So I bought The Institutes...

After several attempts of reading online, reading on the Kindle, and continual failures to press on to the finish, I finally bought the (massive) Institutes of The Christian Religion in hardback.  I found a hardback, unedited version at WalMart (online) for only $20.  They ship to the store for free- so I picked it up this evening on the way to work.  I used a gift card I got for Christmas, so, it was "free" too!  I think having a physical book to mark up/take notes in/mark my place in will help me in reading this through.


It IS massive.  This version is 1000 pages.  But I've always wanted to read the original sources.  Much of what I was taught in college was very Arminian/free will.  I did have a couple of professors who were open to Reformed theology but one Old Testament prof didn't even believe in God's foreknowledge.  Instead of pushing me away from reformed theology, these guys pushed me toward it!  The logical outworking of a God who was not sovereign and who really didn't know what was going to happen was terrifying.

So here I am years later- finally with a hardcover copy and ready to dig in.  I'm not including this book in my 52 books in 52 weeks list.  There's no way I will be able to finish this in a week.  But I think if I take bite-size chunks (say 40-50 pages a week) it may be do-able.  If I fail, I fail..but I want to give this one more try in 2014.





What books have you attempted to read and (for whatever reason) never finished?  If you don't mind sharing, was there a specific reason you stopped?