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The Reformation · 1536, expanded to 1559
Institutes of the Christian Religion
Institutio Christianae Religionis
John Calvin · 1509–1564
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What it is
Begun as a short handbook for French evangelicals and grown over twenty-three years into four books on the knowledge of God the Creator, of God the Redeemer, of the grace of Christ, and of the church.
Why it lasted
The most influential systematic theology of the Reformation, and the intellectual charter of Reformed Christianity across Europe, Scotland, and New England.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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