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A little while ago, as I was surfing the blogosphere, I came across the blog: The Greenest Dollar. The site has much useful information on being economical and environmental. One of my favourite recent posts concerned natural ant control which in addition to offering useful tips to get rid of them includes interesting information about ants. We also have learnt about reusable sandwich bags, vermicomposting, and cleaning up broken CFLs (which fortunately I haven’t done but I sure I will at some point). The site has quite a few useful links to other thrifty or environmental websites, and it is quite easy to spend a few hours looking at the site and links. I am grateful for sites like these which help use fulfil our mandate to steward the earth (Genesis 1.28).
Today marks the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth. Born Jean Cauvin, in a small town in northern France, he became the most well known and influential theologian of the second generation of Reformers.
As many of my readers already know, Calvin fever is high this year in both popular and scholastic circles. Conferences are running in Geneva (and elsewhere) as many undertake a Protestant pilgrimage. A few new biographies have come out this year (John Calvin: A Pilgrim’s Life, John Calvin: Pilgrim and Pastor, etc.) as well as studies, coffee table books (The Piety of John Calvin: A Collection of His Spiritual Prose, Poems, and Hymns, and a historical fiction novel (Betrayal). Undoubtedly, Calvin himself would be embarrassed by this publicity; his will directed he be buried in an unmarked grave.
However, there is good reason to study John Calvin; he systematized Protestant theology in his The Institutes of Christian Religion; he (along with other Reformers) helped create the ‘Protestant work ethic’ with his teachings on vocation. Like Luther, he expounded the sovereignty of God in all things and our absolute dependence on grace for our salvation. His definition of justification in his Institutes is classic:
Now he is justified who is reckoned in the condition not of a sinner, but of a righteous man: and for that reason, he stands firm before God’s judgment seat while all sinners fall….Thus, justified before God is the man who, freed from the company of sinners, has God to witness and affirm his righteousness. In the same way, therefore, he in whose life that purity and holiness will be found which deserves a testimony of righteousness before God’s throne will be said to be justified by works, or else he who, by the wholeness of his works, can meet and satisfy God’s judgment. On the contrary, justified by faith is he who, excluded from the righteousness of works, grasps the righteousness of Christ through faith, and clothed in it, appears in God’s sight not as a sinner but as a righteous man.
Although John Calvin is known primarily as a great theologian, he considered himself primarily a pastor. His letter-writing was prolific, offering godly counsel and practical advice. Likewise, his sermons have also been overlooked. (Fortunately, some previously untranslated sermons are now available in English.) As we remember Calvin, let us not only remember his great contributions to systematic theology or the logic of his description of salvation; let us also remember his piety, his zeal for godliness, and passion to see Christ preached.
As for myself, I’ll read a Calvin biography this year and probably pick up a copy of his sermons on Genesis.
news |n(y)oōz|
noun
newly received or noteworthy information, esp. about recent or important events
from New Oxford American Dictionary, Second Edition
In the last two weeks, most media outlets have tirelessly broadcast the untimely death of Michael Jackson. So much so that that other news (Iran, Al Franklin, Congress debating on universal health care, etc. [even other celebrities' deaths]) have been pushed to the sidelines. I saw an advertisement for a TV news special entitled. ‘Is the media coverage of Michael Jackson too much?’ I think that by the media asking the question, they have their answer. Apparently journalists have no one else to interview and have begun reporting on themselves.
For another interesting perspective, Carl Trueman has a post A Very English Death Scene at Ref21.
