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Wednesday, January 02, 2008

John Calvin by Titian

A print of this portrait of the Reformer by Titian now adorns my study wall thanks to a kind Christmas gift from my wife. I wonder if labouring under his watchful gaze will have a beneficial effect upon my work?

9 comments:

Jonathan Hunt said...

It might make you obtuse and hopelessly prolix...

er..

Let me rephrase that.

It might make you MORE obtuse and EVEN MORE hopelessly prolix...

Happy New Year. Welcome to another 365 days of blog abuse. hehehe

Guy Davies said...

Calvin obtuse and prolix? Have we been reading the same man?

Happy new year to you too!

Anonymous said...

Nice, I don't think I've ever seen that portrayal of Calvin before, it extremely good, I'd think it's accurate to, he does not look like a healthy man and that would certainly harmonise with his life of pain and trouble in the cause of Christ.

Do you know where the original hangs (I am assuming of course that you wife while obviously loving and generous is not a multi-millionaire!)

JP

Guy Davies said...

Hi JP,

I haven't been able to get hold of much info on the painting. I came across it when searching for a Calvin piccy on Google Images for the blog. The print came from Allposters.com.

Jonathan Hunt said...

Definately. Am I the only person in the world who finds Calvin longwinded and speculative?

Oh... it seems that I am.

I have found, in preaching through Genesis, that Calvin is useful in places, but by no means my first port of call. And often, confusing, frankly. But then, I am just an amateur hobby-preacher...

Anonymous said...

Jonathan,

I think you need to read the Institutes AND Sermons AND the Commentaries on a given subject or passage if you can, otherwise I think you miss out the best of Calvin...he assumes knowledge of both of his readers, I think he even says so somewhere, but I can't recall where I read that.

As with all commentators depending on where your mind is going in preparation of a sermon he can be variable in usefulness, but I still think he is extremely good as an exegete of the text.

Keep digging, there's gold in them there hills!

JP

kevin said...

have trouble understanding calvinism,try reading charles spurgeon it will give you a better understanding

Guy Davies said...

Kevin,

Spurgeon was a Calvinist. See C.H. Spurgeon The Autobiography Volume 1, Banner of Truth Trust and the chapter, A Defence of Calvinisn from p. 162.

He said, "The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be false to my conscience and my God."

kevin said...

Calvinism is basically the truth and nothing else. It puts spiritual and doctrinal beliefs in an infallible perspective in my opinion. it biblical passages back to the basics,nothing less nothing more. Exactly how god intended it to be.