30 Mar 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
A few people asked that I finish the translation of the Wittenberg Concord that I began about a year ago (see post 1 and 2). There was one article remaining, that on absolution; I include it below. The only thing that remains to be done and that likely will be of interest to TCI's readers is a translation...
Read more → 27 Mar 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
About a decade ago, Adam Gopnik wrote a long essay in The New Yorker on G.K. Chesterton and his works called "The Back of the World: The Troubling Genius of G.K. Chesterton." Gopnik is both an admirer of Chesterton, but one with critical distance--meaning that he does not write hagiography and therefore...
Read more → 26 Mar 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
In his Brief Outline of the Study of Theology, Friedrich Schleiermacher coins a new term to describe someone who serves as an ideal guide for the church. Such a person would be characterized by balance--the balance of practical piety and academic competency, united in a single individual. To give the priority...
Read more → 16 Mar 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
I noted a couple of years ago Calvin's possibly revealing use of the word summa (as in, Summa theologiae) "so prominently in the first sentence [of the final edition of the Institutes (1559)]," and commented that [t]he gesture would signal, I think, a radical simplification of the theological enterprise,...
Read more → 14 Mar 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
Some time ago, I started a little series on Calvin's use of classical authors in the Institutes. In the first two parts, we looked at Calvin's references to Plato and to Vergil and Lucretius. In this installment, we will see what use he makes of the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC-AD 17/18). As far as I can tell,...
Read more → 06 Mar 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
For good reason, one might find John Calvin referred to as an "anti-speculative" theologian. But as with so many other monikers applied to Protestant theologians (e.g. "anti-scholastic"), one must take the label in its relative rather than its absolute signification. When confronted with biblicism, Calvin...
Read more → 05 Mar 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
Psychologist and University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson has become a recent internet sensation, with publications from the New York Times to The Federalist to the National Review and The Atlantic covering his rise and videos featuring him going viral on YouTube. It is a rise that has confounded...
Read more → 27 Feb 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
Today is the anniversary of Constantine's birth. I've mentioned the anniversary of his accession here before and the anniversary of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, as well as the esteem in which he was held by the magisterial Reformers; Peter Martyr Vermigli, for instance, praises him along with David,...
Read more → 08 Feb 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
Calvin continues to argue that the Son of God is Yahweh by drawing out the implications of various biblical texts. For example: the New Testament contains instances of prayer directed to Christ; therefore Christ must be Yahweh. Translation Otherwise, not only would Stephen have violated the lawful...
Read more → 25 Jan 2018
Posted by E.J. Hutchinson 
In this next installment of the Admonition to the Polish Brothers, Calvin treats Malachi 3.1: if Malachi spoke of Christ in saying that "the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple" (ESV), then Christ must be Yahweh--for Yahweh alone is worshiped in the Temple. Translation Add to this...
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