Calvin’s Doctrine of the Word & Sacrament

Description

This is a careful and fresh study of Calvin’s Commentaries, Institutes, Sermons, and Tracts, designed to meet the practical needs of those who wish clarification of the doctrines that lie behind traditional Reformed church practice. The book is also valuable for the insight it gives into Calvin’s method of interpreting Scripture, especially the Old Testament.

The most important moments of a worship service, for John Calvin, happen during the preaching of the Word and the celebration of the sacraments. These are the chief means of grace, and the significant moments where God reveals Himself. In this volume, Wallace exposes the critical relationship in Calvin’s thought between Word and sacrament

The following two sentences taken from the Preface aptly sum up the content and purpose of the work: “What is most important in the study of Calvin today is to reveal what the Reformer himself actually said, in order that misconceptions about his teaching may be cleared away. Therefore, this work is not a critical study of Calvin but an attempt to express his teaching as copiously, fiarly and sympathetically as possible.”

Because so many students are finding it necessary to restudy Calvin’s teachings today, this survey of some of his most essential teachings will prove to be particularly helpful.

Mr. Wallace’s book is almost a mosaic of quotations taken from all parts of Calvin’s writings, yet not merely laid side by side but set in an analytical framework as closely reasoned as Calvin himself would have approved. No student of Calvin can afford to neglect this book, and all preachers will be enriched by it.