BIBLIOGRAPHY #5: Calvin & the International Reformation

1. JOHN CALVIN: STUDIES

Alister McGrath, A Life of John Calvin: A Study in the Shaping of Western Culture (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell,

1990) NEW in paperback, $20. A fine study of Calvin and of the movement he started. Start here.

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

paperback, $18. A fine introduction to Calvin’s theology by one of his best contemporary biographers. See
also Parker’s companion volume, John Calvin: A Biography (Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox, 1976;
reprint: Lion Publishing), paperback, $8.

William J. Bouwsma, John Calvin: a Sixteenth Century Portrait (New York: Oxford, 1988) paperback, $10. More a

study of Calvin’s psyche and worldview than of his life or theology; subtle but insightful.

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

out of print. This highly acclaimed study traces out Calvin’s road to evangelical Christianity and to the
reform in Geneva.

Serene Jones, Calvin and the Rhetoric of Piety, Columbia Series in Reformed Theology (Nashville: Westminster

John Knox, 1995), hardcover, $18. NEW

Kilian McDonnell, John Calvin, the Church, and the Eucharist (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967).
John T. McNeill, The History and Character of Calvinism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1954) paperback,

$12. Dated, but a classic study of the international influence of Calvin.

T.H.L. Parker, Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries, 2

nd

edition (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1993),

paperback, $18.

T.H.L. Parker, Calvin’s Old Testament Commentaries (Louisville, KY; Westminster John Knox, 1993), paperback,

$18.

T.H.L. Parker, Calvin’s Preaching (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1992) paperback, $18.
Andrew Pettegree, Alastair Duke, & Gillian Lewis, ed., Calvinism in Europe (New York: Cambridge University

Press, 199_ ) hardcover, $60.

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

1982).

Lucien Richard, The Spirituality of John Calvin (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975).
David C. Steinmetz, Calvin in Context (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), hardcover, $45. NEW.
Dennis E. Tamburello, Union With Christ : John Calvin and the Mysticism of St. Bernard, Columbia Series in

Reformed Theology (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1994), hardcover, $19.

François Wendel, Calvin: Origins and Development of His Religious Thought (New York: Harper & Row, 1963;

reprint: Durham: Labyrinth Press, 1987) paperback, $18. Dated, but a classic one-volume treatment of
Calvin’s thought.

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.

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 (New York: Anchor Books, 19__) paperback,

$15. A fine anthology. It includes autobiographical materials and letters, lengthy excerpts from the
Institutes, ordinances from the Geneva church, and the classic Short Treatise on the Lord’s Supper.

John C. Olin, ed., A Reformation Debate: John Calvin and Jacopo Sadoleto (New York: Harper & Row, 1966;

reprint: Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976) paperback, $7. One of the classic confrontations:
between Sadoleto, a Catholic reformer and bishop of Geneva, and Calvin, the Protestant spokesman.

Bibliography #5: Calvin

2

J.K.S. Reid, ed., Calvin: Theological Treatises, Library of Christian Classics (Philadelphia: Westminster, 19__) out

of print.

Joseph Haroutunian, ed., Calvin: Commentaries, Library of Christian Classics, vol. 23 (Philadelphia: Westminster,

1958) out of print

3. THE ENGLISH REFORMATION

Arthur G. Dickens, The English Reformation, rev. ed. (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press,

1991 / 1

st

edition, 1964) paperback, $21. The classic survey of the English experience. A massive study,

detailed and carefully nuanced.

G.R. Elton, Reform and Reformation: England, 1509-1558 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 19__) paperback,

$20. An excellent, though detailed analysis of the twists and turns of the English Reformation. Elton
focuses especially on the intricacies of the legal maneuvering of Cromwell and the Reformation Parliament.

Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, c.1400-c.1580 (New Haven: Yale

University Press, 1992) NEW in paperback, $18. Widely acclaimed revisionist view.

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

collection of documents.

David Daniell, William Tyndale: a Biography (New Haven: Yale University Press, 19__) NEW.
G.R. Elton, Policy and Police: the Enforcement of the Reformation in the Age of Thomas Cromwell (New York:

Cambridge University Press, 19__).

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

1996) hardcover, NEW.

John N. King, English Reformation Literature, the Tudor Origins of the Protestant Tradition (Princeton: Princeton

University Press, 1986), hardcover, $80.

Christopher Haigh, English Reformations: Religion, Politics, and Society under the Tudors (New York: Oxford

University Press, 19__) NEW in paperback, $20.

Peter Marshall, The Catholic Priesthood and the English Reformation (Oxford: Clarendon Press / Oxford University

Press, 1994) hardcover, $55. NEW.

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

Press, 1965).

J.J. Scarisbrick, The Reformation and the English People (London: Blackwell, 1985) NEW in paperback, $20.
J.J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII (Berkeley: University of California, 19__) paperback, $15. An exhaustive biography of

the man whose dynastic anxieties (and thus many wives) help spark the English reformation.

Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Belief in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century

England, Scribners.

Carl R. Trueman, Luther’s Legacy: Salvation and English Reformers, 1525-1556 (New York: Oxford University

Press, 1994) hardcover, $55.

4. THE INTERNATIONAL REFORMATION

Barbara B. Diefendorf, Beneath the Cross: Catholics and Huguenots in Sixteenth Century Paris (New York: Oxford

University Press, 19__) NEW in paperback, $20.

Frederic J. Baumgartner, France in the Sixteenth Century (St. Martin’s Press, 1995), paperback, $19.