Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, credited to John Calvin, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, by John Calvin & translated by Henry Beveridge. Read by volunteer readers. Institutes of the Christian Religion is John Calvin's seminal work on Protestant systematic theology. Highly influential in the Western world and still widely read by theological students today, it was published in Latin in 1536 and in his native French in 1541, with the definitive editions appearing in 1559 (Latin) and in 1560 (French). The book was written as an introductory textbook on the Protestant faith for those with some learning already and covered a broad range of theological topics from the doctrines of church and sacraments to justification by faith alone and Christian liberty, and it vigorously attacked the teachings of those Calvin considered unorthodox, particularly Roman Catholicism to which Calvin says he had been "strongly devoted" before his conversion to Protestantism. The over-arching theme of the book – and Calvin's greatest theological legacy – is the idea of God's total sovereignty, particularly in salvation and election. The Institutes are a primary reference for the system of doctrine adopted by the Reformed churches, usually called Calvinism. Book Four of the Institutes discusses "the Church and the Communion of Saints, or of the external means or helps by which God invites us to fellowship with Christ, and keeps us in it." This includes Church government, with scathing denunciations of the Papacy and Catholic Church. (Summary from Wikipedia & TriciaG)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4
• Author credits: John Calvin
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 46
• Listed recording duration: 25:53:48

Catalogue topics

• theology
• Calvinism
• Reformation
• religion
• Christianity

Opening tracks: first 24 of 46

1. 01 - Argument — 2:47
2. 02 - Of the True Church, pt 1 — 36:24
3. 03 - Of the True Church, pt 2 — 29:32
4. 04 - Of the True Church, pt 3 — 36:53
5. 05 - Comparison Between the False Church and the True — 40:41
6. 06 - Of the Teachers and Ministers of the Church — 44:05
7. 07 - Of the State of the Primitive Church...Before Papacy — 37:11
8. 08 - The Ancient Form of Govt Utterly Corrupted, pt 1 — 32:10
9. 09 - The Ancient Form of Govt Utterly Corrupted, pt 2 — 30:49
10. 10 - Of the Primacy of the Romish See — 53:03
11. 11 - Of the Beginning and Rise of the Romish Papacy, pt 1 — 27:00
12. 12 - Of the Beginning and Rise of the Romish Papacy, pt 2 — 26:53
13. 13 - Of the Beginning and Rise of the Romish Papacy, pt 3 — 29:59
14. 14 - Of the Powers of the Church in Articles of Faith, pt 1 — 23:02
15. 15 - Of the Powers of the Church in Articles of Faith, pt 2 — 27:14
16. 16 - Of Councils and Their Authority — 36:42
17. 17 - Of the Power of Making Laws, pt 1 — 35:17
18. 18 - Of the Power of Making Laws, pt 2 — 33:26
19. 19 - Of the Power of Making Laws, pt 3 — 34:48
20. 20 - Of the Jurisdiction of the Church, pt 1 — 29:57
21. 21 - Of the Jurisdiction of the Church, pt 2 — 31:14
22. 22 - Of the Discipline of the Church, pt 1 — 38:52
23. 23 - Of the Discipline of the Church, pt 2 — 36:14
24. 24 - Of Vows, pt 1 — 31:34

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This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.