Instead of writing the book report on Christian Jihad, I have decided to write on another topic that I find very interesting. Calvin’s influnce on western culture.

John Calvin was a man of great influence during the Reformation, what he once started and his ideas, are still of great influence to this present day. He became the leading theologian of Reformed Protestantism, which if often known as “Calvinism”. Calvin’s book “Institutes”, which was completed by the time he was 26, has had a great influence on the Western culture. His book is read by many to this day for many reasons. It had an amazing influence on European history, both secular and religious. Some may think the “Institutes” as a theological work, but this is not so. The subtitle for the first edition that came out was ‘Embracing almost the whole sum of piety, or godliness’, and for Calvin, a book that has the intention to present the doctrine of salvation must be worthy of being read by all people that are zealous for piety.[1] Calvin’s stern disciplines in Geneva and of the Calvinist-Puritans are similarly intertwined. In fact, a strong case is made for the “law and order” interest in present day Fundamentalism, and of the Moral Majority’s similar interests, as stemming authentically from the Calvinism of puritans of Colonial America.[2]
The roots or foundation of rationalism among Fundamentalists, such as Francis Shaeffer, are in Calvin himself. Before Calvin became a Christian, he was educated as a humanist and even afterwards, he still had a great deal of respect for humanists and for human reason as an important aspect of the Sovereign Creator’s work. Calvin had a tremendous influence on various countries due to his Presbyterian form of church government, which gives the idea that one does not have to waste money on the salaries of archbishops and bishops, among other administrators.[3]
Nowadays, many that call themselves “Christians” are in search of that revelation or ‘high” with God, instead of actually studying the Scriptures. They are also known as the fanatics who, in a way, try to pursue unfamiliar revelations, causing division and questioning among other believer’s. Calvin stated: “…The work of the Spirit promised to us is not to create new unfamiliar revelations, or to coin some novel type of teaching by which we may led away from the received doctrine of the Gospel, but to seal on our minds the very doctrine which the Gospel recommends…any spirit which bypasses the truth of God’s word, and suggests any other doctrine, is rightly suspected of pride and deceit. Since Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, what authority can the Spirit have over us unless he can be recognized by the same infallible sign?[4] Many churches, that one may find, are very much influenced about what Calvin was already talking about at the time in which he lived in. He alerted, through his books and writings, his concern about issues that we only see clearly in our present day. In conclusion, Calvin had a great impact in history and still does to this day.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Karl Barth and Geoffrey W. Bromiley. The Theology of John Calvin. London: , 1995.
Edited by Tony Lane and Hilary Osborne. John Calvin: The Institutes of Christian Religion. London: Baker Book House Company, 1987.
W. Stanford Reid. John Calvin: His Influence in the Western World. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1982.
Edited by Tony Lane and Hilary Osborne. The Institutes of Christian Religion. London: Baker Book House Company, 1986.
John Calvin, edited by Tony Lane and Hilary Osborne. The Institutes of Christian Religion. London: Baker Book House Company, 1986.

[1] Edited by Tony Lane and Hilary Osborne, The Institutes of Christian Religion (London: Baker Book House Company, 1986), 13-14.
[2] W. Stanford Reid, John Calvin: His Influence in the Western World (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1982).
[3] Karl Barth and Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The Theology of John Calvin (London: , 1995).
[4] Edited by Tony Lane and Hilary Osborne, John Calvin: The Institutes of Christian Religion (London: Baker Book House Company, 1987), 45.