A rare and important study offering a complete review of John Calvin's preaching activity, purpose, method, and style. Parker's work includes Calvin's theological considerations, expository methods, applications of Scripture to the needs of his congregation, and his views of the preacher's office, duty and the congregation's active participation. Appendixes.

"Light of the City" introduces readers to a unique view of John Calvin's life and thought, one that not only challenges past readings of Calvin but also seeks to reinvigorate the role of preaching as proclamation for modern civic life. According to Lester DeKoster, the doctrine of predestination as preached by Calvin makes building the kingdom of God, rather than evangelism, the sole and highest calling of Christians. Calvin's indifference to missions was rooted in his understanding that predestination leaves evangelism with nothing to give away; instead, daily labor on behalf of God's kingdom is the central act of divine worship. Calvin's preaching, his "Institutes of the Christian Religion," and his leadership of the church and civic government in Geneva were each, DeKoster maintains, directed toward establishing God's kingdom on earth. Furthermore, Western democracy as envisioned by Thomas Jefferson and others is a direct result of such Word-inspired civil government. Properly understanding Scripture as a dynamic creative Agent of the City means that faithfully preaching today, just as in Calvin's day, will continue to dramatically evoke the City as God's kingdom on earth. Lester DeKoster's style reminds me of Thomas Carlyle. He takes the English language and -- as only a master of prose can do -- transforms that language into something powerful and imposing. . . . This book will prove to be an enduring monument, not only in the field of Calvin studies but far beyond that. -- John Richard de Witt First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, South Carolina

A collection of sixteen sermons by John Calvin that shed light on his understanding and application of the Ten Commandments. Widely known as one of the church’s most significant theologians, John Calvin was also a skilled preacher with the ability to proclaim biblical truth with power and relevance. These sermons develop the essence of his teaching on the moral law in a popular and engaging manner. Pastors preaching through the Ten Commandments, Bible students, and anyone interested in Calvin’s views on the Ten Commandments will take great delight in reading his exposition of the Decalogue, which is called “the true and eternal rule of righteousness [for all] who wish to conform their lives to God’s will.”

This book attempts to understand Calvin in his 16th-century context, with attention to continuities and discontinuities between his thought and that of his predecessors, contemporaries, and successors. Muller pays particular attention to the interplay between theological and philosophical themes common to Calvin and the medieval doctors, and to developments in rhetoric and method associated with humanism.

Given the conclusions of recent research, that predestination was no central dogma to, and did not affect the method of reformed theology, this study investigates the question of if and how the doctrine of predestination affected the ideas and practice of preaching. The relation of predestination and covenant, congregation, atonement, faith etc. are researched in the theology and sermons of John Calvin, Theodore Beza, John Diodati, and Theodore Tronchin, Francis Turretin, and Benedict Pictet. This study shows that in Genevan Reformed Theology from Calvin to Pictet, predestination and the external call were inseparably connected, but that the doctrine of predestination neither dominated the content nor restricted the address of the external call.

Not only was John Calvin a magisterial theologian and one of the great transformative forces of modern history, he also was a consummate preacher who delivered over two thousand sermons in St. Pierre's Cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland, where he pastored from 1536 until his death in 1564. What better way to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth and his towering legacy to the church than by gathering sixteen of the preeminent Reformed pastors of our day to preach commemorative sermons in St. Pierre's! Preaching Like Calvin faithfully presents the text of these sermons. Reading the sermons shows how Calvin's theology grew from a clear understanding of the Biblean understanding and a theology that are alive and well in the church today.

While the effects of historical criticism on theology in the modern period have been well documented, their implications for modern preaching have been largely ignored. Dawn DeVries examines the content of and reasoning behind the preaching on the Synoptic Gospels by John Calvin and Friedrich Schleiermacher in order to ascertain their responses to the historical Jesus. By doing so, DeVries demonstrates that the shifting of emphasis in modern preaching from the miraculous aspects of the Gospel narratives to the "internal" miracles of faith has historical, intellectual, and spiritual grounding in the work of these classical theologians. The Columbia Series in Reformed Theology represents a joint commitment by Columbia Theological Seminary and Westminster John Knox Press to provide theological resources from the Reformed tradition for the church today. This series examines theological and ethical issues that confront church and society in our own particular time and place.

Covering the story of preaching from the Protestant Reformation to the end of the 17th century, the latest volume in this series covers not only what the Reformers preached but also the reform of preaching itself.