Institutes of the Christian Religion (ICR) - Introduction

Though you may be in the habit of skipping over Introductions in order to get right into "The Book," you would be well-served to take a different course in this case. The introduction to the Battles/McNeil edition is divided up into 15 sections and is well wort at least a skim, if not a full read. Beginning with a very brief biographical section focusing on the life of Calvin as it relates to the writing of the ICR, the authors then move on to discuss the Institutes themselves. We learn not only about how and when Calvin came to initiate the project, but the production of the ICR is also placed within the context of the historical events of the day, particularly those involving the Reformation in France and the great persecution of God's people at the hands of King Francis I. This is the background to Calvin's Prefatory Address to King Francis I, in which he writes to the King in the hopes that the ICR would serve as a witness to the truth which might ease the King's animosity toward the Reformed church in France.

The author's continue to trace the development of the ICR from the relatively brief six-chapter work originally published in 1536 to the full, expanded version which came only after many future revisions. We also learn of the influence of the ICR throughout Europe as it is translated not only into French from the original Latin, but very quickly into Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, Czech, Hungarian, English and even, some scholars believe, Arabic. These translations were all produced in the 16th century, or very early in the 17th.

From section VIII of the introduction on, the Introduction provides a summary of the Institutes themselves, and for the most part, the authors do an admirable job. Now and then, they'll throw in a juicy quote from some of Calvin's other writings, as well. I particularly like this, from the Preface to the Commentary on the Psalms, "God subdued my heart to teachableness." Those words strike me as the expression of a man who would be unrecognizable to those who seek to make Calvin out to be some kind of monstrous dictator.

The character of Calvin also is revealed in the words of the authors when they describe him as follows...

"He was not, we may say, a theologian by profession, but a deeply religious man who possessed a genius for orderly thinking and obeyed the impulse to write out the implications of his faith. He calls his book not a summa theologiae but a summa pietatis."

One caution needs to be given, however. One should always be aware, when it is possible, of the background and theological committments of the authors which one intends to read. The editors of this edition, as you can read on the inside title page, are not exactly icons of evangelicalism. One was a president of the World Council of Churches. one was a professor at both the University of Chicago and at Union Seminary in New York, both bastions of theological liberalism, often a radical variety at that. The third is described at an early and influential member of the WCC as well as a President of Union Seminary.

That is not to say that their scholarship cannot be profitable. As I've already indicated, this Introducion is very excellent, for the most part. But one does need to be careful. There are times, particularly when dealing with Calvin's view of Scripture, when the editors tend to impute their own views to the great Reformer. For instance, on page liv, they write, "Yet he is not concerned to assert what in later controversy has been spoken of as "verbal inerrancy." His whole emphasis is thrown on the message or content of Scripture rather than on the words."

That statement is ridiculous on its face. First, Calvin did not need to argue for verbal inerrancy. No one in his day doubted it. Secondly, this dichotomy they try to make between the message or content of Scripture and the words of Scripture is beyond absurd. One does not have a message or content apart from words. Furthermore, anyone who reads Calvin's exegetical work will stand amazed at that statement. No serious exegete, much less one of Calvin's caliber, would ever propose such a thing.

In the next post, we'll move onto the words of Calvin himself.