On John Calvin

We are getting ready to start a new Sunday school series on John Calvin. This is the second of our, what I hope to be annual, series on church history. We did a similar biographical sketch of St. Augustine and his book Confessions about one year ago.

Here is a short compilation of helpful resources, many of them available on the internet at no cost. Some are list of books you can purchase. You do not need to read or listen to any of these materials to participate in the new Sunday school. But they are listed here for you to pursue them, if you so desire. Check back frequently as this post will be updated time to time.

*Simple Biographical Sketches*
John Piper’s biographical sketch on John Calvin: listen to it here and read it here. This is a great source to hear about the driving force in Calvin’s life.

Frank James’ four part lecture series “The Calvin I Never Knew” The links below are links to iTunes Store and will launch iTunes on your computer. You can then download and listen to these lectures at no cost. If you do not have iTunes installed on your computer, you can download it here free. Inevitably, these lectures overlap John Piper’s biographical sketch a little bit, but they cover sufficiently different grounds. These lectures are especially great at clearing the air of misinformation about Calvin and to learn about Calvin’s pastoral and mission-minded heart.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

*Topical Issues on John Calvin*
These are recent lectures by the faculty of Westminster Seminary California. The six-part lectures are available for purchase from WSC Book Store here. Each of the seven lectures are $2.00 each, and you can purchase them and download them all for $14.00. WSC is also giving explicit permission to redistribute these lectures at no cost, so if you are not planning to purchase these materials just yet, you can get them on CDs at no cost. Ask pastor Ken for one if you are interested. Subjects covered in this series are:
Calvin: Why He Still Matters (W. Robert Godfrey)
Calvin as Bible Interpreter (S.M. Baugh)
Calvin and the Reform of Worship (R. Scott Clark)
Calvin on Law and Gospel (M.S. Horton)
Calvin and Preaching (Hywel Jones)
Calvin: The Friendly Reformer (W. Robert Godfrey)
Q & A Panel

*Things to Read*
The first link is to a list compiled by R. Scott Clark. Many of these books are scholarly in nature, and will be a little difficult for an average reader. But this is a good list for those interested in pursuing the matter further.
R. Scott Clark’s Recommended Calvin-Related Titles

reformation21 has a growing list of resources on Calvin and his Institutes. Check out Blogging the Institutes for helpful guides by Sinclair Ferguson, Paul Helm, and others. You should bookmark this page.