God or Baal: Two Letters on the Reformation of Worship and Pastoral Service
This book consists of two open letters by the young John Calvin to evangelical believers who desired to stay and work within the Roman Catholic Church. The first letter exposes the idolatry involved in the Mass, while the second denounces the papal abuses of the pastoral office of the church. Together, they form a resounding call for the necessity of a thoroughgoing Reformation. This translation from David C. Noe makes the two letters available together for the first time in English. Noe also provides a helpful introduction to Calvin’s early life and the problem of evangelical believers remaining in the Roman Catholic Church. This book does not merely provide a helpful view of how Calvin believed the moderate French reform movement should decide between God and the worship of false prophets. It is also an opportunity for us to reflect on the abiding significance of the need for reformation.
Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books
Type: Hardback
ISBN: 9781601786357
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This book consists of two open letters by the young John Calvin to evangelical believers who desired to stay and work within the Roman Catholic Church. The first letter exposes the idolatry involved in the Mass, while the second denounces the papal abuses of the pastoral office of the church. Together, they form a resounding call for the necessity of a thoroughgoing Reformation. This translation from David C. Noe makes the two letters available together for the first time in English. Noe also provides a helpful introduction to Calvin’s early life and the problem of evangelical believers remaining in the Roman Catholic Church. This book does not merely provide a helpful view of how Calvin believed the moderate French reform movement should decide between God and the worship of false prophets. It is also an opportunity for us to reflect on the abiding significance of the need for reformation.
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“John Calvin’s Two Letters (1537), written against his one-time friends Nicholas Duchemin and Gérard Roussel, is one of his earliest and most devastating attacks against Catholic idolatry and religious dissimulation. Published for the first time in English, David Noe’s superb translation of this neglected work captures the urgency of the young Calvin’s theological concern and the intensity of his uncompromising rhetoric. It also sheds light on a central aspect of the Reformer’s spirituality, that true piety begets true confession.” — Scott Manetsch, chair of church history and the history of Christian thought, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School