Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1536 Edition

John Calvin was just twenty-seven years old when the first edition of his Institutes was published in Basel in 1536. Calvin's “little book” — as he affectionately called it — grew in size throughout the rest of his life; eventually, this early, shorter version evolved into what is now known as the Institutes, the 1559 edition, which Calvin considered the authoritative form of his thought for posterity. / Renowned Calvin scholar Ford Lewis Battles translated the 1536 Institutes in 1975, after completing his masterful translation of the 1559 Institutes. This revised edition of Battles's translation will interest general readers who wish to better understand the earliest expression of Calvin's theology, as well as scholars who wish to pursue further research. In addition to Calvin's own classic text, the book's four appendices make available in English four significant Reformed texts, including a new translation of Calvin's preface to Olivétan's 1535 French Bible. Five indices include an index of biblical references and a comparative table of the 1536 and 1559 Institutes. Numerous citations in the endnotes from the writings of Calvin's predecessors and contemporaries help place the text in its historical context.