John Calvin: A Pilgrim's Life - Paperback

by Herman J. Selderhuis (Author)

There are many biographies of John Calvin, the theologian--some villifying him and others extolling his virtues--but few that reveal John Calvin, the man.Professor and renowned Reformation historian Herman Selderhuis has written this book to bringCalvin near to the reader, showing him as a man who had an impressive impact on the development of the Western world, but who was first of all a believer struggling with God and with the way God governed both the world and his own life.Selderhuis draws on Calvin's own publications and commentary on the biblical figures with whom he strongly identified to describe his theology in the context of his personal development. Throughout we see a person who found himself alone at many of the decisive moments of his life--a fact that echoed through Calvin's subsequent sermons and commentaries. Selderhuis's unique and compelling look at John Calvin, with all of his merits and foibles, ultimately discloses a man who could not find himself at home inthe world in which he lived.

Author Biography

Herman J. Selderhuis is professor of church history and church polity at the Theological University Apeldoorn (Netherlands) and director of Refo500, the international platform for knowledge, expertise, and ideas related to the sixteenth-century Reformation. He is a leading Reformation historian and author or editor of several books, including John Calvin: A Pilgrim's Life, Calvin's Theology of the Psalms, and Psalms 1-72 in the Reformation Commentary on Scripture. He also serves as the academic curator of the John a Lasco Library (Emden, Germany) and as president of the International Calvin Congress.