Beyond Calvin
Union with Christ and Justification in Early Modern Reformed Theology (1517-1700)
by John V. Fesko
The investigation of union with Christ and justification has been dominated by the figure of John Calvin. Calvin’s influence, however, has been exaggerated in our own day. Theologians within the Early Modern Reformed tradition contributed to the development of these doctrines and did not view Calvin as the normative theologian of the tradition. John V. Fesko, therefore, goes beyond Calvin and explores union with Christ and justification in the Reformation, Early Orthodox, and High Orthodox periods of the Reformed tradition and covers lesser known but equally important figures such as Juan de Valdes, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Girolamo Zanchi, William Perkins, John Owen, Francis Turretin, and Herman Witsius. The study also covers theologians that either lie outside or transgress the Reformed tradition, such as Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Faustus Socinus, Jacob Arminius, and Richard Baxter. By treating this diverse body of figures the study reveals areas of agreement and diversity on these two doctrines. The author demonstrates that among the diverse formulations, all surveyed Reformed theologians accord justification priority over sanctification within the broader rubric of union with Christ. Fesko shows that Reformed theologians affirm both union with Christ and the golden chain of salvation, ideas that moderns find incompatible. In sum, rather than reading an individual theologian isolated from his context, this study provides a contextual reading of union with Christ and justification in the Early Modern Reformed context.
- By (author) John V Fesko
Other Titles in this Series
Reprobation: from Augustine to the Synod of Dort
The Historical Development of the Reformed Doctrine of Reprobation
Volume 63
Reformed Evangelicalism and the Search for a Usable Past
The Historiography of Arnold Dallimore, Pastor-Historian
Volume 61
Calvinus sacrarum literarum interpres
Papers of the International Congress on Calvin Research
Volume 5
Christ and the Old Covenant
Francis Turretin (1623-1687) on Christ's Suretyship under the Old Testament
Volume 51
Calvinus Pastor Ecclesiae
Papers of the Eleventh International Congress on Calvin Research
Volume 39
Reformed Covenantal Eudaimonism
Wilhelmus à Brakel (1635–1711) on Highest Good, Virtue, and Law
Volume 87
Learning to Pray
The Heidelberg Catechism's Teaching on Prayer in its Sixteenth-Century Context
Volume 82
Histories that Mansoul and Her Wars Anatomize
The Drama of Redemption in John Bunyan's Holy War
Volume 15
Reforming Good Works in Geneva
Bénédict Pictet’s Doctrine of Good Works and His Place in Late Reformed Orthodoxy
Volume 85
Johannes Cocceius and the Exegetical Roots of Federal Theology
Reformation Developments in the Interpretation of Hebrews 7-10
Volume 7
A Knot Worth Unloosing
The Interpretation of the New Heavens and Earth in Seventeenth-Century England
Volume 53
The Jews in English Baptist Eschatology
Conversion, Restoration, and National Identity, 1649-1815
Volume 84
John Edwards (1637-1716) on Human Free Choice and Divine Necessity
The Debate on the Relation between Divine Necessity and Human Freedom in Late Seventeenth-Century and Early Eighteenth-Century England
Volume 22
Union with God
An Assessment of Deification (Theosis) in the Theologies of Robert Jenson and John Calvin
Volume 69
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