Hendrickson offers a one-volume hardcover edition of one of Western Christianity's foundational works. Re-typeset into a clean and modern typeface, this edition is easy to read for the modern eye. This book will appeal to libraries, seminarians, pastors, and laypeople. Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin is an introduction to the Bible and a vindication of Reformation principles by one of the Reformation's finest scholars.

At the age of twenty-six, Calvin published several revisions of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, a seminal work in Christian theology that altered the course of Western history and that is still read by theological students today. It was published in Latin in 1536 and in his native French in 1541, with the definitive editions appearing in 1559 (Latin) and in 1560 (French). The book was written as an introductory textbook on the Protestant faith for those with some learning already and covered a broad range of theological topics from the doctrines of church and sacraments to justification by faith alone. It vigorously attacked the teachings of those Calvin considered unorthodox, particularly Roman Catholicism, to which Calvin says he had been "strongly devoted" before his conversion to Protestantism. The over-arching theme of the book--and Calvin's greatest theological legacy--is the idea of God's total sovereignty, particularly in salvation and election.

約翰·加爾文(1509—1564)是基督新教曆史上最為重要的人物之一。馬丁·路德與天主教會決裂，開始宗教改革；而加爾文則以一部《基督教要義》建立瞭新教係統神學的典範。

德國曆史學傢蘭剋(Leopold von Ranke)說：“加爾文是美國真正的立基者。”法國曆史學傢論到加爾文宗信徒時說道：“這些人是英國真正的英雄。他們建立瞭蘇格蘭，他們也建立瞭美國。”這些都說明瞭加爾文深遠的曆史影響力。