DESCRIPTION:

This is a doctoral seminar for PhD and ThM students, open to a limited number of advanced MA and MDiv students with permission of instructor. The course is designed to introduce students to the thought of John Calvin in his sixteenth-century context by reading and analyzing selected writings. The 2005 seminar will focus not on his commentaries or Institutes, but on his controversial writings, including apologetic, polemical, and catechetical writings. More detailed information about the course is available at http://www.fuller.edu/sot/faculty/thompson_john/CH853syllabus.pdf.

Calvin's theology was formed in the crucible of sixteenth-century conflicts, all of which bore ministerial, ecclesiastical, exegetical, and doctrinal dimensions. Students concerned to understand the Reformed tradition of Protestant theology can benefit from the various ways in which Calvin stands as a model of the pastor-theologian and thereby become better formed theologically--that is, pastorally--by studying his life and writings with care so as to learn from his successes and failures.

Seminar format, meets for three hours weekly to discuss readings and issues.

Calvin, John. Treatises on the Sacraments. 1849; repr., Christian Focus Pub'ns, n.d. ISBN: 1-85792-7257

______. Treatises Against the Anabaptists and Against the Libertines. Ed. B.W. Farley. Baker, 2001.

______. Calvin's Ecclesiastical Advice. Ed. M. Beaty & B. W. Farley. Westminster John Knox, 1991.

______. The Bondage and Liberation of the Will. Ed. A. N. S. Lane. Baker Academic, 2002.

McKim, Donald K., ed. The Cambridge Companion to John Calvin. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004.

Various photocopied readings from Calvin.

One of the following, but do not buy in advance of first class session: [o.p. titles often available used]

Balke, Willem Calvin and the Anabaptist Radicals. Eerdmans, 1981. Wipf & Stock.

Dowey, Edward A. The Knowledge of God in Calvin's Theology. 3d ed. Eerdmans, 1994.

Ganoczy, Alexandre. The Young Calvin. Westminster, 1987; T. & T. Clark, 1988.

Graham, W. Fred. The Constructive Revolutionary. John Knox, 1971; Michigan State, 1987.

Hesselink, John. Calvin and the Law. Pickwick, 1992.

Höpfl, Harro. The Christian Polity of John Calvin. Cambridge, 1982.

McDonnell, Kilian. John Calvin, the Church, and the Eucharist. Princeton, 1967. [o.p.]

McKee, Elsie Anne. John Calvin on the Diaconate. . . . Geneva: Droz, 1984.

Muller, Richard A. The Unaccommodated Calvin. Oxford, 2000.

Naphy, William G. Calvin and the Consolidation of the Genevan Reformation. Westminster John Knox, 2003.

Niesel, Wilhelm. The Theology of Calvin. Westminster, 1956; Baker, 1980. [o.p.]

Parker, T. H. L. Calvin: An Introduction to His Thought. Westminster John Knox, 1995.

______. Calvin's Preaching. Westminster John Knox, 1992.

Schreiner. Susan E. The Theater of His Glory. Labyrinth, 1991; Baker, 1995.

Thompson, John L. John Calvin and the Daughters of Sarah. Geneva: Droz, 1991.

Wendel, François. Calvin: Origins and Development of His . . . Thought. Labyrinth, 1987. [o.p.]

Greef, Wulfert de. The Writings of John Calvin. Baker, 1993.

Muller, Richard A. Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms. Baker, 1985.

1. Assigned readings: MA/MDiv students (553), 1650 pages; ThM/PhD students (853), 2100 pages.

2. Weekly written response to readings, to be completed before each class.

3. Critical book review (ThM/PhD students only).

4. Weekly Latin tutorials (ThM/PhD students only).

5. Final examination (take-home essay, due at end of term).

6. Original research paper (ThM/PhD students only), outline due by eighth week.