John Calvin was just twenty-seven years old when the first edition of his Institutes was published in Basel in 1536. Building on the work of Erasmus and Luther, Calvin wrote with brilliance and passion of the many ways the church and its theology had been "deformed," and he presented a case for restoring the church and theology to its pristine purity. Calvin's "little book" -- as he affectionately called it -- grew in size through the rest of his life; eventually, this early, shorter version evolved into what is now known as the Institutes, the 1559 edition, which Calvin considered the authoritative form of his thought for posterity.

Noted Calvin scholar Ford Lewis Battles translated the 1536 Institutes in 1975, after completing his masterful translation of the 1559 Institutes. This revised edition of Battles' translation is now being published in recognition of the four- hundred-fiftieth anniversary of the original publication of the 1536 Institutes.

Intended both for readers who wish to gain a better understanding of this earliest expression of Calvin's theology and for scholars who may wish to pursue further research, this edition contains extensive notes and references. The book's four appendices include a new translation of Calvin's Preface to Olivétan's Bible (1535); the five indices include an index of biblical references and a comparative table of the 1536 and 1559 Institutes. The numerous citations in the endnotes from the writings of Calvin's predecessors and contemporaries illuminate the significance of the text in its historical context.