This unique work analyzes the crisis in modern society, building on the ideas of the Frankfurt School thinkers. Emphasizing social evolution and learning processes, it argues that crisis is mediated by social class conflicts and collective learning, the results of which are embodied in constitutional and public law. First, the work outlines a new categorical framework of critical theory in which it is conceived as a theory of crisis. It shows that the Marxist focus on economy and on class struggle is too narrow to deal with the range of social conflicts within modern society, and posits that a crisis of legitimization is at the core of all crises. It then discusses the dialectic of revolutionary and evolutionary developmental processes of modern society and its legal system. This volume in the Critical Theory and Contemporary Society by a leading scholar in the field provides a new approach to critical theory that will appeal to anyone studying political sociology, political theory, and law.

In this fresh and original monograph on the ecclesiology of John Calvin, Tadataka Maruyama sifts exhaustively through the corpus of Calvin’s writings—in both Latin and French—to crystalize the French reformer’s conception of the Christian church. After elucidating Calvin’s influence from other reformers such as Jacques Lefèvre, Guillaume Farel, and Martin Bucer, Maruyama shows how Calvin’s ecclesiology evolved throughout his life while remaining firmly rooted in key principles and interests. Maruyama discerns three phases in Calvin’s ecclesiology: Catholic ecclesiology—in which Calvin saw the church as a unified and ideal institution situated both above and within history Reformed ecclesiology—in which Calvin described the concrete, historical form of the Christian church over against the Catholic Church Reformation ecclesiology—in which Calvin came to understand the Christian church as an eschatological reality situated in a broader European context, which Calvin portrayed as the “theater of God’s providence” This trajectory mirrors the way the Protestant Reformation was focused on reforming particular churches while also reimagining the Christian world as a whole. Indeed, as Maruyama thoroughly illustrates, Calvin never lost sight of his original vision of reforming the church of his French homeland even as his work grew into a much larger movement.

J. Todd Billings and I. John Hesselink have compiled an essential collection of essays for the study of John Calvin's theology. Leading Calvin scholars examine the early and late reception-history of Calvin's fundamental teachings, including reflections on the contemporary possibilities and limitations in developing Calvin's thought. Contributors include Timothy Hessel-Robinson, Michael S. Horton, Mark Husbands, David Little, Suzanne McDonald, Jeannine E. Olson, Sue A. Rozeboom, and Carl R. Trueman.

In this intriguing book, Herman Selderhuis argues that John Calvin's biblical interpretation of the Psalms is fundamentally shaped by his doctrine of God. Selderhuis minimizes references to other Calvin studies and other works by Calvin, thus allowing Calvin's theology on the Psalms to speak for itself. The book is organized thematically according to divine attributes. Reformation and Calvin scholars as well as interested Reformed readers will value this resource.

John Calvin's two kingdoms political thought offers a fresh paradigm for constructive Christian engagement in pluralistic liberal societies.

It is the thesis of this study that in Calvin's theology, poverty and affliction--not splendor and glory--mark and manifest the kingdom of God on earth. Poverty makes the kingdom visible to the eyes and therefore recognizable as divine. Poverty acts to reveal or disclose that which is spiritual, or that which is Òof God in the Christian faith. This does not mean that Calvin sees the condition of physical poverty as revelatory in and of itself. Rather, poverty and affliction function as agents of divine revelation. They are a condition or a chosen instrument God uses to disclose to humanity the nature of true spirituality, godliness, and poverty of spirit. How this is demonstrated in Calvin's thought depends upon the specific doctrine under examination. This study explores three particular areas in Calvin's theology where his theological understanding of spiritual poverty and physical poverty (or affliction) intersect--his Christology, his doctrine of the Christian life, and his ecclesiology.

Given the conclusions of recent research, that predestination was no central dogma to, and did not affect the method of reformed theology, this study investigates the question of if and how the doctrine of predestination affected the ideas and practice of preaching. The relation of predestination and covenant, congregation, atonement, faith etc. are researched in the theology and sermons of John Calvin, Theodore Beza, John Diodati, and Theodore Tronchin, Francis Turretin, and Benedict Pictet. This study shows that in Genevan Reformed Theology from Calvin to Pictet, predestination and the external call were inseparably connected, but that the doctrine of predestination neither dominated the content nor restricted the address of the external call.