Across early-modern Europe the confessional struggles of the Reformation touched virtually every aspect of civic life; and nowhere was this more apparent than in the universities, the seedbed of political and ecclesiastical society. Focussing on events in Scotland, this book reveals how established universities found themselves at the centre of a struggle by competing forces trying to promote their own political, religious or educational beliefs, and under competition from new institutions. It surveys the transformation of Scotland's medieval and Catholic university system into a greatly-expanded Protestant one in the decades following the Scottish Reformation of 1560. Simultaneously the study assesses the contribution of the continentally-educated religious reformer Andrew Melville to this process in the context of broader European social and cultural developments - including growing lay interest in education (as a result of renaissance humanism), and the involvement of royal and civic government as well as the new Protestant Kirk in university expansion and reform. Through systematic use of largely neglected manuscript sources, the book offers fresh perspectives on both Andrew Melville and the development of Scottish higher education post-1560. As well as providing a detailed picture of events in Scotland, it contributes to our growing understanding of the role played by higher education in shaping society across Europe.

Across early-modern Europe the confessional struggles of the Reformation touched virtually every aspect of civic life; and nowhere was this more apparent than in the universities, the seedbed of political and ecclesiastical society. Focussing on events in Scotland, this book reveals how established universities found themselves at the centre of a struggle by competing forces trying to promote their own political, religious or educational beliefs, and under competition from new institutions. It surveys the transformation of Scotland's medieval and Catholic university system into a greatly-expanded Protestant one in the decades following the Scottish Reformation of 1560. Simultaneously the study assesses the contribution of the continentally-educated religious reformer Andrew Melville to this process in the context of broader European social and cultural developments - including growing lay interest in education (as a result of renaissance humanism), and the involvement of royal and civic government as well as the new Protestant Kirk in university expansion and reform. Through systematic use of largely neglected manuscript sources, the book offers fresh perspectives on both Andrew Melville and the development of Scottish higher education post-1560. As well as providing a detailed picture of events in Scotland, it contributes to our growing understanding of the role played by higher education in shaping society across Europe.

To any reader who has studied Calvin, then turned to the so-called Calvinist tradition, the absence of Calvin's name and, more importantly, of some of his characteristic emphases from the writings of the majority of the theologians who took his name is a striking fact. That some profound transformation of Calvin's ideas, despite the ubiquity of the 'Institutio', took place in the generation after his death is incontrovertible. What has long passed, for example, as the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, whether among its proponents or opponents, is not what one reads in Calvin himself. This work does much to trace the complex process whereby a scholastic, metaphysical edifice replaced the dynamic, experiential, historically, and exegetically grounded faith enunciated by Calvin himself. Armstrong writes in his Introduction, It is hoped, then, that this study will both provide an introduction to the intellectual trends within French Calvinism, to the teaching of Amyraut and the relation of his thought to that of Calvin, and furnish an insight into the removal of orthodox Calvinist thought from Calvin into a narrower, more defensive, more intolerant, and more impervious system. Armstrong's study is a full, careful, and engrossing one. It is to be commended not only to readers of theological interest, but to all persons interested in intellectual history, and especially to Christians of the Reformed tradition who are seeking to understand their intellectual and spiritual roots. from a review by F. L. Battles, Theology Today

Calvinist theology has been debated and promoted for centuries. But is it a theology that should last? Roger Olson suggests that Calvinism, also commonly known as Reformed theology, holds an unwarranted place in our list of accepted theologies. In Against Calvinism, readers will find scholarly arguments explaining why Calvinist theology is incorrect and how it affects God’s reputation. Olson draws on a variety of sources, including Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience, to support his critique of Calvinism and the more historically rich, biblically faithful alternative theologies he proposes. Addressing what many evangelical Christians are concerned about today—so-called “new Calvinism,” a movement embraced by a generation labeled as “young, restless, Reformed” —Against Calvinism is the only book of its kind to offer objections from a non-Calvinist perspective to the current wave of Calvinism among Christian youth. As a companion to Michael Horton’s For Calvinism, readers will be able to compare contrasting perspectives and form their own opinions on the merits and weaknesses of Calvinism.

With the exception of John Knox, no one did more to shape the Scottish Reformation than Andrew Melville. Remembered chiefly as a firebrand defender of radical Presbyterianism and reformer of the Scottish university system, his broader contributions to the cultural development of early modern Scotland - his poetry and prose - have largely been marginalised in subsequent historiography. Yet, as this collection shows, Melvillle was much more than simply a parochial reformer - rather he was an influential member of a pan-European humanist network.

Calvinism has been associated with distinctive literary cultures, with republican, liberal and participatory political cultures, with cultures of violence and vandalism, enlightened cultures, cultures of social discipline, secular cultures, and with the emergence of capitalism. Recognizing that Reformed Protestantism did not develop as a uniform tradition, this book assesses the complex character and impact of Calvinism in early modern Europe.