The Life and Writings of
Adolphe Monod
His Life
Adolphe
Monod (1802-1856) was from a Swiss family prominent in the French Reformed
Church. Though he was the son and grandson of protestant ministers, he
struggled for many years before coming to a personal faith in Jesus Christ.
After entering the ministry, he joined the pastoral staff of the Reformed
Church in
Those facts, however, fail to capture the spirit
of the man. His was a strong and passionate faith, in part because of his early
spiritual struggles. He was also a man of deep integrity, a keen mind, and a caring,
pastoral heart. All of these qualities were augmented and set off by his
natural gift for speaking—a gift supplied by God for the work to which he had
called his servant. Yet even as his renown grew, Adolphe Monod remained a truly
humble man. A week before his death he said, "I have a Savior! He has
freely saved me through his shed blood, and I want it to be known that I lean
uniquely on that poured out blood. All my righteous acts, all my works which
have been praised, all my preaching that has been appreciated and sought
after—all that is in my eyes only filthy rags."
A more complete biographical
sketch is available. En français.
Editing and Translation
Many of Monod's published works have been reprinted
over the years and translated from the original French into a variety of
languages. In recent years, Dr. Walker
has translated and edited a number of his works. The goal has been to produce
editions that flow more naturally than earlier translations for modern readers
and, in some cases, are also more accurate.
These works are listed below, along with their publisher and date.
Further information on each work, including reviewers' comments, can be found
by clicking on the book's title or cover image.
Living in the Hope of Glory is a new edition of
Adolphe Monod's most famous work, his Farewells
or Les Adieux. This Christian classic is a series of
informal meditations given to friends and family at communion services in his
home as he was dying of cancer. They are
full of life, peace, faith, and joy. This work was published by P&R
Publishing in 2002. The same editing was applied to the original French text of
Les Adieux
in collaboration with William Edgar at Westminster Theological Seminary. This new French edition was published jointly
by Éditions Excelsis and Éditions Kerygma in 2006, the book's sesquicentennial.
An Undivided Love is a collection of seven of
Adolphe Monod's best sermons. They have
been slightly shortened by removing redundancies and assembled in three
sections relating to different stages in our Christian walk of faith. This book was published by Solid Ground
Christian Books in 2009.
Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness is a monograph
giving practical advice on dealing with temptation based on Jesus' example when
tempted by Satan. Monod's insights from the Scriptures are reinforced by years
of personal and pastoral experience.
First addressed to seminary students, they were later adapted for the
congregation of the large Reformed Church of Paris. This work was published by Solid Ground
Christian Books in 2010
Woman: Her Mission and Her Life is a monograph dealing
with an issue almost as important in Monod's day as it is today: God's design
for women. Though some of Monod's ideas may sound dated, they are firmly
grounded in Scripture and have helped many of us find peace, contentment, and
true fulfillment in our lives. This work has been supplemented by a section
giving examples of the book’s message from the lives of four women in Monod's
family. Solid Ground Christian Books
released this book in June 2011.
Saint Paul, the current project, is Monod's series of
sermons on the great apostle. The author's goal was to stimulate young
Christians to develop a more Pauline faith in order to bring renewed vitality to
the church at large, along with genuine, beneficial change to society. Starting
from the prodigious work Paul accomplished, Monod goes on to consider the kind
of faith that produced that work, the character of the conversion that produced
Paul's faith, and then the inherent strengths and, especially, weaknesses with
which God endowed Paul in preparing him for his ministry. The final discourse
calls on us to follow Paul’s example in the way we, in turn, carry out the work
assigned to us. This volume is expected
to be published by Solid Ground Christian Books in 2012.
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