1. JOHN CALVIN: STUDIES

 

Alister McGrath, A Life of John Calvin: A Study in the Shaping of Western Culture (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1990) paperback, $36.  A fine study of Calvin and of the movement he started.  Start here.

 

Donald K. McKim, ed., Cambridge Companion to John Calvin, Cambridge Companions to Religion (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 2004) paperback, $25.  Part of an excellent series.  McKim gathers leading Calvin scholars to comment on key themes in Calvin’s life and thought. 

 

Philip Benedict, Christ’s Churches Purely Reformed: A Social History of Calvinism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004) paperback, $35.

William J. Bouwsma, John Calvin: a Sixteenth Century Portrait (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988) paperback, $19.  An odd book; more a study of Calvin’s psyche and worldview than of his life or theology.

Bernard Cottret, Calvin: A Biography, trans. M. Wallace MacDonald (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000) paperback, $28.

Christopher Elwood, The Body Broken: The Calvinist Doctrine of the Eucharist and the Symbolization of Power, Oxford Studies in Historical Theology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) hardcover, $50.

Edward A. Downey, Jr., The Knowledge of God in Calvin’s Theology, 3rd edition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994).

William A. Dyrness, Reformed Theology and Visual Culture: The Protestant Imagination from Calvin to Edwards (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) paperback, $30.

Stephen Edmondson, Calvin’s Christology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) paperback, $26.

Alexandre Ganoczy, The Young Calvin, trans. David Foxgrover (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1987).

B.A. Gerrish, Grace and Gratitude: The Eucharistic Theology of John Calvin (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993).

Timothy George, ed., John Calvin and the Church: A Prism of Reform (Nashville: Westminster John Knox, 1990) paperback, $23.

Paul Helm, John Calvin’s Ideas (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) paperback, $45.

Serene Jones, Calvin and the Rhetoric of Piety, Columbia Series in Reformed Theology (Nashville: Westminster John Knox, 1995) hardcover, $18.

Peter A. Lillback, The Binding of God: Calvin’s Role in the Development of Covenant Theology, Texts and Studies in Reformation and Post-Reformation Thought (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2001) paperback, $28.

Donald McKim, ed., Calvin and the Bible (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) paperback, $30.

John T. McNeill, The History and Character of Calvinism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1954).  Dated, but a classic.

Richard A. Muller, The Unaccommodated Calvin: Studies in the Foundation of a Theological Tradition, Oxford Studies in Historical Theology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) paperback, $28.

Richard A. Muller, After Calvin: Studies in the Development of a Theological Tradition, Oxford Studies in Historical Theology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) hardcover, $55.

T.H.L. Parker, Calvin: An Introduction to His Thought (Nashville: Westminster John Knox, 1995) paperback, $23.

T.H.L. Parker, The Oracles of God: An Introduction to the Preaching of John Calvin (T&T Clark, 2002) paperback, $30.

T.H.L. Parker, Calvin’s Old Testament Commentaries (reprint: Nashville: Westminster John Knox, 1993) paperback, $28.

T.H.L. Parker, Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries (reprint: Nashville: Westminster John Know, 1993) paperback, $28.

Andrew Pettegree, Alastair Duke, & Gillian Lewis, ed., Calvinism in Europe, 1540-1620 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997) paperback, $22.

W. Stanford Reid, John Calvin: His Influence in the Western World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1982).

Paul Rorem, Calvin and Bullinger on the Lord’s Supper, Alcuin / GROW Liturgical Study 12 (Bramcote Notts: Grove Books, 1989).

David C. Steinmetz, Calvin in Context (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995) paperback, $18.

Cornelis P. Venema, Heinrich Bullinger and the Doctrine of Predestination (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2003) paperback, $18.

François Wendel, Calvin: Origins and Development of His Religious Thought (1963; reprint: Durham: Labyrinth Press, 1987).  Dated, but a classic.

John Witte, Jr., Sex, Marriage, and Family Life in John Calvin’s Geneva: Courtship, Engagement, and Marriage, Religion, Marriage, and Family series (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005) paperback, $35.

Randall C. Zachman, John Calvin as Teacher, Pastor, and Theologian: The Shape of His Writings and Thought (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006) paperback, $25.

 

 2. JOHN CALVIN: TEXTS

 

John T. McNeill, ed., Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 vol., Library of Christian Classics (Nashville: Westminster John Knox, 1960) hardback, $40 for the two volumes.  The Institutes is the summa of Protestantism.  And the translation by Ford Lewis Battles is widely acclaimed as the standard.

 

David W. Torrance & Thomas F. Torrance, Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans).  Calvin saw himself fundamentally as a servant of the Word of God.  Much of his most important work was exegetical.  Eerdmans has been publishing Calvin’s magisterial commentaries:

• Vol. 1: John Calvin, A Harmony of the Gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke, trans. W.W. Morrison (1996) paperback, $32.

• Vol. 2: John Calvin, A Harmony of the Gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke, trans. T.H.L. Parker (1996) paperback, $32.

• Vol. 4: John Calvin, The Gospel According to St. John, 1-10, trans. T.H.L. Parker (1996) paperback, $28.

• Vol. 5: John Calvin, The Gospel According to St. John, 11-21; The First Epistle of John, trans. T.H.L. Parker (1994) paperback, $32.

• Vol. 6: John Calvin, The Acts of the Apostles 1-13, trans. John W. Fraser & W.J.G. McDonald (1996) paperback, $35.

• Vol. 7: John Calvin, The Acts of the Apostles 14-28, trans. John W. Fraser (1996) paperback, $36.

• Vol. 10: John Calvin, The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians and the Epistles to Timothy, Titus and Philemon, trans. T.A. Small (2001) paperback, $38.

• Vol. 11: John Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippian and Colossians, trans. T.H.L. Parker (1996) paperback, $35.

• Vol. 12: John Calvin, The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews and the First and Second Epistles of Peter, trans. William B. Johnston (1996) paperback, $36.

Wulfert DeGreef, Lyle D. Bierma, trans., The Writings of John Calvin: An Introductory Guide (Baker Book House, 1993) paperback, $20.

John Dillenberger, ed., John Calvin: Selections from His Writings (reprint: American Academy of Religion, 1982) paperback, $30.  A fine anthology.

Elsie Ann McKee, John Calvin: Writings on Pastoral Piety, Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 2002) paperback, $27.

John C. Olin, ed., A Reformation Debate: John Calvin and Jacopo Sadoleto (reprint: Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976) paperback.

J.K.S. Reid, ed., Calvin: Theological Treatises, Library of Christian Classics (Philadelphia: Westminster).

Joseph Haroutunian, ed., Calvin: Commentaries, Library of Christian Classics (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1958).

 

 3. THE ENGLISH REFORMATION

 

Arthur G. Dickens, The English Reformation, rev. ed. (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1991) paperback, $25.  The classic survey of the English experience.  A massive study, detailed and carefully nuanced.

 

Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, c.1400-c.1580, 2nd ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005) paperback, $19.  Widely acclaimed revisionist view arguing that the Reformation in England came not from the bottom up, but from the top down, from a few dogged radicals.

 

Frederick C. Barbee & Paul F. Zahl, The Collects of Thomas Cranmer (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998) paperback, $17.

Elizabethanne Boran, ed., Enforcing Reformation in Ireland and Scotland, 1550-1700, St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006) hardcover, $100.

Gerald Bray, ed., Documents of the English Reformation (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994).  A valuable collection of documents.

David Daniell, William Tyndale: a Biography (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994) paperback, $20.

John Donne, Divine Poems, Sermons, Devotions, and Prayers, Classics of Western Spirituality, ed., John E. Booty (New York: Paulist Press, 1990) paperback, $20.

Eamon Duffy, The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001) paperback, $14.

Eamon Duffy, Marking the Hours: English People and Their Prayers, 1240-1570 (Yale University Press, 2006) paperback, $35.

G.R. Elton, Policy and Police: the Enforcement of the Reformation in the Age of Thomas Cromwell (New York: Cambridge University Press).

G.R. Elton, Reform and Reformation: England, 1509-1558 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1977) paperback, $20.  An excellent, detailed analysis of Cromwell’s program of reform.

Kenneth Fincham, Altars Restored: The Changing Face of English Religious Worship, 1547-c.1700 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007) hardcover, $145.

Ian Green, The Christian’s ABC: Catechisms and Catechizing in England c.1530-1740 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996) hardcover.

Christopher Haigh, ed., The English Reformation Revised (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987) paperback, $27.

Christopher Haigh, English Reformations: Religion, Politics, and Society under the Tudors (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993) paperback, $35.

Felicity Heal, Reformation in Britain and Ireland, Oxford History of the Christian Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) paperback, $45.

H. Larry Ingle, First Among Friends: George Fox and the Creation of Quakerism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) paperback, $30.

Norman L. Jones, The English Reformation: Religion and Cultural Adaptation (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002) paperback, $34.

John Kent, Wesley and the Wesleyans: Religion in Eighteenth-Century Britain (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) paperback, $22.

Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer: A Life (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996) paperback, $23.  An award-winning biography by the great liturgist and reformer.

Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Later Reformation in England, 1547-1603, 2nd ed. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2001) paperback, $24.

Peter Marshall, Reformation England, 1480-1642, Reading History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) paperback, $20.

Peter Marshall, The Catholic Priesthood and the English Reformation, Oxford Historical Monographs (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) hardcover, $90.

Peter Marshall & Alec Ryrie, eds., The Beginnings of English Protestantism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) paperback, $20.

James McConica, English Humanists and Reformation Politics under Henry VIII and Edward VI (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965).

Ashley Null, Thomas Cranmer’s Doctrine of Repentance: Renewing the Power to Love (New York: Oxford Univeristy Press, 2001) NEW in paperback, $36.

Michael Questier, Catholicism and Community in Early Modern England: Politics, Aristocratic Patronage and Religion, c.1550-1640, Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) hardcover, $80.  NEW.

J.J. Scarisbrick, The Reformation and the English People (London: Blackwell, 1985).

John Schofield, Philip Melanchthon and the English Reformation, St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006) hardcover, $100.  NEW.

Carl R. Trueman, Luther’s Legacy: Salvation and English Reformers, 1525-1556 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) hardcover, $90.

Susan Wabuda, Preaching During the English Reformation, Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) NEW in paperback, $32.

William Wizeman, The Theology and Spirituality of Mary Tudor’s Church, Catholic Christendom, 1300-1700 (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006) hardcover, $100.

 

 4. THE INTERNATIONAL REFORMATION

 

Barbara B. Diefendorf, Beneath the Cross: Catholics and Huguenots in Sixteenth Century Paris (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991) paperback, $26.

Daniel Goffman, The Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe, New Approaches to European History 24 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) paperback, $20.

Mack P. Holt, The French Wars of Religion, 1562-1629, 2nd ed., New Approaches to European History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2005) paperback, $25.

Nicholas Hope, German and Scandanavian Protestantism, 1700-1918, Oxford History of the Christian Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995) hardcover, $120.

Carter Lindberg, ed.,The Pietist Theologians (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004) paperback, $30.

Scott M. Manetsch, Theodore Beza and the Quest for Peace in France, 1572-1598, Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought 79 (Leiden: Brill, 2000).

Raymond A. Mentzer & Andrew Spicer, eds., Society and Culture in the Huguenot World, 1559-1685 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) hardcover, $65.

R. Po-chia Hsia & Henk Van Nierop, eds., Calvinism and Religious Toleration in the Dutch Golden Age (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002) hardcover, $60.

Ted LeRoy Underwood, Primitivism, Radicalism and the Lamb’s War, Oxford Studies in Historical Theology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) hardcover, $55.

W.R. Ward, Early Evangelicalism: A Global Intellectual History, 1670-1789 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) hardcover, $80.

 

 

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Revised: April 14, 2009

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  William Harmless, SJ