John Calvin His Influence In The Western World

The first biography of John Calvin since 1975 and the only life of the great reformer to analyse his impact on subsequent generations of theologians, politicians, economists and philosophers. This biography is theologically unbiased and is written as much for historians and general readers as for those interested in Calvin the Church reformer.

"The essays collected in this volume were originally prepared as plenary addresses to the international conference 'Calvin and his influence, 1509-2009.' held in Geneva from May 24 to 27, 2009."--P. vii.

Traditional discussions of the Christian doctrine of providence often center on the relation between divine agency and human freedom, seeking to offer an account of the extent to which a person is free before God, the first cause of all things. Terry J. Wright argues that such riddles of causation cannot determine the content of providence, and suggests a unique and alternative framework that depicts God's activity in terms of divine faithfulness to that which God has made. Providence is not God as first cause acting through creaturely secondary causation; rather, providence is God's sovereign mediation of the divine presence across the whole world, achieved through creaturely faithfulness made possible and guaranteed by his own faithful action in Jesus Christ.

The theology of John Calvin (1509-1564) was given classic expression in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559). In this definitive work, longtime Calvin expert Charles Partee offers a careful exposition of Calvins theology as it appears in the Institutes, paying special attention to the relation of Calvins theology to the history of Christian thought and to the questions of Calvins own time. Partee also examines the development of later Calvinism and the adaptations of Calvins thought by his later followers. As Partee shows, Calvins theology provides a profound exposition of Christian faith and a magnificent resource for theology today.

David Hall identifies ten seminal ways that Calvin's thought transformed the culture of the West, complete with a nontechnical biography of Calvin and tributes by other leaders. The Legacy of John Calvin is brief enough for popular audiences and analytical enough to provide much information in a short space.

John Calvin lived in a divided world when past certainties were crumbling. Calvin claimed that his thought was completely based upon scripture, but he was mistaken. At several points in his thought and his ministry, he set his own foundations upon tradition. His efforts to make sense of his culture and its religious life mirror issues that modern Western cultures face, and that have contributed to our present situation. In this book, R. Ward Holder offers new insights into Calvin's successes and failures and suggests pathways for understanding some of the problems of contemporary Western culture such as the deep divergence about living in tradition, the modern capacity to agree on the foundations of thought, and even the roots of our deep political polarization. He traces Calvin's own critical engagement with the tradition that had formed him and analyzes the inherent divisions in modern heritage that affect our ability to agree, not only religiously or politically, but also about truth. An epilogue comparing biblical interpretation with Constitutional interpretation is illustrative of contemporary issues and demonstrates how historical understanding can offer solutions to tensions in modern culture.

Public Theology is one of the most important topics in the field of theology across the world but not in Korea. There are several historical and theological reasons for this indifference of Korean Reformed Christianity as the mainstream in Korea. In order to dispel doubts of Korean Reformed Christianity to the public theological approaches it is necessary to demonstrates a coherence between some characteristics of public theology and Reformed theology. This study analyses and utilises the six characteristics of public theology presented by Heinrich Bedford-Strohm as a lens to engage aspects of John Calvin's theology and the period of the Reformation in Geneva. Based on this work, the author re-examines the history of Korean Christianity with a public theological point of view and asserts the justification for Korean Reformed Christianity to actively embrace public theological approaches.