Sermons On Job

Description

The name of John Calvin (1509-1564) is justly renowned in a number of contexts. The Reforma­tion’s greatest systematic theologian, he was also a Christian strategist and transformer of society, as his enormous correspondence and his influence in Geneva bear witness. A prolific scholar, well-versed in the Latin of the academics, he also worked hard at communicating to ordinary men and women in his native French language. Above all, Calvin was a pastor. Indeed, it has been said of him that he became a theologian in order to be a better pastor. Nowhere is that more clearly seen than in his sermons. In 1549, the Campagnie des Etrangers, refugees who thought highly of his ministry, employed a professional scribe, Denis Raguenier, to record and translate Calvin’s sermons. Thanks to the foresight of these sixteenth-century Christians we can still read the 159 sermons Calvin preached on the Book of Job on week-days in 1554-5. They abound in faithful and lively exposition, and remain one of the finest examples of evangelical preaching – faithful to the biblical text and thoughtfully applied to the individual and society. This quality facsimile edition, which will be prized by students, scholars and Christians in general, is a reproduction of Arthur Golding’s translation of the Job sermons first published in 1574. Perhaps one day the massive work of retransla­ting Calvin from the original French into modern English will be done, but until then this Elizabethan text provides us with a rare volume, treasured by all who have ever possessed it. The English has the force and colour of the age of Shakespeare and ten minutes reading aloud is generally enough to whet the interest for more.