Life in God: John Calvin, Practical Formation, and the Future of Protestant Theology

Contemplates Calvin's Institutes as practical spiritual theology

For many today, John Calvin is best known as an austere, strictly intellectual teacher of Protestant doctrine. But Matthew Myer Boulton reads him very differently, arguing that for Calvin, Christian theology is properly conceived and articulated primarily for the sake of everyday, practical formation through the church's treasury of spiritual disciplines.

Although Calvin famously opposed the cloister, Boulton shows that his purpose was not the eradication but rather the democratization of spiritual disciplines often associated with monasticism. Ordinary disciples, too, Calvin insisted, should embrace such formative practices as close scriptural study, daily prayer and worship, regular Psalm singing, and frequent celebration of the Lord's Supper. This deeply formational approach to Christian doctrine provides a fruitful template for Protestant theology today -- and tomorrow.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Published: 10/25/2011
ISBN: 9780802865649
Pages: 242
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.80d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 10/10/2011
Christian Century 10/17/2012 pg. 35