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Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion has a place within the canon of the Great Books of the Western World. It is beyond dispute that Calvin's Institutes changed Protestantism for 500 years – and is still doing so! What began in 1536 as simple catechetical booklet grew into a massive magnum opus in 1559. This final edition is outlined here.

The first book of Calvin's magnum opus is arguably the finest piece of theological writing in church history; even an honest Arminian would have to agree. It excels in eloquence, ingenuity, and influence.

Here, Calvin discusses the knowledge of God, how it relates to human nature, the role of the Holy Spirit in the creation of faith, how Christians should approach theology, and how sin affects the human intellect.

The second book is extremely important because it provides a foundation for Reformed perspectives on human nature, especially the enslaved will.

By now, readers should have noted that Calvin follows the outline of the Apostles' Creed. God the Son is the focus of this portion of the work. Those with a background in churches that have difficulty making sense of the "old covenant" should find Calvin's thoughtful approach to the relationship between the Old and New Testaments fascinating.

In the third book, Calvin's focus turns to the Holy Spirit, as seen through the perspective of the economy of salvation.

Most readers interested in the Institutes will be seeking to understand the distinctive theology Calvin lays out in this book, especially his doctrine of predestination (III.xxi). Nonetheless, one should note from the outline that before discussing election, Calvin considers other doctrines which are essential to evangelical thought.

As most good theologians, Calvin concludes his theology with reference to points mentioned toward the end of the Apostles' Creed.

First, he describes his model for the church - one that differs markedly from the hierarchical model developed during the Middle Ages.

Been told by your pastor that the "joint declaration on justification" ironed out all problems between Lutheranism and Rome? Find a new pastor, one who will walk you through Robert Preus' Justification and Rome, his last book prior to his death.

Reformation folk are often charged with "having no doctrine of sanctification." To answer this charge, Lutheran theologian William Hordern writes his masterful little Living by Grace.

Much of the book is analysis of why so many of us Christians "measure Christianity" this way. It is to be expected of the non-Christian, because our behavior is all he or she notices (if he or she evaluated by doctrine, he or she would likely become a Christian!) But a lot of the charge traces back to Rome and to Wesley, so the issue is all too often within the circle of Christianity more than it is an issue to the non-Christian (with the exception of the theme that "...the church is filled with hypocrites.")

Dr. Hordern doesn't have a Biblical view of Scripture's inspiration and inerrancy, but you can just "read over" such paragraphs. On what the Reformers called "the material principle [the Gospel]," he is extremely insightful.

Martin Luther really 'got' St. Paul and this is premium, 200 proof St. Paul! Luther called the letter to the Galatians, "the Magna Carta of Christian Liberty". Dr. Rod Rosenbladt did a close reading of Luther's Galatians commentary over the summer of 2011 and outlined the preface and first four chapters. The videos are a must see. These are the accompanying outlines written by Dr. Rosenbladt from which he created the lectures.

The free previews of the four main chapters which Dr. Rosenbladt provided for the lectures are available in our Freebies section.

Whether you are a life long student of scripture or a newbie, this one's for you; we all need to get excited about how good the Good News of Christianity is! The death of Christ saves!

Dr. Pinnock wrote this book decades ago, when he believed much more than he does these days.

He divides the book into five types of apologetic arguments for the truth of the Gospel: (1) the Pragmatic basis for Christian faith, (2) the Experiential basis for Christian faith, (3) the Cosmic basis for Christian faith, (4) the Historical basis for Christian faith, and, (5) the Community basis for Christian faith.

Bishop Butler's Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed (1736) was an important work of Christian apologetics. The deists of his century had argued, "Scripture is filled with nothing but problems! The 'Book of Nature' contains every doctrine that Scripture teaches, but it is founded on science are not on a book of fables, a book filled with contradictions and gross moral errors!"

Butler took this on with his Analogy of Religion. The "analogy" of which he spoke was the one between the so-called "two books of revelation": The book of Nature and the book of Scripture.