Deus Misereatur

  "Zeal for Godliness" came, unsolicited, in the mail from the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, but it intrigued me. Here was a 270-page hardback that worked through all of John Calvin's "Institutes of the Christian Religion" in concise, summary, devotional form! It is easy-to-read, and tackles much that Calvin wrote in his Institutes. It's perfect for those who have read Calvin's four volumes, and for those who haven't read them because they're intimidated. The editor(s) aimed "to display the coherence, trustworthiness, and glory of biblical truth for all ages" (12), and especially how John Calvin developed biblical truth. I think they hit their target. The work unfolds with the section of Calvin's institutes the writer is referring to at the top of the page. Then, the commenter discusses what is in that section on only one page. Sometimes a salient sentence or paragraph from the Institutes is quoted, but most times it is a sum...

[I presented this at the Capitol Bible Study on 18 June 2014] Praying in the Heat and the Hurt: Psalm 90.13-17 (NKJV) 13  Return, O Lord! How long? And have compassion on Your servants. 14  Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days! 15  Make us glad according to the days  in which  You have afflicted us, The years  in which  we have seen evil. 16  Let Your work appear to Your servants, And Your glory to their children. 17  And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands. Long ago I committed this portion of Psalm 90 to memory. I have used it repeatedly when the heat and hurt of life has been fairly hefty. I have utilized it in praying for congregations where I have pastored, specifically when they were going through tough times. And I have employed this Psalm portion when problem pe...

Life in God: John Calvin, Practical Formation, and the Future of Protestant Theology Matthew Myer Boulton William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E. Grand Rapids, MI 49505 www.eerdmans.com Copyright: 2011 ISBN: 978-0-8028-6564-9; $28.00 Reviewed for Deus Misereatur by: Rev. Dr. Michael Philliber Re-framing Calvin – 5 of 5 stars One trouble with claiming John Calvin for one's conceptual or ecclesial team is that often the claimant intentionally, or otherwise, co-opts the reformer to side with their own peculiarities. Usually Calvin's nuanced writing is misread or flattened out under the ideological mallet to fit a pre-planned template. Therefore, when I received Matthew Boulton's book "Life in God" from a dear friend of mine, I initially flinched, rolled my eyes, sighed deeply and almost stuffed the book permanently out of sight. But the subtitle to this 260 page paperback, made me stop and rethink my original plan; "John...

Over the years I have discussed “Original Sin” with those from an Eastern Orthodox persuasion. Normally they cringe when they find out I’m a conscientious Calvinist. The first is because they misunderstand what we mean by “Total Depravity” (as do many Calvinists, I might add), and then because they assert that “guilt” is not “legal” passed on in Original Sin, just the curse of death. So here are a few quotations from 2 heroes of the earlier Church (Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus), and then a couple of quotations from John Calvin (all bold italics mine). “For seeing that man by the commission of the Divine blessing had been elevated to a lofty pre-eminence (for he was appointed king over the earth and all things on it; he was beautiful in his form, being created an image of the archetypal beauty; he was without passion in his nature, for he was an imitation of the unimpassioned; he was full of frankness, delighting in a face-to-face manifestation of the personal Deity...

Recently I heard an assertion I have heard once before, that John Calvin had never been ordained. I pondered this possibility and wondered if it was true. And if it was true, how could Calvin have been consistent with his doctrines of ordination, & the ministry of the Word and Sacraments? Therefore, I embarked on a bit of a cyber-excursion, and found a few items worth pondering, and reasoning with. “After some hesitation, Calvin agreed and took the office in Geneva of “reader” (lector) of Holy Scripture. Calvin began his activity with lectures on the letters of Paul. He also participated in the Lausanne Disputation in October, 1536, between reform theologians and those faithful to Rome. The latter must have felt defeated when Calvin, quoting patristic texts from memory, refuted the allegation that the “evangelicals” disregarded the teaching of the church fathers about the Last Supper. [...] On the other hand, Calvin was able to see that the sacrament of ordination – especially ...