I thought this book was a great introduction to John Calvin as a pastor. Above all of his other accomplishments, he was first-of-all a servant to his congregation, and he poured his heart, soul, and mind into teaching them the will of God for their salvation.

It was inspiring, reading of a man who gave himself to God's Word and wanted to proclaim it as accurately and clearly as possible. I'd like to go read some of his sermons, when I get the chance. ( )

What is the best remedy for the issues in the Church today? What will be the best means to focus Christians upon what really matters and who they really are? Do we have a grand, 1 hour period of inspiring music and then a 30 minute exposition of the Bible? What is the best way to worship God in our Church 'services'? How can we get a new reformation started? As Lawson says, "there are no new remedies for old problems. We must come back to old paths. We must capture the centrality and pungency of biblical preaching once again." In this book, Lawson uses Calvin as an example of the right way to edify, grow, and convict Christians, by his preaching of the complete Word of God. He puts forth Calvin's book-by-book, verse-by-verse method of preaching as the best way to exposit the Scriptures and to teach Christians. "This verse by verse style - lectio continua, the 'continuous expositions' - guaranteed that Calvin would preach the full counsel of God. Difficult and controversial subjects were unavoidable. Hard sayings could not be skipped. Difficult doctrines could not be overlooked. The full counsel of God could be heard." This is also what my dad(a pastor) has pointed out: By preaching verse-by-verse through books of the Bible, you will cover all kinds of doctrines/topics without having to do topical sermons. You will hit Theology, Sanctification, Christology, Angelology, Soteriology, and Harmatology throughout several books of the New Testament, and deal with things like relationships, brotherly love, how to Evangelize, prayer, the end times...etc. These things will come up, and in the order the Apostles deal with them in their letters and with whatever emphasis they give them.

Lawson delves into Calvin's method of explaining the texts, the way he did introductions, whether or not he used quotes from other pastors, whether or not he used notes..etc. He points out that it took Calvin a long time(at least from our society's perspective), generally years, to finish preaching through a book of the Bible. In his overview of Calvin's life, the author tells us that when Calvin first came to Geneva he started preaching through a book of the Bible(the book isn't given), while preaching through this book, he was kicked out of Geneva for three years. When he came back, he started right where he had left off preaching, going right to the next verse.

My problem with this book is that Lawson praises and extols Calvin too much. He lauds Calvin throughout the book and quotes other people praising Calvin, such as Warfield, "No man ever had a profounder sense of God than he; no man ever more unreservedly surrendered himself to the Divine direction." How does he know that? What if an obscure Pastor had a more profound 'sense of God' than Calvin? And this quote by Charles Spurgeon: "Among all those who have been born of women, there has not risen a greater than John Calvin; no age before him ever produced his equal, and no age afterwards has seen his rival." All I can really say is, Wow! So what about the Apostle Paul? Peter? Quotes and statements like this by Lawson bothered me. It seems almost like hero worship, to me it seemed that Calvin was put forth in an obnoxious manner. Even the title I don't quite care for, I didn't see that Calvin was a genius, just smart in seeking the best way to teach Scripture.

But if you can look past Calvin and look to God's usage of him, this book is quite good. Lawson encourages us to get back to Biblical preaching, verse-by-verse. This last excerpt by Lawson is my favorite quote from this book, "Calvin believed that biblical preaching must occupy the chief place in the worship service. What God has to say to man is infinitely more important than what man has to say to God. If the congregation is to worship properly, if believers are to be edified, if the lost are to be converted, God's Word must be exposited. Nothing must crowd the Scriptures out of the chief place in the public gathering."

Thanks to Ligonier Ministries who will be sending me a copy of this book in return for my review of the free pdf copy they sent me(the review does not have to be a favorable one) ( )

Lawson brings out the preaching style of Calvin and way in which he proclaimed the Word of God. Read this in anticipation of the 500 birthday of Calvin and the upcoming Desiring God Conference in September of 2009. Desiring God has republished a work by T.H. Parker that I am currently reading. Hear is the link for the Conference which is already taking reservation: http://www.desiringgod.org/Events/ ( )

Great book focused on how and why John Calvin preached the way he did. Fun read and pretty short ( )

The Expository Genius of John Calvin by Steven J. Lawson, who is senior pastor at Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama. This is the first volume from the series "Long Line of Godly Men Profiles" published by Reformed Trust the publishing arm of Ligonier Ministries. As I understand it, future volumes will cover Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, Martin Luther and other giants of the faith. Each volume will focus on an aspect of that preacher's man's ministry and legacy.

Lawson here has given us a wonderful book which is written as a plea to modern-day preachers to return to the practice of expository preaching. That pastors would preach the Word as Calvin did from behind the sacred desk. This is made clear when Lawson speaks on the current state pulpit. "Exposition is being replaced with entertainment, preaching with performances, doctrine with drama, and technology with theatrics. Desperately does the modern-day church need to recover its way and return to a pulpit that is Bible-based, Christ-centered, and life-changing" (p. xi).

There has been a lot written about Calvin the theologian as often the focus is on his Institutes or the controversies over his leadership and politics during the Reformation. In this book Calvin the preacher is worthy of our attention indeed. The book is a quick read but very weighty in content.

Lawson at first lays down a brief overview of Calvin's birth, early life, conversion and then begins to examine in great detail the reformers approach to preaching. Throughout the pages we gain an overview of his sermon introduction, interpretation, his preparation, his method of expounding the text, the way he crafted his delivery, his application of the truth, concluding statements and final intercession. In all he discusses 32 recognizable distinctives of Calvin's preaching ministry. What an exploration through the distinguishing marks of Calvin's expository genius.

As a reader you begin to take in the statement Lawson makes when he says, "Calvin stands today as the most influential minister of the Word of God the world has ever seen. No man before or since has been so prolific and so penetrating in his handling of Scripture." (p. 4) Throughout the book, Lawson sprinkles quotations from scholars like Alister McGrath, James M. Boice, Charles Spurgeon, B.B. Warfield and others in support of his observations of Calvin's preaching. He also provides bite-size snippets of Calvin's sermons as examples of his preaching.

I see that Calvin saw his main calling to that of a preacher as it was mad clear as he gave himself to this task multiple times in a week. His desire was to bring the words of living water to a thirsty flock in a dry land. He did not preach over the heads of his sheep but showed the everyday relevance of God's Word. This why he studied was to clearly and thoroughly teach and explain expositionally every verse of the Bible.

Lawson captures Calvin's essence in this book which I found refreshing. I delighted in Lawson's writing style and his commitment to the power of preaching, I understand a great deal more of Calvin's preaching now. My excitement and anticipation for this series is high and I am sure Lawson will not disappoint. ( )