Zeal for Godliness: Devotional Meditations on Calvin's Institutes (Thomas & Wynne, eds.)

Following Calvin's intent with the Institutes, this book displays the coherence, trustworthiness, and glory of biblical truth for all ages. We hope these readings will awaken readers to the relevance of Calvin's theology, humble them by the depth of Calvin's insights, and challenge them in their progress in the Christian life. Most of all, we hope they discover that exploring the Institutes means following Calvin as he follows Christ into a deeper, Bible-saturated devotion to the triune God.

The content of the proposed book is adapted from the 2009 "Blogging Through the Institutes" project hosted by reformation21.org, the online magazine of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.

Table of Contents:

Book One: The Knowledge of God the Creator

Book Two: The Knowledge of God the Redeemer in Christ

Book Three: The Way in Which We Receive the Grace of Christ

Book Four: The Society of Christ

Contributors 

Carl Trueman, Ligon Duncan, Guy Waters, Stephen Nichols, Philip Ryken, Carlton Wynne, Richard Phillips, Iain Campbell, Sinclair Ferguson, Paul Helm, Justin Taylor, Sean Lucas and Derek Thomas

Endorsements 

"John Calvin's Institutes easily stands as the greatest work by the greatest theologian of the Church. Outside of the Bible itself, this magnum opus remains to this day the finest masterpiece of Christian literature ever written. Zeal for Godliness is a collection of some of the finest minds in the Reformed world who write to make Calvin's work, the tour de force of the Reformation, more accessible to the modern reader with eye-opening explanations and life-changing applications." - Steven J. Lawson, Senior Pastor, Christ Fellowship Baptist Church, Mobile, Alabama

"The heritage of the Reformation is not only a belief that both heart and mind matter, but that heart and mind are connected. This wonderful devotional book on Calvin's Institutes shows how true that belief really is. These rich insights from Calvin will change the way you think and the way you live." - Michael Kruger - RTS

"Calvin's Institutes is delicious steak for the soul. Far from being ivory-tower theology, Calvin wrote to nourish the heart in godliness or piety. Zeal for Godliness cuts our meat for us into small, bite-sized pieces. Each brief devotion, linked to a specific section of the Institutes, was written by a man who has marinated his mind in Calvin's biblical teachings. Whether you read this as a stand-alone devotional, or an accompaniment to reading through Calvin's book, you will find these thoughts to be like the fragrant odors rising from a summer grill-attractive and appetizing." - Joel R. Beeke, President of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan

"Imagine a traditional English Pub in the sophisticated West of London and a bunch of people meeting regularly over three years to read and study a book together. The book was Calvin's Institutes and the group comprised Oxbridge graduates, high powered business people, and blue collar workers who were by turns delighted, instructed, challenged, encouraged and even amused as their preconceptions about this most maligned of Reformers melted away through exposure to what he really wrote. I don't know in nearly 40 years of ministry that I have enjoyed an experience more than that which I shared with around 50 (if work allowed them all to come) people who came to share my passion for the book I first discovered as a 16 year old. But above all, I think everyone in our reading group could testify, we were left with a bigger view of God than we had before. Calvin stretches the heart and mind (in that order) to embrace a God whose glory blinds and burns the eyes and whose mercy thrills and comforts the soul. Who can forget, for example, his depiction of the providence of God in the details of our lives and the assurance it gives that we live each day under the eye of a faithful God? Or his passion for the unity and universality of the church of God and the means of grace as the ordained instruments for our spiritual growth. When we held our last evening together we felt we had found a new friend and brother whom we look forward to meeting in the presence of Him Calvin so delighted to honor and adore." - Dr. Liam Goligher, Senior Minister of Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania