A Reader's Guide to Calvin's Institutes

by Anthony N.S. Lane

John Calvin's Institutes is one of the great classics of Christian theology. Now, at the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth, a leading Calvin expert offers an affordable guide to reading the Institutes (keyed to the McNeill/Battles translation).

The book includes selected readings and annotations to offer a streamlined introduction to the heart of Calvin's theology. Dividing the Institutes into thirty-two portions, the author has chosen an average of eighteen pages to be read from each to cover the whole range of the Institutes . The notes guide readers through the text, concentrating on the sections chosen for reading and summarizing the material. An introduction and questions at the beginning of each portion direct the reader's attention to important points.

Genres: Theology, Christian

174 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2009

About the author

Tony Lane is Professor of Historical Theology and Director of research at the London School of Theology (formerly LBC) and author of Justification by Faith in Catholic-Protestant Dialogue (T&T Clark, 2002) and The Lion Christian Classics Collection (2004).

Reviews

[Zack Clemmons · Rating 3 out of 5]

hadn't encountered a book like this before: a "reader's guide" that walks you through every section, telling you which paragraphs, sentences, even footnotes are worth reading and which you can skip. Helpful, I suppose, but weird. Far superior to reading something like McKim's abridgement, in that it at least gets you into Calvin for real, not reducing him to a series of bullet points.

[Dan]

A helpful companion to reading Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. Lane highlights Calvin's key arguments and directs you to important footnotes (which is good because there are thousands of footnotes). I wish it offered a bit more commentary rather than just summaries but still found it a good tool to help sharpen focus while reading Institutes.

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Not super helpful. Chapter/section summaries didn’t really offer new or interesting info or add to the reading experience. Still a decent guide for reading the highlights of the Institutes for sure.

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful resource. Great to have handy when working through Calvin's "Institutes."

[Thomas Creedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book review is of a book that should aid you in reading one of the books that (other than the Bible) has had more of an influence on Western Protestant theology, and definitely evangelical theology, than any other. That book, John Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion” was also foundational and formational in my own Christian life, and fundamental to my decision to study and continue to appreciate theology. Tony Lane, a professor of Historical Theology at London School of Theology, has done readers of Calvin, and those who have not yet read him, a great service by writing this slim volume.

Continue reading my review over at my blog: https://www.thomascreedy.co.uk/book-r...

[Matthew McConnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a somewhat helpful guide to the Institutes. Mainly, this book was helpful in giving summaries of each section so that despite Calvin’s somewhat wordiness, his main points were not lost. However, it may have been helpful to have more guidance in the form of brief background information or corrections that should be made to McNeil-Battles.

[Megan Messersmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A super guide in working your way through the Institutes. Lane is a world-class Calvin scholar!