This book explores the relationship between Calvin's thought about civil and ecclesiastical order and his own circumstances and activities.

1. The training of a lawgiver; 2. The Institution: the first version; 3. The first public ministry; 4. Reconstruction; 5. The Institution of 1543; 6. Geneva and Calvin, 1541-64; 7. The civil order of a Christian commonwealth; 8. Political morality in the thought of Calvin; 9. The laws and mores of a Christian commonwealth; 10. Unfinished business: a speculative summary and PostScript.