Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Institutio Christianae Religionis (German lessons (or also: instruction ) in the Christian religion ) is the principal theological work of John Calvin. As one of the most important books of the Reformation, the institutions was the theological textbook of the French Reformed Church and the basis of the theology of the Reformed Church outside of France. Thus they influenced the Christian-influenced western world and is also still common among Reformed and theology students.

History

Originally, the institutions was written by Calvin as a catechism for the educated. Therefore, the first issue is also in Latin, first appeared in 1541 a French version. He was moved by the persecution of his co-religionists in France and was initially set out with the institutions, among other things, that they were not at all heretics and agitators, but reputable renovator of biblical faith and the true Church. The institutions should, according to Calvin, to be " a key and a door to a good and right understanding of the Scriptures ." Due to the great response of the population at that time he expanded the institutions continued during almost 25 years of his life.

The first edition of the Institutes he dedicated to the French king Francis I, as Calvin so - but in vain - hoping he could dissuade him from the persecution of the Huguenots. Francis I probably read neither the dedication nor the book. Calvin completed the institutions which initially consisted of just six chapters, on 23 August in 1535. In March 1536, the first edition was printed and published by the Basel printer Thomas Platter.

Then he translated the enlarged section 17 in 1539 Latin edition first into French and published this edition in 1541st Another revised Latin edition appeared in 1543 with 21 chapters, the French translation was published in 1545. In the previous revision from 1550 ( French translation 1551 ), the Chapter were further subdivided because of the large size in paragraphs. The last significantly expanded edition of the Institutes in Latin let Calvin publish by the printer Robert Estienne Geneva in 1559, the French translation appeared in 1560.

Due to the continuous enhancements that institutions grew into a large textbook of Christian faith in the sense of the Reformation. Of 1559 were 80 chapters in the last issue from the six chapters of the first edition of 1536. The Latin and French edition of the Institutes were translated over the centuries in many other languages.

The first complete translation into German was published already in 1572 in Heidelberg. This was followed in 1823 a new translation of Book I and Book II by Friedrich Adolf Krummenacher. 1909 appeared on the anniversary of the 400th birthday of Calvin a shortened translation into German of Ernst Friedrich Karl Müller. Since the last full translation of the 16th century comes, Otto Weber decided an overall translation of all four books, with reference to the partial translation miller to make. The first volume appeared in 1936, the second volume in 1937 and the third subband in 1938. Six editions were published until 1997. On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Calvin and due to the fact that all new editions are out of print, the translation of Weber Matthias Freudenberg and scientists from the Netherlands and Germany has been edited and re-edited in 2008.

The first translation of the less popular first edition of 1536 was the German by Bernhard Spiess in 1887. This has been edited and re-edited in 2008 by Thomas Schirrmacher.

Content

The final output consists of 4 parts (also called books ) with a total of 80 chapters. The content is as follows:

  • Part 1: the knowledge of God the Creator ( De cognitione Dei creatoris )
  • Part 2: knowledge of God as the Redeemer in Christ ( De cognitione Dei redemptoris )
  • Part 3: Receiving the grace of Jesus Christ and its effects ( De modo percipiendae Christ gratiae et qui nobis fructis proveniant et qui effectus consequantur )
  • Part 4: Outer means by which God in communion with Jesus Christ invites and preserved in her ( De externis Mediis vel articulis, quibus Deus in Christ societatem invitat nos, et in ea retinet )
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