This work supplies a long-standing need in the field of early modern studies by providing a basic introduction to Reformed Scholasticism. Although technical studies abound and interest in the subject continues to rise, until the appearance of this work by Willem van Asselt and his colleagues, students of history have lacked a concise guide to help them navigate the difficult waters of Reformed Scholasticism. This book carefully defines the phenomena of scholasticism and orthodoxy, concisely surveys the era, notes the most significant thinkers together with the various trajectories of thought, and references the relevant secondary scholarship. In short, this Introduction to Reformed Scholasticism surveys the topic and provides a guide for further study in early modern Reformed thought. Table of Contents: Introduction: What Is Reformed Scholasticism? – Willem J. van Asselt and Pieter L. Rouwendal The State of Scholarship: From Discontinuity to Continuity – Willem J. van Asselt and Pieter L. Rouwendal ‘As the Philosopher Says’: Aristotle – T. Theo J. Pleizier and Maarten Wisse The Teacher of the Ancient Church: Augustine – Maarten Wisse The Method of the Schools: Medieval Scholasticism – Pieter L. Rouwendal ‘Open Hand and Fist’: Humanism and Scholasticisim in the Reformation – Willem J. Van Asselt Distinguishing and Teaching: Constructing a Theological Argument in Reformed Scholasticism – Willem J. van Asselt and Pieter L. Rouwendal Scholasticism in the Time of Early Orthodoxy (ca. 1560-1620) – Willem J. van Asselt Scholasticism in the Time of High Orthodoxy (ca. 1620-1700) – Willem J. van Asselt Scholasticism in the Time of Late Orthodoxy (ca. 1700-1790) ‘The Abutment against Which the Bridge of All later Protestant

This Introduction to Reformed Scholasticism surveys the topic and provides a guide for further study in early modern Reformed thought. --from publisher description

Ryan McGraw presents an introduction of historic Reformed orthodoxy (1560–1790) and its research methodology. This book establishes the tools needed to study Reformed scholasticism and its potential benefits to the church today by describing the nature of Reformed scholasticism and outlining the research methodology, the nature and the character of this branch of theology, and providing a retrospective view on the contemporary appropriations. McGraw discusses the proper use of primary and secondary sources and offers instructions on how to write historical theology. Each chapter draws extensive examples from primary source evidence, published books and articles in this field; as well as engaging with a wide range of ancient and medieval sources. This volume is an excellent guide for students as it teaches them how to identify primary and secondary sources, suggests good links and tips for learning Latin; and provides an overview of the most important figures in the period.

This book explores in unprecedented detail the theological thinking of John Witherspoon during his often overlooked ministerial career in Scotland. In contrast to the arguments made by other historians, it shows that there was considerable continuity of thought between Witherspoon’s Scottish ministry and the second half of his career as one of America’s Founding Fathers. The book argues that Witherspoon cannot be properly understood until he is seen as not only engaged with the Enlightenment, but also firmly grounded in the Calvinist tradition of High to Late Orthodoxy, embedded in the transatlantic Evangelical Awakening of the eighteenth century, and frustrated by the state of religion in the Scottish Kirk. Alongside the titles of pastor, president, educator, philosopher, should be a new category: John Witherspoon as Reformed apologist. This is a fresh re-examination of the intellectual formation of one of Scotland’s most important churchman from the eighteenth century and one of America’s most influential early figures. The volume will be of keen interest to academics working in Religious History, American Religion, Reformed Theology and Calvinism, as well as Scottish and American history more generally.

Amandus Polanus (1561–1610) has often been described as a highly significant theologian, but also a neglected one. Part of Polanus' significance comes from his inclusion of ethics and practical application in his discussion of theology and the way in which his theology mixes Ramist dichotomies and the scholastic distinctions common in Christian Aristotelianism. Stephen B. Tipton shows how Polanus' understanding of God's essence and attributes is built upon the ground of scripture, arranged with the aid of logical arguments and reasoning, and aimed at the worship and glory of the Triune God. Tipton defends this conclusion against previous research which suggests that Polanus' theology is grounded in rationalism and subordinates the Trinity beneath an Aristotelian notion of God's perfect unity. This research not only corrects these previous notions about Polanus, but it also provides greater insight into the early Reformed Orthodox period and the theology that arose from that time.

A holistic, eye-opening history of one of the most significant turning points in Christianity, The Reformation as Renewal demonstrates that the Reformation was at its core a renewal of evangelical catholicity. In the sixteenth century Rome charged the Reformers with novelty, as if they were heretics departing from the catholic (universal) church. But the Reformers believed they were more catholic than Rome. Distinguishing themselves from Radicals, the Reformers were convinced they were retrieving the faith of the church fathers and the best of the medieval Scholastics. The Reformers saw themselves as faithful stewards of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church preserved across history, and they insisted on a restoration of true worship in their own day. By listening to the Reformers' own voices, The Reformation as Renewal helps readers explore: The Reformation's roots in patristic and medieval thought and its response to late medieval innovations. Key philosophical and theological differences between Scholasticism in the High Middle Ages and deviations in the Late Middle Ages. The many ways sixteenth and seventeenth century Protestant Scholastics critically appropriated Thomas Aquinas. The Reformation's response to the charge of novelty by an appeal to the Augustinian tradition. Common caricatures that charge the Reformation with schism or assume the Reformation was the gateway to secularism. The spread of Reformation catholicity across Europe, as seen in first and second-generation leaders from Luther and Melanchthon in Wittenberg to Zwingli and Bullinger in Zurich to Bucer and Calvin in Strasbourg and Geneva to Tyndale, Cranmer, and Jewel in England, and many others. The theology of the Reformers, with special attention on their writings defending the catholicity of the Reformation. This balanced, insightful, and accessible treatment of the Reformation will help readers see this watershed moment in the history of Christianity with fresh eyes and appreciate the unity they have with the church across time. Readers will discover that the Reformation was not a new invention, but the renewal of something very old.

Stefan Lindholm examines the Christology of Jerome Zanchi (1516–90), a leading 16th century reformed scholastic theologian. The study as a whole is bound together by doctrinal topics, themes and trajectories important to the 16th century, Christological debates as well as by philosophical issues and arguments. The first part is concerned with research in reformed scholasticism and Christological method, the second part with the hypostatic union and the third part with the consequences of the union.

This book revisits four early-modern debates of Reformed theology concerning the will of God. Reformed scholasticism advocated a particular relationship between divine knowledge, will, and power, which was altered by Jesuits, Remonstrants, Descartes, and Spinoza. In all these debates modal categories like contingency and necessity play a prominent part. Therefore, these positions are evaluated with the help of modern modal logic including possible world semantics. The final part of this study presents a systematic defense of the Reformed position, which has been charged of theological determinism and of making God the author of sin. In modern terms, therefore, the relation of divine and human freedom and the problem of evil are discussed.

Could God have saved fallen humanity in some other way than by Christ’s satisfaction? This study explores this hotly contested question among the seventeenth-century Reformed orthodox discussions by an analysis of the representative Reformed theologians, William Twisse and John Owen.

Philip J. Fisk offers a critical reappraisal of Jonathan Edwards's Freedom of Will, interpreting Edwards from within his own tradition, Reformed Orthodoxy (±1550-1750), avoiding the outdated paradigms of the conventional interpretation of Edwards and his tradition, a so-called deterministic, reconciliationist Calvinism, and demonstrating from primary sources, such as Harvard and Yale commencement theses and quaestiones, that Edwards departed ways with Reformed Orthodoxy's robust and highly nuanced view of freedom of will, contingency, and necessity.