Review: Sermons on the Acts of the Apostles

Apparently extempore, these sermons were delivered in course, in Geneva from the summer of 1549 to the New Year of 1551. Indeed the series went on over the next few years until the Acts of the Apostles was preached through. Only these forty-four sermons survive in this transcribed form, however. The aim is expository, not in a modern sense, but the effect, at least on this reader is exhortory. There is much of interest here, but Calvin’s repetitive, at times ludicrously exaggerated and sometimes scurrilous attacks on what he calls ‘The Papacy’ are painful. What kept his congregation seemingly spell-bound? Perhaps that is lost in translation.

This review was first published on GoodBookReviews.org.uk. This site was closed as of March 2019.