of the Christian Religion, begins with an entire volume on the knowledge of God. But Calvin’s very first point is that a true knowledge of oneself is inextricably related to a right understanding of God. So in the opening paragraph of that massive work, he makes a pointed reference to human depravity: “From the feeling of our own ignorance, vanity, poverty, infirmity, and—what is more—depravity and corruption, we recognize that the true light of wisdom, sound virtue, full abundance of every good,