Resources by or about John H. Leith

The closing Doctrinal Theology lecture turns to the Christian hope of resurrection and eternal life, the last chapter of Reformed dogmatics and the ground of confidence for both pastoral care and faithful witness in the present.

A focused reading list on the Christian life: Calvin's classic chapters in the Institutes (Book III, chapters 6-10), Leith's Yale dissertation John Calvin's Doctrine of the Christian Life, and Richard B. Hays' The Moral Vision of the New Testament. The bibliography draws together Reformed theology and New Testament ethics as a single picture of life shaped by the gospel.

Introductory letter explaining the purpose, scope, and approval of the Foundation's seminar bibliographies. Recounts the history of the program, established by Dr. and Mrs. John H. Leith in 1982 and continued by the Foundation since 1998, and notes that only the listed topics are approved for Foundation seminars.

The required first reading for new seminars: a survey of Dr. John H. Leith's principal works including An Introduction to the Reformed Tradition, The Reformed Imperative, From Generation to Generation, and Basic Christian Doctrine. These set forth the Reformed tradition as the Foundation understands it and articulate the program of the seminars he founded.

Leith focuses on the background and character of the assembly that wrote the Westminster Confession, examining its major themes: the Bible, the lordship and sovereignty of God, the covenant, and the Christian life.

Leith's classic examination of what it means to become a member of the church. Designed for junior high communicant classes but also an excellent resource for officer training and new member classes for adults and young people alike.

Leith examines the relationship between Reformed theology and the form and style of evangelism. The paper is intended as an occasion for self-criticism in the work of evangelism and for renewal of theological and ecclesiastical life in the Reformed tradition.

A collection of Leith's Christmas letters to his former ministerial students at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. The letters grew lengthier and richer through the years, and are gathered here for others to enjoy.

A thorough investigation of Calvinist doctrine, defining the Reformer's teaching on Christian life in the context of his theology, with discussion of justification by faith, providence and predestination, history and the transhistorical, and church and society.

John H. Leith sets the Westminster Confession within its historical, social, and political context, tracing the conflict between Stuart kings and Puritan preachers, the Bishops' Wars, and the Long Parliament that issued in the Westminster Assembly.

Leith recounts the founding and early years of the John Calvin Studies Colloquium at Davidson College, tracing its origins to 1982, listing the inaugural papers and respondents, and reflecting on the gathering's distinctive Reformed conversation.

Leith examines Calvin's doctrine of the proclamation of the Word in light of recent research, arguing that Calvin's sermons, not only the Institutes, made Geneva what it became and that preaching was central to Calvin's pastoral vocation.

Scholarly paper presented at the John Calvin Studies Colloquium and published in Calvin Studies.

Readings include William Hordern's A Layman's Guide to Protestant Theology, Eberhard Busch's Karl Barth: His Life from Letters and Autobiographical Texts, Barth's prison sermons from Basel, and Robert McAfee Brown's treatment of Reinhold Niebuhr. The bibliography offers a broad orientation to the major theologians who shaped twentieth-century Protestant thought, providing accessible entry points into the lives and ideas of figures central to the Reformed and ecumenical traditions.

Primary readings include Calvin's Institutes Book I, Karl Barth's Credo, Homiletics, The Word of God and the Word of Man, and Evangelical Theology, along with the exchange between Barth and Brunner in Natural Theology. The bibliography serves as an introduction to Barth's theology by reading it alongside Calvin, tracing both the continuities and the distinctive moves that characterize Barth's reformulation of the Reformed theological tradition in the twentieth century.

Readings include Augustine's On Christian Teaching, Calvin's Institutes IV.3 on church officers, Chapter 18 of the Second Helvetic Confession, and Richard Baxter's The Reformed Pastor. The bibliography traces the Reformed tradition's theology of ordained ministry from patristic foundations through the Reformation and into the Puritan period, with attention to the character, calling, and responsibilities of the pastor as teacher and shepherd.

The bibliography focuses entirely on the 1541 French Edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion in Elsie Anne McKee's translation (Eerdmans, 2009). Reading this edition gives direct access to Calvin's own mature theological voice before the Institutes reached its final Latin form, and to the particular pastoral and rhetorical character of Calvin's French prose as he addressed the church of his own day.

Readings draw from Calvin's Institutes on the commandments and the Christian life, Jonathan Edwards' Charity and Its Fruits, Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics II/2 and III/4, Emil Brunner's The Divine Imperative, and works by both H. Richard and Reinhold Niebuhr. The bibliography surveys the field of Christian ethics within the Reformed tradition, from Calvin's treatment of the law through modern debates about the relationship between gospel, law, and moral life.

Readings include Augustine's City of God (Books 20-22), Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics III/2 and IV/3 on resurrection and hope, Jürgen Moltmann's The Coming of God, and N.T. Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God. The bibliography examines Christian eschatology from Augustine through the twentieth century, with attention to resurrection, the kingdom of God, and the church's witness in light of the coming reign of Christ.

Primary texts are Calvin's Instruction in Faith (1537), selections from the Institutes covering all four books, Calvin's Ecclesiastical Advice, and Elsie Anne McKee's edition of Calvin: Writings on Pastoral Piety. The bibliography serves as an introduction to Calvin's thought as a whole, tracing his theology, his pastoral practice, and his vision of the church through a carefully selected range of primary sources.

The bibliography centers on Hughes Oliphant Old's seven-volume The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church. This comprehensive survey traces the history of Christian preaching from the biblical period through the modern era, giving sustained attention to how the Reformed tradition has understood the public reading, exposition, and proclamation of Scripture as the central act of Christian worship.

Readings include Augustine's Confessions (Books III, IV, and VII), Calvin's Institutes I.16-18 on providence and evil, Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics III/3 §50 on das Nichtige (Nothingness), Austin Farrer's Love Almighty and Ills Unlimited, and John Hick's Evil and the God of Love. The bibliography approaches the problem of evil through the primary texts of the tradition, asking how Christian faith speaks to suffering, natural evil, and the hiddenness of God.

Primary readings include Karl Barth's Credo and Dogmatics in Outline, John H. Leith's The Reformed Imperative, essays by Marilynne Robinson, and Alvin Plantinga's Where the Conflict Really Lies. The bibliography surveys the broader theological scene of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, tracing how Reformed theology engages contemporary questions in culture, science, and the life of the church.

Readings draw from across Niebuhr's major works: Beyond Tragedy, The Nature and Destiny of Man, Moral Man and Immoral Society, The Irony of American History, and The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness. The bibliography examines Niebuhr's theological anthropology, his Christian realism in social ethics, and his enduring analysis of human nature and political life in the American context.