John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God

By: John Piper

Narrated by: Michael Koontz

John Piper fires readers' passion for the centrality and supremacy of God by unfolding Calvin's exemplary zeal for the glory of God. God rests all too lightly on the church's mind in our time. Consequently, the self-saturation of his people has made God and his glory auxiliary, and his majesty has all but disappeared from the modern evangelical world.

John Calvin saw a similar thing in his day, and it was at the root of his quarrel with Rome. Nothing mattered more to Calvin than the centrality, supremacy, and majesty of the glory of God. His aim, he wrote, was to "set before [man], as the prime motive of his existence, zeal to illustrate the glory of God" - a fitting banner over all of the great Reformer's life and work. "The essential meaning of Calvin's life and preaching", writes John Piper, "is that he recovered and embodied a passion for the absolute reality and majesty of God.

Such is the aim and burden of this book as well. As Piper concisely unfolds this predominant theme in Calvin's life, he seeks to fire every Christian's passion for the centrality and supremacy of God, so that God's self-identification in Exodus 3 as "I am who I am" becomes the sun in our solar system too.

©2008 John Piper (P)2009 christianaudio.com

incredible insight

A must read to understand the truth of God. Scripture is all that truly matters.

Short synopsis

A brief summary on the kind of man Calvin was, what he dedicated himself towards in life and overall an invitation to read some of works

Good begining

This is a great start for those interested in reformed theology. This book is less "theological meat" and more a history of John Calvin, but it's worth reading. You learn a lot about his life and motives for doing what he did, the hardships he faced and God's divine providence in his life.

A little Preachy

While Calvin was a great scholar and was driven to spread the christian faith is well presented in this book. The fact that Calvin was not willing to accept teachings contrary to his faith is glossed over and in ways justified, because of all his good work. The author goes along with this argument. Christianity is stained with the blood of many that disagreed with its teachings, and this cannot be overlooked as its not part of the teachings of its founder (Christ did not condemn those that he disagreed with). This book tries to gloss over the fact that Calvin argued a case against a man whose teachings he disagreed with, the result of which the man was put to death. This fact cannot be ignored or offset against the perceived good he did. The author tries to make the excuse for this, in that the times were hard, but overlooks the fact the times were just as hard 2000 years ago. The facts should be presented as they are, and Calvin should be held accountable, if he is to be given credit for his achievements. No amount of evangelism justifies the execution of those that hold counter beliefs, if one is to preach love and forgiveness.

sermon built around the life of Calvin

This is not a biography, it is a sermon built around the life of Calvin. If I want the word of God I can read the bible, I was interested in learning about Calvin and this book does not tell you very much.

Shallow and superficial.

It's not awful; there's just not much here to recommend. It's a cursory glance at a fascinating life, but what's here is so superficial that it just raises more questions about Calvin than it answers. Consider this intriguing passage, as an example: "Easter day of 1538 after preaching, he left the pulpit of St. Peters, banished by the city council. He returned in September of 1541, over three years later, and picked up the exposition in the next verse." I have questions, don't you? Banished, you say! On EASTER DAY? Why banishment? Why that particular day? Piper doesn't care, but I do. This kind of teasing ambiguity is dispersed throughout the book. I suppose one could argue that it doesn't fit the thesis (Calvin's passion for the majesty of God) but, truthfully, I didn't get much of a sense of that, either.

Some of it, particularly the section dealing with Calvin's sermons, feels like a Wikipedia entry: dull, lifeless lists of facts devoid of personality or insight roll past as if trying to fill the page. There is a bit of social commentary in the conclusion reminding us not to judge our forebearers for some of the things they did (as they most certainly would have looked down their noses at our behavior), which might have been developed into something meatier and more interesting, but Piper keeps it, like the rest of the book, shallow. This comes off as an extremely light biography, and there is little information presented on Calvin's spiritual practices (other than that he preached scripture a lot and in succession, but so did a lot of others. I wanted to know why he stands out for having done so.). I am unfamiliar with Piper's written work, so I had a neutral approach to the material and relatively low expectations. I did, however, expect more than this.

The narration was servicable without drawing attention to itself, which is perfectly fine for a title like this.