John Calvin Had 300 Books in His Personal Library
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48b).
http://andynaselli.com/john-calvin-had-300-books-in-his-personal-library
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We are all accountable for what we have. Kind of a sobering thought but also kind of inspiring to use it well.
Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God
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We are spoiled indeed. Surely he must of read those well. [8-|]
The mind of man is the mill of God, not to grind chaff, but wheat. Thomas Manton | Study hard, for the well is deep, and our brains are shallow. Richard Baxter
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We are blessed to have so many resources at our fingertips. It is hard to picture these theological giants with such small libraries
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I'm sure Arminians might argue that he had a few too few books [H]
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Wonder if this number should be regarded in the same sense as money. Today $300 is not much, but a few decades ago it was a huge amount of money. 300 books appear to be a small collection, but perhaps in Calvin's day it was regarded as big (considering the costs and availability of books then).
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Sarel Slabbert said:
Wonder if this number should be regarded in the same sense as money. Today $300 is not much, but a few decades ago it was a huge amount of money. 300 books appear to be a small collection, but perhaps in Calvin's day it was regarded as big (considering the costs and availability of books then).
Precisely what I was thinking.
george
gfsomselיְמֵי־שְׁנוֹתֵינוּ בָהֶם שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה וְאִם בִּגְבוּרֹת שְׁמוֹנִים שָׁנָה וְרָהְבָּם עָמָל וָאָוֶן
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Tom Reynolds said:
I'm sure Arminians might argue that he had a few too few books
Many would argue that he would've benefited from a copy of Free Will-y on his shelf, I'm sure.
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He only had 300 books because Logos wasn't available then.
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Ronald Quick said:
He only had 300 books because Logos wasn't available then.
I wonder how many he would have had if Logos was available.
Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God
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In our defense (if we can be defended), modern pastors and scholars are responsible to know a whole lot more than Calvin was. After all, he was not required to read the works of Calvin. [:)]
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Spurgeon's personal library contained 12,000 volumes—1,000 printed before 1700. (The library, 5,103 volumes at the time of its auction, was housed at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, until being moved to Midwestern Baptist Theological College & Seminary in 2006.)
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Calvin quoted and cited an awful lot of different works in his writings, especially in his Institutes. Perhaps he had access to a library?
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