Predestination, Policy and Polemic

Predestination, Policy and Polemic PDF

Author: Peter White

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2002-04-18

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9780521892506

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This is a major study of the theology of grace in the English Church between the Reformation and the Civil War. On the basis of a wide reading of both English and continental writings, the author challenges the prevailing view that there was essentially a 'Calvinist' consensus in the Elizabethan and Jacobean Church, and stresses instead an indigenous latitudinarianism of doctrine against which a concerted campaign was conducted in the last decade of the sixteenth century in the controversies which led to the Lambeth Articles. Mr White reviews the impact Arminian ideas had in England, firstly through a detailed exposition of the theology of Arminius, and subsequently by means of a review of the links between the English and Dutch churches as the quarrel between the Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants reached its climax in the Synod of Dort. Other chapters discuss the place of Hooker in English theology, the impact of Richard Montagu, the ideas of Thomas Jackson, the writings of Neile and Laud on predestination, and the regulation of doctrine in the period of Personal Rule. At all stages the theological debate is related to its political - and often polemical - context, not least in a carefully documented reassessment of the role of the court both in the last years of James' reign and in the early years of the rule of Charles I.

Predestination

Predestination PDF

Author: Peter J. Thuesen

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2009-07-06

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 019988398X

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Winner of the Christianity Today 2010 Book Award for History/Biography, and praised in Christian Century as "witty...erudite...masterful," this groundbreaking history, the first of its kind, shows that far from being only about the age-old riddle of divine sovereignty versus human free will, the debate over predestination is inseparable from other central Christian beliefs and practices--the efficacy of the sacraments, the existence of purgatory and hell, the extent of God's providential involvement in human affairs--and has fueled theological conflicts across denominations for centuries. Peter Thuesen reexamines not only familiar predestinarians such as the New England Puritans and many later Baptists and Presbyterians, but also non-Calvinists such as Catholics and Lutherans, and shows how even contemporary megachurches preach a "purpose-driven" outlook that owes much to the doctrine of predestination. For anyone wanting a fuller understanding of religion in America, Predestination offers both historical context on a doctrine that reaches back 1,600 years and a fresh perspective on today's denominational landscape.

Teaching Predestination

Teaching Predestination PDF

Author: David H. Kranendonk

Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books

Published: 2011-01-01

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 160178323X

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In Teaching Predestination , David H. Kranendonk focuses on the ministry of an early seventeenth-century Puritan-leaning theologian, Elnathan Parr (1577–1622). Although relatively unknown today, Parr’s works were popular in his own day. Kranendonk’s survey contributes a nuanced picture of this English Reformed pastor and demonstrates that Parr’s scholastic development of predestination, coupled with his pastoral concern for the salvation and edification of his hearers, resists the caricature of Reformed Scholasticism as being a philosophically speculative system. Here one sees the practical use of predestination for the care of souls as Parr and others aimed to help increase the faith and joy of God’s people. Table of Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Elnathan Parr’s Life and Ministry 3. Elnathan Parr’s Principles of Preaching 4. Elnathan Parr’s Exposition of Romans 5. Elnathan Parr’s Grounds of Divinity

Predestination in Early Modern Reformed Theology

Predestination in Early Modern Reformed Theology PDF

Author: Richard A. Muller

Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books

Published: 2024-04-24

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13:

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In the newest Reformed Historical-Theological Study, Dr. Richard A. Muller delves into one of the most controversial doctrines of Reformed Theology: predestination. Muller carefully investigates key incidents that illustrate the doctrine’s complexity and development by surveying Reformed thought on predestination in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Along the way, Muller challenges distorted ideas about the placement of predestination in theological systems, naïve readings of Calvin based solely on his Institutes, simplistic representations of supra- and infralapsarian debates, and uncharitable views of Reformed theologians as hyper-dogmatists obsessed with their own tradition.

The Literature of the Arminian Controversy

The Literature of the Arminian Controversy PDF

Author: Freya Sierhuis

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2015-12-03

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 0191066648

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The Literature of the Arminian Controversy highlights the importance of the Arminian Controversy (1609-1619) for the understanding of the literary and intellectual culture of the Dutch Golden Age. Taking into account a wide array of sources, ranging from theological and juridical treatises, to pamphlets, plays and and libel poetry, it offers not only a deeper contextualisation of some of the most canonical works of the period, such as the works of Dirck Volckertz. Coornhert, Hugo Grotius and Joost van den Vondel, but also invites the reader to rethink the way we view the relation between literature and theology in early modern culture. The book argues how the controversy over divine predestination acted as a catalyst for literary and cultural change, tracing the impact of disputed ideas on grace and will, religious toleration and the rights of the civil magistrate in satirical literature, poetry and plays. Conversely, it reads the theological and political works as literature, by examining the rhetoric and tropes of religious controversy. Analysing the way in which literature shapes the political and religious imaginary, it allows us to look beyond the history of doctrine, or the history of political rights, to include the emotive and imaginative power of such narrative, myth and metaphor.

Edwin Sandys and the Reform of English Religion

Edwin Sandys and the Reform of English Religion PDF

Author: Sarah L. Bastow

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-08-23

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1000650952

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This book examines the complexities of reformed religion in early-modern England, through an examination of the experiences of Edwin Sandys, a prominent member of the Elizabethan Church hierarchy. Sandys was an ardent evangelical in the Edwardian era forced into exile under Mary I, but on his return to England he became a leader of the Elizabethan Church. He was Bishop of Worcester and London and finally Archbishop of York. His transformation from Edwardian radical to a defender of the Elizabethan status quo illustrated the changing role of the Protestant hierarchy. His fight against Catholicism dominated much of his actions, but his irascible personality also saw him embroiled in numerous conflicts and left him needing to defend his own status.

Wesley, Whitefield and the 'Free Grace' Controversy

Wesley, Whitefield and the 'Free Grace' Controversy PDF

Author: Joel Houston

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-11-06

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 042984817X

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When approaching the most public disagreement over predestination in the eighteenth century, the ‘Free Grace’ controversy between John Wesley and George Whitefield, the tendency can be to simply review the event as a row over the same old issues. This assumption pervades much of the scholarly literature that deals with early Methodism. Moreover, much of that same literature addresses the dispute from John Wesley’s vantage point, often harbouring a bias towards his Evangelical Arminianism. Yet the question must be asked: was there more to the ‘Free Grace’ controversy than a simple rehashing of old arguments? This book answers this complex question by setting out the definitive account of the ‘Free Grace’ controversy in first decade of the Evangelical Revival (1739-49). Centred around the key players in the fracas, John Wesley and George Whitefield, it is a close analysis of the way in which the doctrine of predestination was instrumental in differentiating the early Methodist societies from one another. It recounts the controversy through the lens of doctrinal analysis and from two distinct perspectives: the propositional content of a given doctrine and how that doctrine exerts formative pressure upon the assenting individual(s). What emerges from this study is a clearer picture of the formative years of early Methodism and the vital role that doctrinal pronouncement played in giving a shape to early Methodist identity. It will, therefore, be of great interest to scholars of Methodism, Evangelicalism, Theology and Church History.

Debating Perseverance

Debating Perseverance PDF

Author: Jay T. Collier

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-12-01

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0190858540

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The Church of England during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries is usually described as forming either a Calvinist consensus or an Anglican middle way steeped in an ancient catholicity. Debating Perseverance sheds light on the influence of both the early church and the Reformed churches on the church by surveying debates on perseverance of the saints in which readings of Augustine were involved. It begins with a reassessment of the Lambeth Articles (1595) and the heated Cambridge debates in which they were forged, demonstrating that perseverance played a critical role. It then investigates the failed attempt of the British delegation to the Synod of Dort to achieve solidarity with the international Reformed community on perseverance in a way that was also respectful of minority opinions. The study returns to English soil to evaluate the supposedly Arminian Richard Montagu and the turmoil he caused by challenging the Reformed consensus and the Synod of Dort. It finishes by surveying a Puritan debate that occurred following England's civil war, when the pro-Dort party had triumphed. Jay T. Collier's study uncovers competing readings of Augustine on perseverance within the Reformed tradition-one favoring the perseverance of the saints and the other denying it. Rather than emphasizing one source of England's religious identity to the neglect of another, this study recognizes England's struggles with perseverance as emblematic of its troubled pursuit of a Reformed and ancient catholicity.

The Mother's Legacy in Early Modern England

The Mother's Legacy in Early Modern England PDF

Author: Jennifer Heller

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-03-03

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 1317023641

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Using printed and manuscript texts composed between 1575 and 1672, Jennifer Heller defines the genre of the mother's legacy as a distinct branch of the advice tradition in early modern England that takes the form of a dying mother's pious counsel to her children. Reading these texts in light of specific cultural contexts, social trends, and historical events, Heller explores how legacy writers used the genre to secure personal and family status, to shape their children's beliefs and behaviors, and to intervene in the period's tumultuous religious and political debates. The author's attention to the fine details of the period's religious and political swings, drawn from sources such as royal proclamations, sermons, and first-hand accounts of book-burnings, creates a fuller context for her analysis of the legacies. Similarly, Heller explains the appeal of the genre by connecting it to social factors including mortality rates and inheritance practices. Analyses of related genres, such as conduct books and fathers' legacies, highlight the unique features and functions of mothers' legacies. Heller also attends to the personal side of the genre, demonstrating that a writer's education, marriages, children, and turns of fortune affect her work within the genre.