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Barbara Pitkin's brilliant book illuminates a less well-known side to Calvin: that this prolific biblical expositor read the Bible in its historical setting. Calvin was both aware of the dangers of historical anachronism, and convinced that the Scriptures spoke to the existential predicaments of his own age. With sensitivity to the different genres of Calvin's writings on the Bible, Barbara Pitkin evokes Calvin's famous lucidity and clarity in her own beautifully crafted prose. * Euan Cameron, Union Theological Seminary * This masterful study reveals John Calvin's considerable debt to French humanism. Barbara Pitkin elegantly elucidates Calvin's approach to the biblical text and his understanding of sacred history, shaped by both the exegetical tradition and contemporary French legal scholarship. Highlighting the interplay between Reformation theology and the Renaissance study of history, this is intellectual history at its finest! * Amy Nelson Burnett, University of Nebraska-Lincoln * Pitkin has masterfully presented a portrait of Calvin's historicizing exegesis through a set of well-chosen case studies of Calvin's biblical exegesis. From clarifying the distinctive elements of Calvin's Paulinism to illuminating his Johannine vision of salvation history to investigating his uses of the histories of Isaiah, David, and 2 Samuel as mirrors for the present, Pitkin expertly demonstrates Calvin's careful historical approach to Scripture-an approach that simultaneously reconstructs the biblical past with its own integrity and remoteness while applying these histories as guides for contemporary meaning. This is a must-read for any who seek a multifaceted understanding of Calvin's engagement with biblical history and its overarching message of God's providential care across time. * G. Sujin Pak, author of The Reformation of Prophecy: Early Modern Interpretations of the Prophet & Old Testament Prophecy *

""In this fine book...Pitkin provides an admirable examination of Calvin's specific commentaries, showing the exegete at work in navigating relationships between original biblical contexts and the needs of his audiences. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty."" -- D. K. McKim, CHOICE ""Pitkin provides a rich picture of Calvin's exegetical activities and his working herme-neutic that took shape in an era when attitudes about the Bible as an historical source were in the process of making dramatic shifts."" -- Donald K. McKim, Church History ""With this book Barbara Pitkin has placed those who honor and respect the legacy of John Calvin in her debt."" -- Keith C. Sewell, Dordt University ""Pitkin has masterfully presented a portrait of Calvin's historicizing exegesis through a set of well-chosen case studies of Calvin's biblical exegesis. From clarifying the distinctive elements of Calvin's Paulinism to illuminating his Johannine vision of salvation history to investigating his uses of the histories of Isaiah, David, and 2 Samuel as mirrors for the present, Pitkin expertly demonstrates Calvin's careful historical approach to Scripture-an approach that simultaneously reconstructs the biblical past with its own ""integrity and remoteness"" while applying these histories as guides for contemporary meaning. This is a must-read for any who seek a multifaceted understanding of Calvin's engagement with biblical history and its overarching message of God's providential care across time."" -- G. Sujin Pak, author of The Reformation of Prophecy: Early Modern Interpretations of the Prophet & Old Testament Prophecy ""This masterful study reveals John Calvin's considerable debt to French humanism. Barbara Pitkin elegantly elucidates Calvin's approach to the biblical text and his understanding of sacred history, shaped by both the exegetical tradition and contemporary French legal scholarship. Highlighting the interplay between Reformation theology and the Renaissance study of history, this is intellectual history at its finest!"" -- Amy Nelson Burnett, University of Nebraska-Lincoln ""Barbara Pitkin's brilliant book illuminates a less well-known side to Calvin: that this prolific biblical expositor read the Bible in its historical setting. Calvin was both aware of the dangers of historical anachronism, and convinced that the Scriptures spoke to the existential predicaments of his own age. With sensitivity to the different genres of Calvin's writings on the Bible, Barbara Pitkin evokes Calvin's famous lucidity and clarity in her own beautifully crafted prose."" -- Euan Cameron, Union Theological Seminary

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Barbara Pitkin is Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at Stanford University. Her research focuses on religious thought, biblical exegesis, and views of the past in the early modern period. She is the author of What Pure Eyes Could See: Calvin's Doctrine of Faith in its Exegetical Context.

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