In This Issue: From the DirectorJuly 10 is the big day—John Calvin's 500th birthday [1] [2]. Love him or hate him, there is no denying that he has been monumentally important to Protestants, fundamentally influencing the way Protestants read the Bible through his commentaries, summarizing and shaping Protestant theology through his warm, pastoral all-time classic Institutes of the Christian Religion. On another note, we are continuing the summer book study series with an on-line study of Andrew Murray's Absolute Surrender. A South African born to Scottish missionary parents and a prolific author, Murray wrote more than 240 books, many of which are still popular today. Every Christian should know the importance of total dedication to God in order to serve him effectively, so if you haven't already read this book, why not join the group?
Harry Plantinga
Featured ClassicJohn Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion
John Calvin was trained as a lawyer and a humanist and provided some of the most mature theological statements of the Reformation period. Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion is arguably one of the top five theology books ever written. This masterful work is filled with commanding knowledge of the Bible and of church history, but Calvin also writes with a lot of pastoral concern for real worshipers, and writes with a lot of enthusiasm for faith. And so the work can nourish not only scholars in their studies, but all worshipers in their daily prayer and reflections. Read this classic at the CCEL
Featured HymnAll People That On Earth Do Dwell ('Old One Hundredth')versification of Psalm 100 by William Kethe The English text by William Kethe ... first appeared in the Anglo-Genevan Psalter of 1561 and in John Day's Psalmes of David in English Metre, also of 1561. Since then it has been published in virtually all English-language psalters and hymnals. ... Kethe lived in Geneva for some time but traveled to Basel and Strasbourg to maintain contact with other English refugees. Kethe is thought to be one of the scholars who translated and published the English-language Geneva Bible (1560), a version favored over the King James Bible by the Pilgrim fathers. The twenty-five psalm versifications Kethe prepared for the Anglo-Genevan Psalter of 1561 were also adopted into the Scottish Psalter of 1565. His versification of Psalm 100 is the only one that found its way into modern psalmody. Learn more about this hymn at the Hymnary
Featured Discussion GroupThe Prayer Warriors The CCEL's longest running discussion group is hosted by Maria Smith, who writes, "If you are a prayerful person, then this group is for you, to find better ways to express what is in your heart." This group was created a year and a half ago, and it is our most active discussion group. Thanks in large part to Maria, new members are readily welcomed, struggling members are comforted, and all participants feel appreciated. The Prayer Warriors discussion group is truly a blessing to all of us associated with the CCEL. Maria starts her welcome to the group by stating, "This is a group that is vital to the Christian life." This group is truly vital to the Christian life, and it's also a vital part of the CCEL community. Learn more about this group
Classic ReflectionsCalvin's opening paragraph of the Institutes: Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other. For, in the first place, no one can survey himself without forthwith turning his thoughts towards the God in whom he lives and moves; because it is perfectly obvious, that the endowments which we possess cannot possibly be from ourselves; nay, that our very being is nothing else than subsistence in God alone. In the second place, those blessings which unceasingly distil to us from heaven, are like streams conducting us to the fountain. ... Every person, therefore, on coming to the knowledge of himself, is not only urged to seek God, but is also led as by the hand to find him. Read this classic at the CCEL
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The CCEL Times 4.7 (July 1, 2009)
Submitted by bdv4 on Wed, 2009-06-24 13:35.
