Font of Pardon and New Life - John Calvin and the Efficacy of Baptism

Font of Pardon and New Life is a study of the historical development of John Calvin's doctrine of baptism, both adult (or believer) baptism and infant baptism. In a chronological examination of Calvin's writings -- his Institutes, commentaries on the Bible, catechisms, polemical treatises, and consensus documents -- the book addresses the question of what, in Calvin's view, spiritually takes place in an individual when he or she is baptized, and it analyzes the impact of Calvin's baptismal doctrine on the major Reformed confessions and catechisms of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

List of contents

• Abbreviations


• Acknowledgments


• Chapter 1. Introduction


• Chapter 2. The 1536 Institutes


• Chapter 3. Works from Calvin's First Period in Geneva and the Strasbourg Interlude (1536-41)


• Chapter 4. Works from Calvin's Second Period in Geneva to the Consensus Tigurinus (1541- 48)


• Chapter 5. The Consensus Tigurinus (1549)


• Chapter 6. Works from after the Consensus Tigurinus to Calvin's Death (1550-64)


• Chapter 7. Calvin and the Efficacy of Infant Baptism


• Chapter 8. Baptismal Efficacy in the Reformed Confessions: Calvin's Legacy


• Chapter 9. Conclusion


• Bibliography


• Index

About the author

Lyle D. Bierma is P. J. Zondervan Professor of the History of Christianity at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After receiving his PhD in Religion from Duke University in 1980, he taught church history and theology at Kuyper College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for nineteen years before joining the faculty at Calvin Seminary in 1999. His research and publications have focused on the early history of Reformed covenant theology, the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), and John Calvin.

Additional text

A thorough study. With points of departure for further research into the theory of sacraments during the Reformation, also compared to the present-day context.

Product details

• Authors: Lyle D. Bierma, Lyle D. (P. J. Zondervan Professor of the Bierma, Bierma Lyle D.
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 12.10.2021
• EAN: 9780197553879
• ISBN: 978-0-19-755387-9
• No. of pages: 278
• Series: Oxford Studies in Historical Theology
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Christianity; Religion / Christian Church / General, RELIGION / Christianity / Protestant, RELIGION / Christianity / History, RELIGION / Christian Theology / General, RELIGION / Christianity / General, Theology, Christianity, Christian theology, History of Religion, Christian institutions & organizations, Religious institutions and organizations, Protestantism & Protestant Churches, Protestantism and Protestant Churches