Author Description

The Christian life, as Calvin describes it, is lived simultaneously in the shadow of the cross and in the bright light of the resurrection. Remarkably, despite the extensive revisions which the Institutes underwent up to the last editions of 1559 (Latin) and 1560 (French), Calvin's text on the Christian life remained largely unchanged. Its appearance as a separate publication, extracted from the rest of the book, was only a matter of time. The present translation has been newly made from the French of the 1560 Institutes and follows the text established by Jean-Daniel Benoit in his 5-volume edition of the work. Chapter and section divisions correspond to those of the original publication, but chapter titles have been modified and section headings are my own. - Introduction.