Spring 2008

Course Description

A study of the theology and methods of Reformed orthodoxy from 1561–1725. Special attention will be given to soteriology.

Course Goals

— Academic Goal:

To understand the rise, nature, and development of Reformed Orthodoxy through the study of primary sources (in English translation) from early orthodoxy through the late orthodox period and to understand that nature of the modern academic discussion concerning Reformed scholasticism.

— Pastoral Goal: To gain a sympathetically critical appreication of an important period in the Reformed tradition.

Requirements

1. Attend all classes, complete all readings and participate in class discussion (50%).

2. Essay (50%). Limit 3,500 words (approximately 10 pages). Due the last day of class. 10:00 AM.

Outline

1. Orientation to Reformed Scholasticism (historiography, biography and bibliography)
2. Beza
3. Ursinus and Olevianus
4. Perkins and Ames
5. Vermigli and Zanchi
6. Wollebius 
7. Voetius and Owen
8. Turretin
9. Van Mastricht
10. Pictet
11. Venema

Required Reading (in the order assigned):

The readings are either published or provided in a packet or linked to this website.

Zacharias Ursinus, A Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism(Phillipsburg: P&R, 1985), 82–116

Theodore Beza, The Christian Faith, trans. J. Clark (East Sussex: Focus Christian Ministries Trust, 1992) (packet)

A Complete Summary of Christianity

William Ames, The Marrow of Theology, trans. J. D. Eusden (Durham, NC: Labyrinth, 1995), 219–331.

Johannes Wollebius, Compendium of Christian Theology in J. W. Beardslee, ed. and trans., Reformed Dogmatics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965), 29–190 (packet).

Gisbertus Voetius, Select Theological Disputations in J. W. Beardslee, ed. and trans., Reformed Dogmatics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965), 262–334 (packet)

John Owen, Two Short Catechisms

Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, trans. G. M. Giger, ed. J T Dennison, 3 vols (Phillipsburg: P&R, 1992–1997, vol. 2, topics 16–17, pages 633–723.

P. Van Mastricht, A Treatise on Regeneration (Soli Deo Gloria, repr. 2002), all.

Heinrich Heppe, Reformed Dogmatics: Illustrated and Set Out From the Sources, ed. E. Bizer, trans. G. T. Thomson (Grand Rapids: Baker, repr. 1978).

Carl R. Trueman and R. S. Clark, eds, Protestant Scholasticism: Essays in Reassessment (Carlisle: Paternoster, 1999).

Richard Muller, Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics, 2nd edition, 4 vol. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002).

—Christ and the Decree: Christology and Predestination in Reformed Theology from Calvin to Perkins (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1986).

—After Calvin: Studies in the Development of a Theological Tradition, Oxford Studies in Historical Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).

William van Asselt and Eef Dekker, eds, Reformation and Scholasticism: An Ecumenical Enterprise (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001).

Carl Trueman, The Claims of Truth: John Owen’s Trinitarian Theology (Carlisle, UK: Paternoster, 1998).

—John Owen, Reformed Catholic, Renaissance Man.

Sebastian Rehnman, Divine Discourse: The Theological Methodology of John Owen (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002).

Robert D. Preus, The Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, 2 vols (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1970-72 )

W. R. Godfrey, "Tensions within International Calvinism: The Debate on the Atonement at the Synod of Dort, 1618–1619," (Ph.D. Thesis, Stanford University, 1974)

Mark E. Dever, Richard Sibbes. Puritanism and Calvinism in Late Elizabethan and Early Stuart England (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2000).

R. Scott Clark, A Brief History of Covenant Theology.”

—[with Dr. Joel Beeke], "Ursinus, Oxford and the Westminster Divines," The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century: Essays in Remembrance of the 350th Anniversary of the Publication of the Westminster Confession of Faith, 3 vols, ed. Ligon Duncan (Ross-Shire, Scotland: Mentor, 2003-), 2.1-32.

—ed. and trans., “Classic Covenant Theology”

—"Janus, the Well-Meant Offer of the Gospel and Westminster Theology," in David VanDrunen, ed., The Pattern of Sound Words: A Festschrift for Robert B. Strimple (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2004).

J. E. Platt, Reformed Thought and Protestant Scholasticism (Leiden: Brill, 1982). 

Jeffrey Mallinson, Faith, Reason, and Revelation in Theodore Beza 1519-1605 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).

Willem J. van Asselt, "The Fundamental Meaning of Theology: Archetypal and Ectypal Theology in Seventeenth-Century Reformed Thought," Westminster Theological Journal 64 (2002): 319–35.

— The Federal Theology of Johannes Cocceius 1603–1669 (Leiden: Brill, 2001).

— "The Theologian's Tool Kit: Johannes Maccovius (1588–1644) and the Development of Reformed Theological Distinctions," Westminster Theological Journal 68 (2006): 23–40.

J. Mark Beach, "The Doctrine of the Pactum Salutis in the Covenant Theology of Herman Witsius," Mid-America Journal of Theology 13 (2002): 101–142.

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Email Dr Clark: rsclark at wscal dot edu
760.480.8474
Office Hours: Wed 10:40 AM-12:40 PM

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