John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God

Written by John Piper

"John Piper fires readers' passion for the centrality and supremacy of God by unfolding Calvin's exemplary zeal for the glory of God. God rests all too lightly on the church's mind in our time. Consequently, the self-saturation of his people has made God and his glory auxiliary, and his majesty has all but disappeared from the modern evangelical world. John Calvin saw a similar thing in his day, and it was at the root of his quarrel with Rome. Nothing mattered more to Calvin than the centrality, supremacy, and majesty of the glory of God. His aim, he wrote, was to ""set before [man], as the prime motive of his existence, zeal to illustrate the glory of God""-a fitting banner over all of the great Reformer's life and work. ""The essential meaning of Calvin's life and preaching,"" writes John Piper, ""is that he recovered and embodied a passion for the absolute reality and majesty of God. Such is the aim and burden of this book as well."" As Piper concisely unfolds this predominant theme in Calvin's life, he seeks to fire every Christian's passion for the centrality and supremacy of God, so that God's self-identification in Exodus 3 as ""I am who I am"" becomes the sun in our solar system too. "

• Language: English
• Publisher: ChristianAudio.com
• Release date: Apr 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9781596447707

John Piper

 John Piper is founder and lead teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. He served for thirty-three years as a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is the author of more than fifty books, including Desiring God; Don’t Waste Your Life; and Providence. 

Reviews for John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God

[Stuart Nice · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well done synopsis of John Calvin’s life. It lifts up the glory of God and the Holy Scriptures and highlights his incredible scholarship. It would have been great to have it be a little longer.

[925_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was written to celebrate the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth. In just 59 pages, you get a very succinct view of the essentials of Calvin's life and work: to show the glory of God. We learn that Calvin was not an original thinker, but that he was possessed by the Holy Spirit to spread God's Word to a hungry and dying world. The book starts with practical application to our own life, and ends with the essential details of Calvin's life. The book is exceptionally well written, and is tight and crisp. This is a great way to be introduced to a man that today affects your life in ways that you do not even realize, and to whet your appetite to read more about him, and to grow in the truth of his own writings about God.If you don?t hold a high view of Calvin, you probably don?t know him. If you don?t know Calvin, you need to meet him yourself. This work is a great introduction to a man who walked closely with the Holy Spirit, and who?s teaching holds extremely closely to the very word of God, and a man that was one of the key laborers that reformed an accurate view of both God and man in this world.

[mkfs-354306 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Seems to be pretty standard for Fyodor's protagonists to confuse agonizing and obsessing over things with being intelligent and cultured.

[bbbart-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an amazing monologue by a protagonist we all have so much in common with. Only, in this novel, all the things we share with the narrator are precisely the things we are not proud of, don't want to acknowledge or don't even understand.

Dostoyevsky wonderfully describes the all too human desire to sometimes wreak havoc upon ourselves, fully understanding that our choices are the wrong ones and even more revelling in the knowledge that we will feel debauched and guilty afterwards. If not pure free will, then what is it that leads us to these desires? A rather beautiful way of putting it, isn't it? :-)

In the paradoxalist main character, self-awareness and intelligence lead to passiveness and self-loathing. This is a man that cannot love himself and therefore not love anyone or anything else. I think Dostoyevsky might have meant this as a warning to all his readers.

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is not a bright book - About a man who believes he's better than everyone around, and has alienated everyone around. It is told in diary form, with the unnamed man going off on whatever has offended on that day. Its not an easy book to read, between the diarist almost understanding why he keeps getting ostracized or full on rants about why the world should be treating him better. I'm glad I read it, but its not one that I will be rereading.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

One of my largest concerns when I decided to tackle the 1,001 Books to Read Before You Die List was the Russian authors. I wasn’t sure that I was up to the task of reading these literary giants so I was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually liked everything by Gogol that I have read, and that I really enjoyed Anna Karenina. I decided it was time to try Dostoyevsky and chose Notes From Underground to read by installment. Bad choice as all my fears about Russian authors came true with this book.For the first half of the book, the author appears to be on one long rant using the irritable, abrasive, and antisocial main character who rambles on about his philosophy and thoughts on life. Although this unnamed character is an educated and supposedly intelligent man, he comes across as a paranoid loner who despises Russian society. The second half of the book is composed of the narrator sharing various stories from his life that illustrate how alienated he is from the world. The narrator is quite dislikeable, and I found his bitter and vengeful stories exhausting. I was very happy to reach the end of this book.Luckily this was a short book of less than 200 pages, although its’ density and unpleasant subject matter made it seem much longer. I made the mistake of choosing a short book in the hopes that this would mean an easier read and I have since read that Notes From Underground is considered one of his most difficult reads. I’m not sure I would have been able to complete the read if it had been in a different format rather than the short installments that I read much as one would take a twice weekly dose of medicine. I’m not here to judge whether this is a great literary achievement, I rather suspect it is, but it is also a difficult read that I had trouble understanding, and I am glad to be done with it and happy to be able to check this one off my list.

[bookworm148 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found it very difficult to get through part one. If you’re struggling to read it, I would suggest listening to at least the first half. Personally, I only listened to part one and went back to reading once I got to part two. The second part of the book is much easier to read because it is less like a rant, and more of a narration. Like when I read Of Mice and Men, I spent quite a bit of this book wondering why so many people have suggested this book to me and it wasn’t until the end that I finally understood. All of the pieces fall into place and you can finally see what Dostoevsky wanted to say. I’ve been told that Dostoevsky is someone you either love or hate because he has such a dreary outlook on human nature. I believe I fall in with those who love him. I can see how he could be perceived as being a pessimist, but personally I feel that he more of a realist.While some people might see the Underground Man as depicting the scummiest side of humans, I don’t feel that he should be seen in such a negative light. His feelings and even his reactions are not uncommon and, while not the ideal way to feel or react, it shouldn’t be depicted as horrible. Being jealous and angry are human emotions, they aren’t something that we can all pretend we don’t feel. Also, most people in society might not actually act the way he does, but I’ll bet that we’ve all had similar scenarios play out in our heads. Humans are not always happy and nice people, we go through good streaks and bad streaks. And each one of us is capable of horrendous things.

[danielstj · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was decent, but I felt that there was a certain sense of lacking from the second part of the novel that did not make it as interesting and worthwhile as the first. I expected there to be somewhat more of a reveal and that I was set up for something great that never really happened. That was a bit of a letdown, but the book is nonetheless still worthwhile for those who like Dostoyevsky and Russian literature-- as well as classics.3 stars.

[stevenjohntait · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing how he can twist and turn a thought from nowhere and make it grow into a full blown psychological drama.

[oacevedo-792047 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I just couldn't get into it. It wasn't what I expected and it is far too philosophical for my tastes.

[jakebornheimer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Short and enjoyable. I can't get enough. Feels like a slice from the mind of one of Dostoevsky's more expanded characters, in a good way. It's all been distilled into 130 pages and it really made me think. How is he so darn good at writing melodramatic and insane people? I probably relate a little too much to this guy.

And in there, also a nugget of truth re: philosophy of science "Man is so partial to systems and abstract conclusions that he is ready intentionally to distort the truth, to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear, only so as to justify his logic.".

[jonfaith · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Shooting from my hip, I'd guess that Notes From The Underground emerged via the tradition of epistolary novels and the recent triumph of Gogol's Diary of a Madman. There is little need here to measure the impact and influence of Dostoevsky's tract. Nearly all of noir fiction is indebted. The monologue as a novella continues to thrive, finding its zenith, perhaps, in the work of Thomas Bernhard.

Notes is a work for the young. Its transgressions can't begin to shock anymore. Its creative instability has to be appreciated for its technical merit. This hardly works on old sods like me. Somehow in this tale of honor lost and self deception I kept thinking of the Arab Spring. Dangerous potentials are unearthed when you cleave away traditions and don't offer realized possibilities.

[johnjgaynard · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

All of Dostoyevsky's novels are works of genius, but, as far as I am concerned, this is the best one of them all.

[judithrs · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Notes from the Underground. Fyodor Dostoevsky. 1993. I tried to like this book, but, alas, I didn’t. I know it is a classic and that people far smarter than I am think it is a great novel. It was just an ordeal to get through. If you want to read Dostoevsky, try Crime and Punishment first.

[adaorhell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I do not know enough Russian to fully appreciate it, but I know enough. I can feel 'the space under the floor' of the translation. I can see the absence of something there, that I know the Russian would fully explain.

My first Dostoyevsky and I am pleased it was this one. The nauseating, twisting anxiety and self loathing. The violent and unrepentant revulsion, bitterness, cruelty and nastiness, and the thrilling, shuddering language of it all. In it I can hear echoes of everything I love now -- Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury! -- And I see the angels and auroachs and the power of my perversion.

Staggering. Helpful to read certain phrases out loud. Despite being "Notes", it is obviously a piece written to be spoken.

[justagirlwithabook · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This particular copy of mine has a handful of short stories within it. There are a few pieces that were quite depressing and very fitting as Dostoyevsky works. This was a book that I had to teach to my sophomores when I was teaching 10th grade English and I can't say it had the kids very riveted unfortunately.

[margaretfield · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

painful articulation of the internal side of a self marginalized person

[valerieandbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this for #1001Books, and did not care too much for this one by Dostoevsky -- Underground Man (unnamed protagonist) does ramble on and on! Perhaps I would have appreciated this more with a different translation. Not long after, I read Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and loved it.

[solitaryfossil · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My first Dostoyevsky reading, and I really enjoyed it. Soon I'll begin reading his longer works, this was a good introduction.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Possibly the first existential novel (novella). The unnamed writer, 40 years old, tells us he is writing to no one but argues that man must choose (free will) and will choose not to live by logic and in fact will choose against logic. The second part, gives us the background of the writer and how he ended up underground. Then the very end, we learn that even this has been edited and we the reader do not know what is the truth. Rating 3.43.

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think this may be the shortest work by a Russian novelist I have ever read. That being said, I don't know that this book is truly a novel so much as it is an extended short story told from the perspective of a Russian man who tends to rabble and who once drove away a woman who might have been able to love him. Overall, I liked the book, although the first part was certainly difficult to get through, the second (which actually relates a story instead of just philosophizing) more than made up for it.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This guy is batcrap crazy. I don't think I'd ever want him as a friend (though I guarantee I would be his friend, because I seem to attract crazy), but he's certainly amusing to watch/listen to.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A forty year old man introduces himself: "I AM A SICK MAN . . . I am a wicked (nasty) man." This comes from a man who immediately demonstrates his unsureness and his unreliability, as he touts his superstitiousness and refusal to be treated for his (imagined?) sickness. With a few lines of prose Dostoevsky has introduced the reader to a new type of man, one that we will see traces of in characters like Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment and others in subsequent novels. What do we make of this narrator and his story?It is a story that is bifurcated into two parts that are very different from each other but intimately connected. The narrator is talking to someone. Perhaps it is the reader or perhaps it is himself, but he is passionate as he speaks out from his "corner" bemoaning the fact that he is not even able to become an insect, much as he would like to. The narration, upon first reading, is strange, but it changes when he draws in the reader by observing that he is not the only one who takes pride in his "sickness". Everyone takes pride in their own sickness. Suddenly we have come upon, become part of, the modern condition. This is the world that Nietzsche and others would later describe and that we live in.The first part is entitled "Underground" and it is a world where the certainties of "2+2=4" and the philosophies of rationalism and utilitarianism are not welcome. The narrator, in his hole, cannot act and is overcome with inertia -- being constantly offended by "the laws of nature". What is a man without wants or desires who is living a life that is determined? Reason is not the answer, so he speculates that "two times two is five is sometimes also a most charming little thing". (p 34) He is bored and so he begins to write as the falling snow reminds him of an anecdote that occurred when he was twenty-four years old.Thus the narration changes as the second part, "Apropos of the Wet Snow" begins. The nature of his pathology and his paranoia becomes clear as he reacts with coworkers and meets a young girl. The bifurcation of the story begins to appear in the narrator who, shortly after meeting the girl, starts to have doubts, thoughts like this:"A sullen thought was born in my brain and passed through my whole body like some vile sensation, similar to what one feels on entering an underground cellar, damp and musty. It was somehow unnatural . . . " (p 88) He begins to doubt himself (maybe he always has). The girl tries to reach out to him but he cannot reciprocate. Ultimately he concludes that life lived in books is better than his real life. He does little, is disappointed, and begins to write.This novel is a tragicomedy of ideas, powerful in the sense that it identifies the direction that much of modern thought will pursue. The dramatic expressiveness of the prose betrays a narrator who is bereft of the will to engage in life. It is a form of nihilism that eats away at the narrator. Dostoevsky's answer, not given in this short novel but found in The Brothers Karamazov and elsewhere, is a faith that is absent here. That does not mean that this is not a rich text, filled with ideas and deep with meaning. It is a book that challenges the reader in ways that resonate forward more than a century later.

[kanikoski · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Yes, this is a classic; it's the sort of book that other people write books about. While Part 1, the more philosophical section, is an intense read with plenty of depth and quotable quotes, Part 2 verges on the burlesque in its tragicomic depiction of a series of events that exemplify, in more tangible form, the nature of 'underground'. While the initial philosophy clearly sets the stage for the pastiche that follows, in some way it might be an easier 'in' to the work of Dostoyevsky to read the two in reverse order. The lack of a reliable narrator figure, in particular, is one literary dimension that a reader new to Dostoyevsky needs to discover, and this can become one of the perversely enjoyable facets of the work: navigating the paradoxically self-aware yet simultaneously unaware nature of the 'underground man'.

[crypto3willobie · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A thoroughly unpleasant book. A boring whiny rant, occasionally pretending to philosophical insight.

[birdo82 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ahead of its time, deeply psychological, and enhanced by a crafty translation, this Dostoevsky novella is a brilliant precursor to the Modernist Age of literature.

[brakketh-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An entertaining at times critique of philosophy such as rationalism among others, overall not my cup of tea.

[soylentgreen23 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I preferred the second half of this one to the first half, which is philosophical rambling more than a story.

[linsleo_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

You can't help getting drawn into Dostoyevsky's "Notes from Underground" as you follow the rantings of a spiteful, bitter person. Dostoyevsky has created a character whose every action leads to his own self-destruction, pain and alienation from others.

[joeydag · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A remarkably upsetting book narrated by an awful character