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First Edition of Calvin's Harmony of the Pentateuch, the final biblical commentary published during his lifetime, less than a year before his death. This edition reproduces the Genesis commentary of 1554 alongside a new work, a commentary and harmony of the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Bound with his commentary on Joshua, second edition printed by Petrus Sanctandreanus in 1575, together forming a complete commentary on the Deuteronomistic History or 'Hexateuch' as Gerhard Von Rad would dub it. With a very handsome modern binding in tan Niger goat, covers ruled in blind, raised bands, gilt stamped spine lettering and blind stamped fleurons in alternating panels. With the original binder's trim intact, edges stained in red with patina to top edge and title written in an early hand to the fore edge head. Heraldic bookplate of the Rev. Henry Wood, Vicar of Halifax with coat of arms and motto 'Perseverando.' Title page with Estien printer's device depicting olive tree with engrafted and cut-off branches and the Pauline motto, 'Altum Sapere Noli'. Owner inscription 'Antoni Roberti' astride the device with another inscription blotted out and indecipherable, initials 'J.A.' at the top edge. Annoations in a learned contemporary hand scattered here and there but notably with concerted attention to the first 6 pages of the 'Lex' portion. Indeed, it has been argued that Calvin's guiding motivation for this entire project was to compile a 'Harmony of the Law,' combing the entire Mosaic corpus for paranetic sayings and sorting them according to a Decalogue rubric. This was novel approach among Christian scholars, following the precedent of many medieval rabbis whom Calvin cites regularly. Here we see, in Calvin's final discourse on the Law, the full flowering of his thought on the matter which had come to occupy so much of his concern in the final edition of the Institutes four years prior. Occuppying 286 pages in the heart of the book, it stands as Calvin's most mature and sustained treatment of the law, a masterful legal treatise in addition to its theological and exegetical dimensions. Calvin brought the full powers of his renaissance humanist training to bear on one of the few segments of Scripture on which he had not published: the final four books of Moses. Following a revised edition of his translation and commentary on Genesis, he sought to do for the deuteronomic books what he had previously done in his Harmony of the Gospels. Strikingly, he was the first commentator--Jewish or Christian--to attempt a harmony of the Torah: 'an original approach for which no parallel has yet been found in the preceding history of exegesis' (de Boer, 51). Showing his cherished literary ideals of clarity and brevity, Calvin explicitly sought to avoid duplication of comment where the scriptural writer is redundant. In the process, he reorganizes the narrative structure, implementing the textual critical skills he learned in Paris as a law student. In spite of Calvin's own piety and insistence that he is not seeking to improve upon the given form of Scripture, it is impossible not to see here the spores which would germinate in the higher critical movement of the coming centuries. In addition to the narrative restructuring, Calvin organizes all legal passages of the Torah under the rubric of the 10 commandments, a first among Christian scholars, following the precedent of many medieval rabbis whom he cites regularly. Here we see, in Calvin's final discourse on the Law, the full flowering of his thought on the matter which had come to occupy so much of his concern in the final edition of the Institutes four years prior. Folio in sixes 9 x 12.5' Complete. MOSIS LIBRI V: [12], 339; [1], 625, [27] pp.; *1-*6; a1-ee8 (Genesis); a1-fff6, [2] (Harmony); ggg1-[12 unsigned]; IN HISTORIAM IOSUE: [2], 3-85, [2]; A1-A8 (first signature in 8's); B1-G6. Some toning to the extremities of the title page and frontmatter, fore tail corner of the.
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