Today’s Readings Podcast Description

What remains of the pastoral office when bishops never see their flocks and scarcely one in a hundred of the clergy ever preaches? In these sections of the Institutes, Calvin exposes the non-residence of bishops, the abandonment of preaching, the empty claim of apostolic succession, and the complete corruption of the diaconate. The goods once dedicated to the poor have become plunder, the name of shepherd is claimed by those who never feed the sheep, and the whole hierarchical system, he argues, stands opposed to the institution of Christ and the practice of the early Church.

Readings:

John Calvin — Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 5, Sections 11–15

Explore the Project:

Through the Church ...