The Covenant of Redemption
Origins, Development, and Reception
by John Fesko
Hardback (Published)
(December 2015)
ISBN: 9783525550984
Price: $127.00
On back order
The covenant of redemption (pactum salutis), the eternal intra-trinitarian covenant, was a common staple within Early Modern Reformed theology, yet there are very few historical works that examine this doctrine. This volume seeks to address this lacuna.
The covenant of redemption (pactum salutis), the eternal intra-trinitarian covenant, was a common staple within Early Modern Reformed theology, yet there are very few historical works that examine this doctrine. J. V. Fesko’s study, The Covenant of Redemption: Origins, Development, and Reception, seeks to address this lacuna.In the contemporary period the covenant of redemption has been derided as speculative, mythological, a declension from trinitarianism, or erroneously derived from one or two biblical proof-texts. Yet seldom have critics carefully engaged the primary sources to examine the different formulations, supporting exegesis, and ways in which the doctrine was employed.Far from speculation, sub-trinitarian, or a cold business transaction, proponents of the covenant of redemption constructed this doctrine based upon a web of interconnected biblical texts and were very sensitive to maintaining a robust doctrine of the trinity, as they employed this doctrine as a bulwark against the anti-trinitarian claims of Socinian theologians. Proponents of the doctrine also saw this pre-temporal covenant as the embodiment of intra-trinitarian love that overflows unto those chosen in Christ for their salvation and ultimate fellowship with the triune God.John V. Fesko explores the historical origins of the doctrine and then surveys its development in the seventeenth- through nineteenth-centuries, examining key advocates of the doctrine including, David Dickson, Herman Witsius, Johannes Cocceius, Francis Turretin, Patrick Gillespie, John Gill, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Hodge, and A. A. Hodge. He then examines the contemporary reception of the doctrine in the twentieth century with a survey of the doctrine’s critics, including Karl Barth, Herman Hoeksema, Klaas Schilder, and John Murray. After exploring the claims of the critics, the study moves to examine the views of twentieth-century proponents, including Geerhardus Vos, Herman Bavinck, Abraham Kuyper, Louis Berkhof, and G. C. Berkouwer.
- By (author) John Fesko
"In light of the present revival of Protestant scholasticism, Fesko paves a clear path to furnishing historians and theologians with needed resources to evaluate and to recover the significant place of the covenant of redemption in Reformed theology." --Ryan M. McGraw, Calvin Theological Journal Vol. 51 No. 2 (November 2016)
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Other Titles in this Series
Reformation of the Commonwealth
Thomas Becon and the Politics of Evangelical Change in Tudor England
Volume 58
Debated Issues in Sovereign Predestination
Early Lutheran Predestination, Calvinian Reprobation, and Variations in Genevan Lapsarianism
Volume 42
Beyond Calvin
Union with Christ and Justification in Early Modern Reformed Theology (1517-1700)
Volume 20
Heinrich Alting (1583-1644)
Lebensbild und Bedeutung fur die reformierte Historiografie und Dogmengeschichtsschreibung des 17. Jahrhunderts
Volume 56
The Ground, Method, and Goal of Amandus Polanus’ (1561-1610) Doctrine of God
A Historical and Contextual Analysis
Volume 73
Mysterium Christi spiritualis praesentiae
Die Abendmahlslehre des Genfer Reformators Johannes Calvin aus romisch-katholischer Perspektive
Volume 19
Symphonia Catholica
The Merger of Patristic and Contemporary Sources in the Theological Method of Amandus Polanus (1561-1610)
Volume 30
Omnes in Adam ex pacto Dei
Ambrogio Catarino's Doctrine of Covenantal Solidarity and Its Influence on Post-Reformation Reformed Theologians
Volume 8
Heavenly Providence
A Historical Exploration of the Development of Calvin's Biblical Doctrine of Divine Providence
Volume 75
Driven by God
Active Justification and Definitive Sanctification in the Soteriology of Bavinck, Comrie, Witsius, and Kuyper
Volume 46
Orthodox, Puritan, Baptist
Hercules Collins (1647-1702) and Particular Baptist Identity in Early Modern England
Volume 32
A Heavenly Directory
Trinitarian Piety, Public Worship and a Reassessment of John Owen's Theology
Volume 29
As Often As You Eat This Bread
Communion Frequency in English, Scottish, and Early American Churches
Volume 74
The Beginning of a Spirit-filled Church
A Study of the Implications of the Pneumatology for the Ecclesiology in John Calvin's Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles
Volume 45
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