Reforming Hearts and Minds: Dr. Yudha Thianto’s Lifelong Passion for Teaching, John Calvin, and the Old Testament

Click here to watch Dr. Yudha Thianto’s interview on The Forum Podcast

In 2024, Dr. Yudha Thianto (Chief Academic Officer, Professor of the History of Christianity and Reformed Theology) published The Old Testament, Calvin, and the Reformed Tradition with Brill Publishers. For Thianto, this volume isn’t just another project completed in his spare time: it’s a labor of love, attention, and passion for Reformed theology that began when he was a young child, and continues to this day.

A Heart for Teaching

Born and raised in Indonesia–a Muslim-majority country–by Christian parents, Thianto has never known a day without Christ in his life. As a young child, he memorized the Apostle’s Creed and the Bible stories taught to him at church. From a young age, this upbringing in the church was combined with a deep passion for teaching. 

As a 2nd grade student, Thianto began to teach, develop curriculum, and hand out assignments. Thianto’s first student? His younger brother, who was then in kindergarten. This experience of teaching confirmed Thianto’s God-given passion and calling from a young age: he wanted to teach the Bible to as many people as possible. 

Over the course of Thianto’s education, even through university in Indonesia, his focus  remained clear: becoming a theology professor. After receiving his PhD from Calvin Seminary, Thianto spent over two decades teaching at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois. 

Both at Trinity and at Calvin Seminary, Thianto’s passion for teaching has always been on clear display. Being in the classroom, interacting with students, and aiding them in their spiritual and academic formation gives Thianto deep joy, even ‘recharging’ his battery. Outside of the seminary classroom, Thianto started Calvin Seminary’s Monthly Mini Colloquium, where he gathers faculty, staff, and students around an Indonesian meal for conversation about a faculty member’s current research. After the faculty member presents, attendees are invited to ask questions and dialogue about the topic at hand. 

A New Publication: The Old Testament, Calvin, and the Reformed Tradition

Outside of the classroom, Thianto’s love for teaching unites with his research interests and publications. As a specialist in 17th century Reformed theology, Thianto not only spends extensive time on John Calvin, but the impact of the Reformation across the globe and into the global south, especially the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Each summer, Thianto returns to Indonesia to teach, preach, and share his research with believers and unbelievers alike, attentive to the impact of Reformed theology and traditions in Christian and secular contexts alike.

Beyond traveling to Indonesia and teaching at Calvin Seminary, Thianto is an active member of the Calvin Studies Society. In 2019, he helped plan and host the Society’s meeting at Trinity Christian College, which focused on John Calvin’s use and interpretation of the Old Testament. Following the meeting, Thianto collected the papers presented during the plenary sessions, and expanded the collection by requesting additional contributions from other well-known Calvin scholars. As a result, the final volume (The Old Testament, Calvin, and the Reformed Tradition) features papers from Sujin Pak, Scott Manetsch, J. Todd Billings, Marilynne Robinson, and many others. Thianto even included a paper on “Singing and Listening to Sermons on the Ten Commandments in Seventeenth-Century Dutch East Indies”, once again connecting his scholarship back to his Indonesian roots and heritage.

A Mind for the Global Church

Thianto has seen the field of Reformed scholarship continue to grow across the globe, and anticipates new perspectives and angles on Calvin’s work sourced from new contexts and countries. 

In addition, Thianto hopes this recent volume will propel scholars and pastors alike to continue to study and preach the Old Testament. Christians tend to love and favor the New Testament so much that they neglect the Old Testament unintentionally. The volume is filled with examples of John Calvin’s use of Jeremiah in pastoral training, and his study of the Psalms as the “anatomy of the whole soul”. By reading this volume, Thianto and his contributors hope readers will glean a deeper understanding of the Old Testament through the lens of John Calvin, walking away with a reignited passion for its implications in the Christian life, both then and now.

A Glimpse into the Future

Now several decades into his teaching career, Thianto’s passion for teaching hasn’t dimmed, and neither has his passion for research. At this time, he’s working on a book about the singing of metrical psalms in the Dutch East Indies. But in the meantime, he’ll continue to bring his renowned energy, passion, care, and abiding love for Christ into classrooms at Calvin Seminary and around the world.

To purchase your copy of The Old Testament, Calvin, and the Reformed Tradition, visit Brill or Amazon.