John Calvin’s view of images in the Institutes of the Christian Faith

The Institutes of the Christian Faith are one of the key literary works of the Reformation. In this work, John Calvin offers a systematic exposition of the dogmatic theology of the Reformed Church. The Institutes, together with Sacred Scripture, became one of the most authoritative sources for Calvinists, and continue to be the most cited work among Reformed Christians. In this article, the author evaluates how the concept of images is treated in the Institutes. This problem is one of the most ofen discussed at dialogues between Orthodox and Protestants, not only at an official level, but also informally. Ofen, when Orthodox and Protestants meet, the question for discussion is not the teaching on predestination or on salvation by faith alone, but the question of whether religious images are allowed in liturgical life. John Calvin took the most radical position of all of the reformers on the issue of images, which makes evaluating his position important for the development of Orthodox-Protestant dialogue