法國改革宗領袖, 兩次在日內瓦事奉 (1536-38;1541-64), 改革教會。許多人對加爾文的誤解是冷酷無情的預定論的教授。事實﹕預定只不過是加爾文神學裏多樣重點之一。加爾文的思想系統是一個橢圓型，有兩個焦點﹕上帝的主權，與基督為救贖主。加爾文是出色的解經家 (其《聖經》注釋英文版 = 22本)。加爾文是一位神學家﹕但不是一位猜測性哲學的思想家。加爾文最出名的著作是《基督教要義》(Institute of Christian Religion)。這著作公認是十六世紀宗教改革最傑出的著作。(Modified from Sam Ling)

John Calvin was a French reformer who spent most of his life in Geneva, Switzerland. He wrote extensive commentaries on the whole bible, as well as his most famous work: The Institute of Christian Religion. Most church historians would say that the 16th century Reformation was started by Luther, but it was John Calvin who crystallized the theology of the Reformation in a systematic fashion (The Institute of Christian Religion). A common misunderstanding of Calvin is that he is a cold-blooded professor who teaches the doctrine of predestination. This is far from the truth. Predestination was a small part of Calvin's theology. Rather, the two main foci of Calvin's theology are the Sovereignty of GOD and the redeemer in Jesus Christ.

B.B. Warfield, one of America's pioneering theologians, has this to say about Calvin's contribution to the Church:

We must say that the doctrine of the work of the Holy Spirit is a gift from Calvin to the Church. It was he who first related the whole experience of salvation specifically to the working of the Holy Spirit, worked it out into its details, and contemplated its several steps and stages in orderly progress as the product of the Holy Spirit's specific work in applying salvation to the soul.

Here then is probably Calvin's greatest contribution... In his hands, for the first time in the history of the Church, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit comes to its rights.

And above everything else he deserves, therefore, the great name of the theologian of the Holy Spirit.

Professor Calhoun, Professor of Church History at the Covenant Theological Seminary, has this to say about Calvin's Institute of Christian Religion:

Calvin's Institutes is …one of the most important books in history.

There are not many books like this.

So, to be an educated person, to know something about history, and to be able to talk about one of the most important books that have affected the course of history, we need to read the book.

Not only has it affected the course of history, but it is also the most eloquent, most important, most complete statement of theology from the sixteenth century, the century of the Reformation.