Guest AuthorBaptist Roots Where did Baptists come from and, historically, what are their beliefs? The majority of historians agree that today’s Baptists were derived from three major sixteenth-century streams: Particular Baptists, General Baptists, and...
Below is the sobering account of the last hours of John Calvin’s wife, Idelette. What a mix of emotions I feel as a husband as I read of Calvin sharing the gospel with his wife one last time before she sees Jesus face to face. Idelette saw the...
It was far more common in John Calvin’s day than in our own for children to die at birth or in the early years of life. This, however, does not lessen the grief of loss. Three times in their short marriage, Calvin and Idelette experienced the pain...
Some have considered Calvin to be a completely cool, collected, and compassionate individual, but from his letters one sees that his care and love for people often ran deep. For instance, when he heard that the plague had broken out in Strasburg...
One can only imagine the challenges of being married to someone with such a gift and call as John Calvin. On top of the enormous burden he carried for Geneva, the church, the reformation, and the Gospel, he was often ill from the labors he put...
Very little is known or recorded about John Calvin’s wife, Idelette de Bure. Yet, Thomas Smith records this of her in Calvin and His Enemies: A Memoir of the Life. Externally, there was in this woman nothing very attractive. She was encumbered...
I’m currently 32 years old and have been married for 10 of those years. At age 30 John Calvin was still not married. While trying to find a suitable woman to marry, Calvin penned a letter to his good friend Farel who was trying to help him...
I often feel like I’m busy and have a lot on my plate. A quick inquiry into all that John Calvin had on his plate (without a computer, email, or even a typewriter for that matter) make me truly appreciate the labors that he undertook on behalf...
Calvin, wanting to just sit back and read some books, was challenged by Farel when we came through Geneva. Faral’s words no doubt cut Calvin to the heart and ultimately led to him staying in Geneva. Perhaps they cut at you too? ON quitting...
Book Review James D.G. Dunn, Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2011, 221 pp. The back cover promotes this book as a “compact theological primer,” a description that could be improved in accuracy as “compact biblical theological primer.” This monograph is a...
It is always interesting to see how people respond to difficult circumstances. Here we have the opportunity to see how Calvin responds when not only told he’d been fired form his post in Geneva, but that he has 3 days to leave the town. The...
In The True Method of Giving Peace to Christendom and Reforming the Church John Calvin helps bring clarity to one of the issues he and many of the other reformers had with the Adultero-German Interim, namely the source of our righteousness. What a...
Earlier today The Huffington Post published an article by filmmaker Robert Orlando titled A Polite Bribe: A New Narrative for Paul and the Early Church? For more information about Orlando’s documentary and a list of scholars featured in the...
In his tract responding to the Adultero-Germin Interim, Calvin lays clear the relationship between the righteousness that come from faith and the righteousness that comes from works. I found meditating on this to be helpful in finding the balance...
John Calvin’s Catechism of the Church of Geneva is appended by “Several Godly Prayers.” Here is Calvin’s prayer before going to sleep: (Other prayers include:prayer in the morning, Prayer before a meal, Prayer for going to school) O LORD GOD, who...
Book Review Arland J. Hultgren, Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2011, 834 pp. Many New Testament scholars could be pressured to write a commentary on Paul’s epistle to Rome “because,” to paraphrase George Mallory, “it’s there.” For a noted scholar like...
When it comes to biblical research for teaching, speaking, and writing, I’ve always been strictly old school: reference books stacked on my desk, commentaries piled around my feet, and a Strong’s Concordance within reach. It was cozy and familiar. ...
John Calvin’s Catechism of the Church of Geneva is appended by “Several Godly Prayers.” Here is Calvin’s prayer on blessing at the table: All look unto thee, O Lord; and thou givest them their meat in due season; that thou givest them they gather:...
I recently posted on John Calvin’s Catechism of the Church of Geneva and the appended “Several Godly Prayers.” Another one of his prayers is focused on praying in the morning: MY GOD, my Father and Preserver, who of thy goodness...
John Calvin’s Catechism of the Church of Geneva is appended by “Several Godly Prayers.” Here is Calvin’s prayer on preparing to go to school: Ps. 119:9. Wherein shall a young man establish his way? If he wisely conduct...
I’ve written two posts (here and here) about some quotes in the Adultero-German Interim that I found particularly impressive and beautiful. I felt a little at odds with myself, writing about a document that Calvin so vehemently opposed...
Book Review Bernard Brandon Scott, editor, Polebridge Press, 2011, 94 pp. As the Jesus Seminar now begins to engage the questions of the historical Paul, the Polebridge Press Jesus Seminar Guides study series has published its first collection of...
Book Review Arthur J. Dewey, Roy W. Hoover, Lane C. McGaughy, and Daryl D. Schmidt, Polebridge Press, 2010, 270 pp. Those who appreciated the fresh and edgy translation of the Scholars Version of the Gospels will be thrilled with the Westar...
Today’s post is from Bobby Moss, a regional presenter for the Ministry Development department here at Logos. I’ve been a passionate Logos user for over 10 years now. Over this time I’ve worn many different hats: youth pastor, grad school student...
John Calvin wrote quiet forcefully against the Adultero-German Intrim in his tract The True Method for Giving Peace to Christendom and Reforming the Church. However, in reading much of the Interim, I found some really great nuggets. For instance, in...
And now for something completely different! Whoever said that biblical studies can’t be fun? Indulge in the lighter side of faith with Mark Mattison’s new e-book, Bible Puns: 100 Original Jokes, now available for only $2.99! In this...
In his note to the reader in Psychopannychia, John Calvin opens with an explanation of why he sometimes has to write harshly in the tract. I not only appreciate his vigor in his defense of truth, but his pastoral care for those who may read his...
One of the great features in Logos Bible Software 4 is the Bible Facts tool, otherwise known as Biblical People, Biblical Places and Biblical Things. These three tools come with most Logos 4 base packages, and gather an immense amount of information...
Today’s guest post is by Elise Bryant, from the Logos Bible Software Accounting department. I feel like I've grown spiritually by listening to radio ministries. Three of my favorite teachers are Beth Moore, Kay Arthur and Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I'd...
In reading through John Calvin’s last letter to the ministers at Geneva, I was struck by the following paragraph. I have had many infirmities which you have been obliged to bear with, and what is more, all I have done has been worth nothing...