I decided to read through Calvin’s Institutes a couple years ago.  I’m 300 pages into it now, and loving every minute. It’s the sort of book you want to sip at rather than gulp down, or you’ll miss all the nuances of his arguments.

What most people know about Calvin is his emphasis on the Creator’s initiative—we’re wholly unable to do anything to save ourselves from the state we’re in without divine intervention.  This next quote caught my attention because it starts by suggesting the opposite, only to apply God’s oversight to the whole process in the end.

The first part of a good work is will; the other, a strong effort to accomplish it; the author of both is God. Therefore we are robbing the Lord if we claim for ourselves anything either in will or in accomplishment. (Calvin,
Institutes of the Christian Religion II.iii.9, trans. Battles)