Customer Reviews

John Calvin: A Biography

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

THL Parker has continued to place us all in his debt with his solid, serious, inspirational work on the various aspects of John Calvn's theology. This is one of the better biography's in print on Calvin's life and I would recommend it enthusastically.

Though now roughly thirty years old, it was the first biography written on Calvin's life in quite some time when it was published. Though not as current as Bernard Cottret's recent biography, it seems more in touch with the subject matter than Cottret does.

Cottret, it seems to me, seeks too much "objectivity" in rehearshing the details of Calvin's life--Parker clearly has a fondness for Calvin and the sources with which he is familiar and it shows in this biography.

Parker has an enthusiasm for the material that I find missing in Cottret's otherwise outstanding work. I would recommend everything that Parker has authored as worthy of being read, reflected upon, and used. Particularly this biography of Calvin.

I am familiar with Parker's scholarship through his work on Calvin's commentaries, and particularly in his slender volume, Calvin: An Introduction to his Thought, which summarizes and interprets the Institutes. His formidable Calvin research shows in this biography that is, warmly sympathetic to its subject, and is painstaking in its historical detail. That said; do not fear this as a book heavy and dry. It reads smoothly as a novel, with plots and subplots ever revealing aspects of the man at the centre of the story.

Running through the text includes a ` "story" within the story' of how the Institutes were conceived and edited at various stages, and ultimately settled upon in a final form. Calvin's literary output is chronicled against the struggles he faced as a churchman and a reformer. Both his friends and foes are given a place in the book to enrich the drama, so to speak.

The emergence of Calvin as a man is what struck me most. Not Calvin the pastor, nor even Calvin the theologian, but Calvin the man. Certainly the Genevan reformer was a man head and shoulders above many of his contemporaries as an academic. Also vigorous in his indefatigable energy and discipline as a servant of the church was Calvin. However, it is the man of God plain and simple that shines through. His humanity is genuine in Parker's portrayal: A man with a passion, no less. The writer explodes the myths surrounding the so-called tyrant of Geneva. Parker also rightly and correctly instructs his readers about the mechanics of sixteenth century civil rule and the magistrate's role in punishing heresy.

Though many volumes on the life of Calvin abound, one would do well to be acquainted with this text. Particularly illuminating are the two appendices in which parker examines a case for redating Calvin's life, and in interpreting Calvin's "conversion" as chronicled by the reformer in his preface to his commentary to the Psalms. There is a mini commentary on the conversion narrative that is both challenging and illuminating.

My concerns about Parker are limited to one matter. He appears to read Calvin through Barthian lenses in expositing some of the Frenchman's theological convictions. I saw this clearly in Parker's treatment of Calvin's doctrine of Scripture. Yet even here, the writer evidences careful insight into various nuances of Calvin's views.

This is a highly recommended text.

This book is a very bad place to start if you are looking for a readable and easy to understand introduction to John Calvin. The author assumes a great deal of technical historical knowledge that, unless you are educated in that area, you will struggle to get through. I didn't get further than the first 2 chapters.

I wish some authors would write simpler, more easily readable works so that the average layman can also have access to some of the great figures of the past. A good example to follow would be like Wayne Grudem has done with his 'Systematic Theology' which is specifically done for the layman.

So for an easy-to-read/understand biography of John Calvin look elsewhere - I think I might try the biography by Robert Raymond or the compilation by Burk Parsons (Devotion, Doctrine, Doxology), they look as though they will be more geared to the average reader.

It's very painful to read the first few pages as they document Calvin's early childhood, where he lives, and education. It gets better and easier to read as you go on. My only problem is that you have to know a lot about theological events and people because the author mentions them without explanation, assuming that you will know what he is talking about. Therefore, you either have to look them up yourself or just keep reading.

I bought this book because it's quoted so extensively in other books. After I read it, I really find it helpful.