John Calvin: A Pilgrim's Life

If you're not familiar with the main contours of Calvin's life, you may be surprised by Herman Selderhuis's unusual perspective. He clarifies each stage of Calvin's development under a different role: orphan, pilgrim, stranger, refugee, preacher, victim, widower, patient, sailor, and soldier. Selderhuis shatters static, one-dimensional images of Calvin as a somber academic, revealing instead Calvin's complexities and depth.

Herman J. Selderhuis is professor for church history and church polity at the Theological University Apeldoorn (Netherlands) and director of the university's Institute for Reformation Research. He is a leading Reformation historian and author of several books, including Calvin's Theology of the Psalms.

There are many biographies of John Calvin, the theologian--some villifying him and others extolling his virtues--but few that reveal John Calvin, the man.

Professor and renowned Reformation historian Herman Selderhuis has written this book to bring Calvin near to the reader, showing him as a man who had an impressive impact on the development of the Western world, but who was first of all a believer struggling with God and with the way God governed both the world and his own life.

Selderhuis draws on Calvin's own publications and commentary on the biblical figures with whom he strongly identified to describe his theology in the context of his personal development. Throughout we see a person who found himself alone at many of the decisive moments of his life--a fact that echoed through Calvin's subsequent sermons and commentaries. Selderhuis's unique and compelling look at John Calvin, with all of his merits and foibles, ultimately discloses a man who could not find himself at home in the world in which he lived.

Average Rating:

2 of 2 Reviews Showing:

Reviewed by Frederick Kuhl (Oak Hill, Va.), June 29, 2009

I'm writing a second review because, having now finished the book, I think I was unjust to it earlier. The book does seem almost flippant at first, but Selderhuis's understanding of and admiration for Calvin become clearer as the book progresses. His portrait of Calvin is lively, balanced and illuminating.

Reviewed by Frederick Kuhl (Oak Hill, VA), May 26, 2009

Its great strength is its historical and personal detail. In that it's unique. But it won't help you understand Calvin theologically, as does THL Parker's biography. And it verges at times on flippancy. Still, very much worth reading, along with Parker.

Write a review of John Calvin: A Pilgrim's Life

• Academic
• Academic >> Theology
• Academic >> Theology >> Systematic Theology Theologians
• Academic >> Theology >> Systematic Theology Theologians >> Calvin
• Books
• Books >> Biography
• Books >> Biography >> Historical Figures
• Books >> Theology
• Books >> Theology >> Systematic Theology Theologians
• Books >> Theology >> Systematic Theology Theologians >> Calvin
• Start A New Christianbook.com Search

I'm the author/artist and I want to review John Calvin: A Pilgrim's Life.