Institutes of the Christian Religion

John Calvin's greatest work, published in several editions as early as 1536 and finally in this definitive edition in 1559, was intended as a theological introduction to the Bible and a vindication of the principles of the Reformation. The central doctrines professed are the absolute sovereignty of God, the grounding of Christian faith in the Word of God revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and the inability of man to find salvation apart from God's grace.