Subscribe to our mailing list.
All Blog Posts With Tag: John Calvin
Karl Barth gave a series of lectures on the Apostles' Creed from 1940 to 1943 that were recorded with a stenographer and then published with Barth's permission in a book titled, The Faith of the Church: A Commentary on the Apostles' Creed according to Calvin's Catechism. As the title indicates, Barth's lectures were […]
John Calvin’s Definition of Sacrament (February 16, 2015)
John Calvin provides the following definition of sacrament in the Institutes of the Christian Religion (IV.xiv.1-2) using the vernacular of "sign and seal" that is a staple of conservative Reformed sacramentology, and appears in the Westminster Confession of Faith and the other Reformed confessions.
Calvin's definition is ecumenical, as he desires the unity between the […]
John Calvin on the Origin of the Rainbow (February 15, 2015)
I discovered two quotations by John Calvin, one in his Institutes of the Christian Religion and the other in his Commentary on Genesis where Calvin argues that the rainbow existed before the Noahic Covenant was established. The False Dilemma between the Bible and Science has been a reoccuring theme I've featured, as well has […]
John Calvin is often asserted to be a proponent of the literal and mechanical (and docetic?) doctrine of Inspiration of Scripture known as "Inerrancy". There is one passage in the Institutes of the Christian Religion in particular (IV.vii.9) that is often quoted a prooftext that Calvin held to Inerrancy. However, all theologians say […]
John Calvin on Biblical Genocide (Slaughter of the Innocents) (February 6, 2015)
The Slaughter of the Innocents (Matthew 2:16-18) is a difficult theodicy problem in the Bible. The Nativities in Matthew and Luke have their own problems, as Raymond E. Brown has demonstrated in his book Birth of the Messiah. Without falling into the blind faith of inerrancy or complete disregard for the […]
Welcome sign to Hell, Michigan (source: wikipedia)
The doctrine of predestination has undergone substantial renovation and development over time. Augustine and Thomas considered election and reprobation as two separate dogmas, where the active election of men from the mass of perdition was a distinctive act that is separate from the act […]
John Calvin with Cyprian: Are Protestants Schismatics or Heretics? (January 25, 2015)
Cyprian (c. 200 – 258), Bishop of Cathage, is quoted by John Calvin to prove that Protestants are neither Schismatics or Heretics. Cyprian uses a beautiful metaphor in his On the Unity of the Catholic Church (V) to explain the Oneness of the Church by comparing the Church's unity to the manifold rays of the […]
15 Theology Books Defining My Autobiography (January 15, 2015)
I've read over 500 theology books in the last ten years. (Some people read these many books every year!) Of all these books, there are fifteen books that stand apart as guideposts in my journey of exploration in theology. I don't recommend all of these books today, but these books […]
Top 5 PostBarthian Posts of 2014 (December 31, 2014)
The Top 5 Posts of 2014:
1. A Letter from Jürgen Moltmann
A personal letter that I received from Moltmann answering questions on how to apply the Crucified God for pastoring parents who have lost young children.
2. Karl Barth's Letter to Jürgen Moltmann and related correspondences
Barth's full correspondence with Moltmann.
3. Karl Barth's Doctrine of […]
Gerard Dou (source:wikipedia)
Jack Rogers and Donald McKim's historical analysis of the Doctrine of the Inspiration of Scriptures, The Authority and Inspiration of the Bible (AIB), created a firestorm in the late 1970's due its conclusion that the Reformers' Doctrine of Inspiration (exemplified by John Calvin and the Westminster Confession of Faith) was […]
