In 2009, on the 500th anniversary
of Calvin's birth...
Light for the City: Calvin's Preaching, Source of Life and Liberty
Lester DeKoster
Light for the City introduces readers to a unique view of John Calvin's life and thought, one that not only challenges past readings of Calvin but also seeks to reinvigorate the role of preaching as proclamation for modern civic life. According to Lester DeKoster, the doctrine of predestination as taught by Calvin makes building the Kingdom of God the sole and highest calling of Christians.
DeKoster writes, "Preached from off the pulpits for which the Church is divinely made and sustained, God's biblical Word takes incarnation in human selves and behavior, creating the community long known in the West as the City. Calvinist pulpits implanted the Word even now flourishing in the great democratic achievements of the Western world."
Softcover - $7.50
About the Author
Lester DeKoster [1916-2009]
"God is a free enterpriser because he expects a return on His investments."
At once a father, professor, librarian, editor, publisher, and author, Lester DeKoster leaves a powerful legacy that resonates far beyond the borders of his school and denomination. In 1951 DeKoster became director of the library at Calvin College and Seminary, affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. During his tenure at the college, DeKoster was influential in expanding the holdings of the H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies, one of the preeminent collections of Calvinist and Reformed texts in the world. DeKoster also amassed an impressive personal library of some 10,000 books, which includes a wide array of sources testifying to both the breadth and depth of his intellectual vigor.
...read more from Religion & Liberty (Fall 2009)
"Calvin, Conversions, and Catholicity"
by Jordan J. Ballor from First Things, "On the Square," July 10, 2009
"...But given that today is his 500th birthday, pride of place must be given to John Calvin and his emphasis on the provenance of the Reformed faith. His reply to a letter from Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto in 1539 was not only a propounding cause for his later return to Geneva from exile in Strasbourg, but as the late Calvin College professor Lester DeKoster writes, 'a kind of charter for the Reformed branch of the Reformation.' Sadoleto had written to Geneva imploring it to come home to the Roman church, 'to return to concord with us.' Calvin's response was taken up at the instigation of the Genevan authorities, and answers Sadoleto's claims in comprehensive fashion. Calvin's text runs nearly double the length of Sadoleto's original missive.
In the course of his reply Calvin contends to Sadoleto, 'You are mistaken in supposing that we desire to lead away the people from that method of worshipping God which the Catholic Church always observed.' Calvin's rhetorical turn here is crucial to understanding his argument. Against Sadoleto's claims to the contrary, Calvin writes that 'all we have attempted has been to renew that ancient form of the Church' as evidenced in the writings of Chrysostom, Basil, Cyprian, Ambrose, and Augustine. Here we see the constant refrain from the Protestant reformers: The evangelical doctrine is not innovation, but is itself the ancient faith of the Church."