Beyond Calvin: Essays on the Diversity of the Reformed Tradition
Proceedings of the 4th Annual Convivium Irenicum
Edited by W. Bradford Littlejohn and Jonathan Tomes
The Reformed tradition today often carries a reputation for narrowness and dogmatism, rather than breadth and diversity. But it was not always so. In the early modern era, the Reformed family of churches boasted not merely a host of theological luminaries of the highest rank, but a remarkable diversity of viewpoints on church polity, ethics, sacraments, and even matters like atonement theology. At their best, they charitably debated these differences within a shared confessional framework, offering examples for Protestants today of how to pursue the maxim, “in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.” The essays in this volume offer an introduction to the theological rigor and surprising breadth of the early Reformed tradition.
The Editors
In [today’s] context, we need to draw upon our history. We should not do this in an uncritical manner—the past is the past and has no intrinsic authority over the present. But the past is the church’s past and something from which we need to draw help for the present in an appreciative, thoughtful and critical manner. These papers individually, and this collection as a whole, exemplify how this can be done.
Read, learn and go and do likewise.
—Carl R. Trueman (Paul Woolley Professor of Church History, Westminster Theological Seminary), from the Foreword
Table of Contents
| Foreword Carl Trueman |
vii | |
| Introduction W. Bradford Littlejohn |
ix | |
| 1 | “That No One Should Live for Himself, But for Others”: Love and the Third Mark of the Church in the Theology of Martin Bucer Jake Meador |
1 |
| 2 | Written Monuments: Beza’s Icones as a Testament to and Program for Reformed Humanism E.J. Hutchinson |
21 |
| 3 | A Reformed Irenic Christology: Richard Hooker’s Account of Christ’s “Personal Presence Everywhere” in 16th-century Context W. Bradford Littlejohn |
63 |
| 4 | George Carleton’s Reformed Doctrine of Episcopal Authority at the Synod of Dordt Andre Gazal |
107 |
| 5 | Confessional Orthodoxy and Hypothetical Universalism: Another Look at the Westminster Confession of Faith Michael Lynch |
127 |
| 6 | Pagan Civil Virtue in the Thought of Francis Turretin Stephen Wolfe |
149 |
About
The Convivium Irenicum is an annual gathering of scholars, students, and pastors to exchange ideas, deepen friendships, and explore and apply the Reformed faith today.
The Davenant Institute supports the renewal of Christian wisdom for the contemporary church. It seeks to sponsor historical scholarship at the intersection of the church and academy, build networks of friendship and collaboration within the Reformed and evangelical world, and equip the saints with time-tested resources for faithful public witness.
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