Christ and the Decree

by Muller, Richard A.

• ISBN13: 9780801036101
• ISBN10: 0801036100
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-09-01
• Publisher: Baker Academic

Summary

In Christ and the Decree, one of the foremost scholars of Calvinism today expounds the doctrines of Christ and predestination as they were developed by Calvin, Bullinger, Musculus, Vermigli, Beza, Ursinus, Zanchi, Polanus, and Perkins. Muller analyzes the relationship of these two doctrines to each other and to the soteriological structure of the system.Back by demand, this seminal work on the relationship between Calvin and the Calvinists is once again available with a new contextualizing preface by the author. It offers a succinct introduction to the early development of Calvinism/Reformation thought.

Author Biography

Richard A. Muller (PhD, Duke University) is P. J. Zondervan Professor of Historical Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the author of numerous books, including The Unaccommodated Calvin, After Calvin, and Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics. He also serves as the editor for the Texts and Studies in Reformation and Post-Reformation Thought series.

Table of Contents

Preface to the 2008 Printing	p. ix
Preface to the 1988 Printing	p. xii
Preface to the 1986 Printing	p. xiii
Abbreviations	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 1
Protestant Orthodoxy: Survey of Opinion	p. 1
Theological and Methodological Considerations	p. 10
Reformed Theology in Its First Codification: The Systems of Calvin, Bullinger, Musculus and Vermigli
Predestination and Christology in the Thought of Calvin	p. 17
Fundamental Distinctions in Calvin's Theology	p. 17
Calvin's Doctrine of Predestination	p. 22
Patterns in Calvin's Christology	p. 27
Christ and Election-The Interrelationship of Two Focal Points in Calvin's Theology	p. 35
The Systems of Calvin's Contemporaries	p. 39
Predestination and Christology in the Thought of Heinrich Bullinger	p. 39
Musculus' Loci Communes	p. 47
Vermigli's Loci Communes	p. 57
Epilogue: Christ and the Decree in the First Codification of Reformed Theology	p. 67
The Formulation of Orthodox System: Reformed Theology in Its Second Codification
The Movement Toward Orthodoxy
Predestination and Christology in the Thought of Theodore Beza	p. 79
The Tabula Praedestinationis (1555)	p. 79
Beza's Contribution to the Systematic Structure of Reformed Theology	p. 83
Reformed Theology in Heidelberg: Zacharias Ursinus and Jerome Zanchi	p. 97
Ursinus on Christ and the Decree	p. 97
Christology and Predestination in the Theology of Zanchi	p. 110
Epilogue: The Movement Toward Orthodoxy	p. 121
The Early Orthodoxy Codification
Calvinism at the Close of the Sixteenth Century: Polanus and Perkins	p. 129
Predestination in the Doctrinal Structure of Early Orthodoxy	p. 129
The Development of Christological Structures in Early Reformed Orthodoxy	p. 133
Predestination and Its Christological Referent in the Theology of Polanus and Perkins	p. 149
Epilogue: The Early Orthodox Codification	p. 171
Christ and the Decree in the Development of Early Orthodoxy: Retrospect and Prospect	p. 175
Notes	p. 183
Select Bibliography	p. 227
Index of Authors	p. 237
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