OR, A REFUTATION OF THE ERROR ENTERTAINED BY SOME UNSKILFUL PERONS, WHO IGNORANTLY IMAGINE THAT IN THE INTERVAL BETWEEN DEATH AND THE JUDGMENT THE SOUL SLEEPS.TOGETHER WITH AN EXPLANATION OF THE CONDITION AND LIFE OF THE SOUL AFTER THIS PRESENT LIFE.
by John Calvin
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In this early yet masterful work, Psychopannychia, John Calvin rises with Scriptural clarity and pastoral courage to defend a precious truth often neglected: the conscious life of the soul after death. Written in 1534 when Calvin was just twenty-five years old, this treatise is far more than a polemic against a growing heresy—it is a rich theological meditation on the soul’s immortality, the believer’s hope, and the certainty of resurrection in Christ.
The doctrine Calvin refutes—commonly called “soul sleep”—suggests that the soul enters a state of unconscious rest between death and the final judgment. Calvin exposes this error as both unbiblical and pastorally destructive, tracing its roots through history and confronting its resurgence among the more radical sects of his day. Yet he does not merely argue—he teaches. With careful attention to the Word of God, he expounds passage after passage, showing that the soul, though separated from the body, lives unto God in full awareness, comfort, and joy if united to Christ.
This is theology forged in the fire of Reformation—a call to anchor our hope not in man’s speculations, but in God’s promises. Calvin’s pastoral heart shines through: he does not aim to provoke, but to comfort the believer, arming the soul against fear and falsehood. He urges us to hear the voice of Christ Himself, who said, "He who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live" (John 11:25).
If you’ve ever wrestled with questions about death, the intermediate state, or the nature of eternal life, Psychopannychia offers not only answers but assurance. It reminds the Church that we rest not in the sleep of uncertainty, but in the sure embrace of our risen Lord—who is both the Resurrection and the Life.