As I grew up watching basketball I noticed that the most prominent players seemed to have been given nicknames in the form of "The ______". We have "The Dream", "The Glide", "The Worm". Portrait of Calvin is a brief look at the man simply remembered as "The Theologian".For many years, a reference to "The Theologian" was widely recognized as a reference the reformer who had such a fervor for truth. Few men in history have had the combination of drive, passion, intellect, and humility that formed John Calvin. On the day when one of the most prolific, influential writers and pastors of the last millenia died, May 27, 1564, his burial was not followed by tens of thousands of Europeans. Instead, his request was granted and he was buried in an unmarked grave, the final push in pointing towards Jesus Christ rather than John Calvin.
This is not a summary of the Institutes or even of his theology but simply a look at who Calvin was: a man like you and me. We live in an age where it is so easy to take people and turn them into a symbol or set of ideas. As Parker brings us through Calvin's academic upbringing, conversion, battles with the local government, and even love life, a man emerges different from "the angry predestination guy" that is more or less the light he is portrayed in on his 500th birthday.
He was a man saved by grace who worked extremely hard in both reforming the church and the city in which he lived, Geneva. He was a man who made many friends along with many enemies as he sought to live out God's will in Geneva. His reverence for the Scriptures have inspired countless theologians. Few writers in history have shared the lasting power that Calvin has. Though his nickname (The Theologian) is known to fewer people today on his birthday, as time goes by, we see that it is a name deserved more with each passing day.
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