Calvin’s Institutes for Little Princesses

It’s a cliché, I know, but sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. I had in mind to write something moderately humorous along the lines of Calvin’s Institutes for Little Princesses, or Calvin’s Institutes for Girls – something designed gently to mock the proliferation of gender-specific Bibles available these days. But when I googled the latter title to make sure nobody else had had the same idea, I came across Caroline Weerstra’s Calvin for Teens: Institutes of the Christian Religion in Modern English, Book One: The Knowledge of God the Creator (Common Life Press, 2012). Weerstra’s book is based on Henry Beveridge’s translation of the Institutes, includes information panels and study questions, and looks to be a not unworthy publication in its own right. And so I no longer feel that a post ‘advertising’ Calvin’s Institutes for Little Princesses is as edgily satirical as I first supposed; a shame, for sure.

It turns out that Caroline Weerstra has written a number of books designed to instruct children and teenagers in the ways of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. I can’t say how effective these books are, but judging by the free samples available here, they look good and seem helpful. It’s a pity that the section on the Trinity isn’t available as part of the sample, as I’d love to see how Weerstra elucidates a doctrine that continues to stump my now-seven-year-old, despite his attempts to wrestle with it. Perhaps instead of scoffing at gender-specific Bibles, I should save my energy and write a pamphlet entitled The Athanasian Creed for Juniors . . .