the most superior translation that we have at present."
Thanks so much for sharing these! So helpful!
Robert White’s version from Banner of Truth is very good. It’s from the 1541 french edition.
GOD LOVE AND BLESS YOU ❤
Tip to finish it: use the audiobook along with the print version.
That is a great suggestion. Thanks for sharing!
According to Crossway their edition release date is July 30, 2024. They are taking preorders now.
Interesting… can you send the link? From what I can see on July 30th they are publishing “On The Christian Life: A New Translation” by Calvin (which I have been planning to get as soon as it releases, and it will have part of Blacketer’s new translation in it). The traditional contents of “On The Christian Life” or Calvin’s “Golden Booklet” as it is some called is a abridgment of chapters 6-10 of book 3 in Calvin’s Institutes. So, if the full Institutes are coming out at the same time then I’m ecstatic! But I think it it just the normal “Golden Booklet” content, a preview or sorts, and we still are still waiting until 2025 or so for the full Institutes. I am however very excited for this release because I think it will preview is some way what we can expect from the full Institutes release (binding, footnotes, style, headings, etc) when it happens.
im reading banner of truth's
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What is the front size of your copy? is it small? Thank you for your video.
My one volume Hendrickson copy seems to me to have about a 9.5 font size with decent leading (spacing between lines). I can do a more precise measurement if you want later this week. I personally have not noticed the type was too small or difficult to read for my eyes.
@Back2theWord I suspect your eyes are younger than those of us that ask such things. Lol
Are you familiar with the book “Calvin’s Calvinism” by John Calvin? It’s a thin book.
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10:12 knowledge of God and sinful humans