Summary Of John Calvin Religion

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The book is an introduction to the essential life and thought of one of history's most influential theologians, who considered himself first and foremost a pilgrim and a pastor.
July 10, 2009, marked the five-hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Calvin. As controversial as he was influential, his critics have named a judgmental and joyless attitude after him, while his admirers celebrate him as the principal theologian of Reformed Christianity. Yet his impact is unmistakable-a primary developer of western civilization whose life and work have deeply affected five centuries' worth of pastors, scholars, and individuals.
Surprising enough is that Calvin did not live primarily to influence future generations. Rather, he considered himself …show more content…

He focuses on topics such as the church and worship, predestination, sacraments, city and schools, and Calvin as pastoral counselor. He describes each well, looking primarily at how Calvin formulated his thoughts and his theology in each of these areas. The author gives a great history of John Calvin, talking about him as “brilliant” and “one of the greatest theologians ever.” At the beginning of his book Robert Godfrey talks about how people remember John Calvin as: “Judgmental, joyless, and negative.” He chose to show John Calvin in a good way. The author choses to talk about how immensely important John Calvin was to our history. He states how Calvin not only influenced people in his own time, but now he is still influencing priests and pastors to this day. Although the author felt that John Calvin has changed our world in a positive way, he still focuses on how some people may also find what he did negative. Robert Godfrey gives many examples of how people thought of him both negatively and positively. He talked about how in Calvin time people used to name their dogs after him, mocking him. Also how some people worshiped everything he did. The author tries to not show biased because it is a biography, but most of his comments sway towards John Calvin being brilliant and one of the greatest theologians of all