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Great book! Plan to use it for a class!
Excellent book!
A brilliant work. If you have not read the Institutes then Engelsma has provided a lovely primer. If you have read them then read this and refine your understanding. A delight to read in its accuracy and readability for almost all ages. So many difficult passages in the Institutes are now clearer to me thanks to Prof. Engelsma’s brilliant understanding of this work.
So far so good. Thanks for getting me the book so quickly, I really appreciate it!!!
A Review of The Reformed Faith of John Calvin: The Institutes in Summary David J. Engelsma Reformed Free Publishing Association Hardback, 472 pp. ISBN 978-1-936054-00-8 The author explains the goal of his book soon in his Preface (p. xiii): The Reformed Faith of John Calvin is, as the subtitle express, a summary of Calvin's own teaching in his Institutes of all the doctrines of the Christian faith. The reader of this book will know the Institutes and the faith "the Reformed faith" that Calvin taught and defended in this classic work. I know the writings of Prof. Engelsma since a long time. But I come to appreciate more and more yours books, and quite more familiar with his good theology, only a few years ago. And this thanks to my dear friend Rev. Angus Stewart, who gave me a couple of books from the excellent Reformed Free Publishing Association. This was like piles of gold arriving here in Brazil, a land still in need of the sound doctrine of Reform. This new book is a masterpiece and much helpful, both to people new in the Reformed Faith as well to experienced theologians. Although the author says that "it is not my intention to give a full description of the life of John Calvin. My purpose with this book is not the life of Calvin, but the doctrine of Calvin" (p. 1), the Chapter 1, "The Man and His Life: A Sketch", constains a great material about the man John Calvin. I had already read much books and articles about the life of John Calvin, but I still found this chapter very instructive and very well written. After all, David Engelsma is a gifted writer, a quality that is not an exception among the ministers of PRCA (Herman Hoeksema, Homer Hoeksema, Herman Hanko, Ronald Hanko, Robert Decker, Barry Gritters, Steve Houck, Angus Stewart and many others). Before entering in the Institutes himself, Prof. Engelsma deals with "The Nature of the Institutes" (Chapter 2), "The History of the Publishing of the Institutes" (Chapter 3) and "The Style and Structure of the Institutes" (Chapter 4). These are helpful chapters too, with plenty of good and may not much known information. Highly recommended! The Chapter 5 deals with "The Prefatory Address" of the Institutes. "The prefatory address is unanimously and widely regarded as a masterpiece of such literature" (p. 46). 1) Book One ("The Knowledge of God the Creator") of the Institutes are the subject of the Chapters 6 to 8. 2) Book Two ("The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ, First Disclosed to the Fathers under the Law, and Then to Us in the Gospel") of the Institutes are the subject of the Chapters 9 and 10. 3) Book Thee ("The Way in Which We Receive the Grace of Christ: What Benefits Come to Us from It, and What Effects Follow") of the Institutes are the subject of the Chapters 11 to 16. The best and maybe more important Chapter in this section is the Chapter 15, "Predestination". Prof. Engelsma is very accurate in the first lines of this chapter: "Although not the central dogma in Calvin?s theology (the one dogma out of which all of Calvin?s teachings flow, and around which all of his teachings circle, and upon which all of his teachings depend), as has been proposed, predestination is fundamental in the theology of John Calvin. Calvin states this importance of election when he calls it 'the foundation of our salvation'" (p. 266). What make this chapter important is that it is a good antidote to the modern moderate Calvinism, so prevalent today, even here in Brazil. The Chapter 16, "The Final Resurrection: Calvin's Eschatology", although brief (pp. 290-297), is very good and contain a helpful explanation about the resurrection of Christ and our resurrection. Even though Calvin did not write a commentary on Revelation, his thorough treatment of the doctrine of the resurrection of the body with the accompanying refutation of related errors gives us a complete overview of Calvin's eschatology. His doctrine of the last things includes the intermediate state of elect and reprobate; the rejection of millennialism, which always plays with the thousand years of Revelation 20 as a description of a carnal kingdom of Christ in the world; the resurrection of both believers and unbelievers in one general resurrection; and an eternal destiny both of the righteous and of the wicked...
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