A Reformation Debate Paperback – August 1, 2000

This correspondence between Calvin and Sadoleto at the very beginning of the Calvinist movement in Geneva is one of the most important documents we have. One wonders if this were perhaps more of a rebuttal debate with a typical "back-and-forth" of the two opponents, if things might have shaped differently in history. Sadoleto begins his letter with an appeal to the people of Geneva (as the letter is actually addressed to them). Calvin being the self-appointed representative of these people give a sometimes terse, but charitable response to Sadoleto's objections. Now, we know Calvin to be a highly gifted writer, and one expects his responses to be, well, Calvinistic and they are. But many people do not know that Jacopo Sadoleto was no slouch himself and was, in fact, a towering intellect in his own right. That's why a somewhat lament that this was not a "debate" in the sense that we understand the term today. I "back and forth", while today might lead to redundancy, these two men might have given posterity something even greater than what we have in this book. But alas, history is history and as a piece of history, this debate is an indispensable glimpse into the heart of the reformation rebellion; it's time, it's effects, and it's legacy.

The introduction is rather academic in which I found myself reaching for the dictionary a few times.These are two letters written by two very intelligent people educated in the liberal tradition. In the first letter Sadoleto forgoes any appeal to his reader’s intelligence and instead makes a mainly emotional appeal to those in Geneva to return to the Roman Catholic faith from which they have left. Calvin is asked by the Genovese to reply to Sadoleto’s letter and he agrees. Calvin’s reply is about twice as long as Sadoleto’s letter but is a reasoned, rational and biblical response which doesn’t pull any punches and in his reply he corrects a few assertions which Sadoleto tries to make as well as exposing a few errors inherent in Roman Catholic theology. I think Calvin’s reply is one of those lesser known if not unknown brilliancies of Reformed Theology which I intend to reread on a regular basis.After Calvin’s reply are two appendixes in which the first one is Calvin’s explanation of Justification taken from his much larger work “Institutes of the Christian Religion” and the second is the Roman Catholic’s teaching on Justification taken from the Council of Trent which, I’m afraid to say, nearly put me to sleep.

I'm not a huge fan of Calvin's ideas, but this made things easy enough to understand where he's coming from. Still don't agree with him though.

Had to get this for a class. Calvin was so on point. I've read some of his commentaries, but this was my first read where I felt I was seeing him. He shredded Sadoleto. At times, his frankness was so humorous imho. Bottom line I enjoyed the read.

In this gem the Roman Catholic sophist Jacopo Sadoleto proves to be no match against the great Reformer John Calvin.

Short book that captures the heart of the Reformation Debate. Highly recommend.

This is a good book. I mean, you already know what you want when you bought this. So yeah. Enjoy it.

Letters from Sadoleto and Calvins response. No more no less