约翰·加尔文(1509—1564)是基督新教历史上最为重要的人物之一。马丁·路德与天主教会决裂，开始宗教改革；而加尔文则以一部《基督教要义》建立了新教系统神学的典范。

德国历史学家兰克(Leopold von Ranke)说：“加尔文是美国真正的立基者。”法国历史学家论到加尔文宗信徒时说道：“这些人是英国真正的英雄。他们建立了苏格兰，他们也建立了美国。”这些都说明了加尔文深远的历史影响力。

Hendrickson offers a one-volume hardcover edition of one of Western Christianity's foundational works. Re-typeset into a clean and modern typeface, this edition is easy to read for the modern eye. This book will appeal to libraries, seminarians, pastors, and laypeople. Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin is an introduction to the Bible and a vindication of Reformation principles by one of the Reformation's finest scholars.

At the age of twenty-six, Calvin published several revisions of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, a seminal work in Christian theology that altered the course of Western history and that is still read by theological students today. It was published in Latin in 1536 and in his native French in 1541, with the definitive editions appearing in 1559 (Latin) and in 1560 (French). The book was written as an introductory textbook on the Protestant faith for those with some learning already and covered a broad range of theological topics from the doctrines of church and sacraments to justification by faith alone. It vigorously attacked the teachings of those Calvin considered unorthodox, particularly Roman Catholicism, to which Calvin says he had been "strongly devoted" before his conversion to Protestantism. The over-arching theme of the book--and Calvin's greatest theological legacy--is the idea of God's total sovereignty, particularly in salvation and election.