This is volume 1 of a 3 volume set, covering Matthew, Mark, Luke, and apparently also James and Jude. It appears that amazon.com doesn't have the other two volumes, so unless you are interested only in the first part of the Gospels, you may find this volume a problem. Fortunately, amazon.co.uk carries all three volumes. Look for author first word = Calvin, title word = Harmony It won't be immediately obvious that the first volume is the same as this book, because the set is jointly published by Eerdmans and Paternoster. This is volume 1 from Eerdmans; amazon UK has all three volumes from Paternoster.

This book has 4 sections:

1. Overview of theories of the will: intellectualist vs. voluntarist. 2. Critique of Calvin's view of the pre-Fall will. 3. Critique of Calvin's view of the post-Fall will. 4. Hoitenga's remedy to the problems in Calvin's thought.

Hoitenga's exposition and critique is fundamentally flawed in two ways:

First, it is very tedious reading. If you are an insomniac, this will do the trick.

Second, it betrays an almost complete unfamiliarity with more developed and nuanced expressions of Reformed theology. For example, Hoitenga critiques Calvin as if Calvin were a Scholastic philosopher making subtle distinctions. But Calvin was more of a churchman, a polemicist, an agenda setter, not a professional philosopher.

Because Hoitenga does not interact with Jonathan Edwards (this is a huge lacuna in the work), John Murray, Gordon Clark, or any other of a myriad of Reformed theologian/philosophers, he is left criticizing a nascent form of Reformed theology -- that of John Calvin.

Hoitenga also fails to realize that Reformed anthropology is not autonomous, it is dependent upon theology proper. It is driven by the desire to glorify God.

This book will be of interest to you only if you are a major Calvin buff or if you are interested in Reformed Epistemology (Hoitenga includes an appendix with the implications of his view on Reformed Epistemology).

Otherwise, this is a waste of time.