I remarked that "John Calvin is basically a disciple of Augustine" and my brilliant wife, Tracy, recommend that I read John Piper's book,
"The Legacy of Sovereign Joy." The book is short read (150pgs) and
is available for free online at
Desiring God. Piper's book is a brief biography of Augustine, Luther and Calvin and explains how each of these men built upon each other. Here is a quotation from the book:
"I am not sure that Martin Luther and John Calvin saw the conquering grace of "sovereign joy" as clearly as Augustine. But what they saw even more clearly was the supremacy of the Word of God over the church and the utter necessity of sacred study at the spring of truth. Luther found his way into paradise through the gate of New Testament Greek; and Calvin bequeathed to us a 500-year legacy of God-entranced preaching because his eyes were opened to see the divine majesty of the Word. My prayer in writing this book is that, once we see Augustine’s vision of grace as "sovereign joy," the lessons of Luther’s study will strengthen it by the Word of God, and the lessons of Calvin’s preaching will spread it to the ends of the earth. This is The Legacy of Sovereign Joy." (pg 12)
These three men form the first links in the greatest chain of theologians of all time and what I call, "Giants, standing on the shoulders of Giants." Aurelius Augustine (354-430), Martin Luther (1483-1546), and John Calvin (1509-1564), Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), and John Piper (1946-).
Last Update: October 8, 2008 2:04pm
October 8, 2008 1:31pm v.7
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I remarked that "John Calvin is basically a disciple of Augustine" and my brilliant wife, Tracy, recommend that I read John Piper's book, "The Legacy of Sovereign Joy." The book is short read (150pgs) and is available for free online at Desiring God. Piper's book is a brief biography of Augustine, Luther and Calvin and explains how each of these men built upon each other. Here is a quotation from the book: