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aridjon's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
2.5
As a forever student of theology, and having been raised in various offshoots of the Reformed tradition, it felt like a point of pride that I take this on and get through it. I’m not sorry I did it, but it did seem to reaffirm for me that I’m much more Lutheran than Calvinist (even if I can’t yet tell you exactly how that practically shows up).
cmcuffman's review against another edition
5.0
It's interesting that no one becomes a Calvinist without really thinking about it. Our default position as humans seems to be "Give me free will or give me death!" However, this book and ones like it have been for me the starting point to a fuller understanding of what God is really doing in the world, who He is, and what place humans (including myself) have in history. This book influences everything...literally everything I believe about the Bible and how my ministry ought to look. Give it a chance.
grllopez's review against another edition
4.0
This is an abridged version of a very long original work, over 1000 pages long.
davidbess's review against another edition
3.0
I've been exploring Reformed theology, so I thought my research wouldn't be complete without going through the Institutes. I knew from the start they wouldn't be light reading, so I chose the audio version and listened to them over a period of weeks in my car. Calvin's work here should definitely be used as a reference rather than something to read from start to finish. There was far too much theology covered to go into any kind of detail in this review. I did, however, also get a good sense of the man and his very detailed, analytical thought patterns when it comes to the Christian faith. There are many other books on the market today that will give a far better, much more concise summary of the Reformed faith than the Institutes. Still, if you want to explore Calvinism in detail, there's no way of getting around reading this historic work of John Calvin. If you're going to go from the start to the finish, the audio version is what I recommend.
ckadams5's review against another edition
4.0
The content is excellent, but I am looking forward to a more modern translation.
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