Given the conclusions of recent research, that predestination was no central dogma to, and did not affect the method of reformed theology, this study investigates the question of if and how the doctrine of predestination affected the ideas and practice of preaching. The relation of predestination and covenant, congregation, atonement, faith etc. are researched in the theology and sermons of John Calvin, Theodore Beza, John Diodati, and Theodore Tronchin, Francis Turretin, and Benedict Pictet. This study shows that in Genevan Reformed Theology from Calvin to Pictet, predestination and the external call were inseparably connected, but that the doctrine of predestination neither dominated the content nor restricted the address of the external call.

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.

Presented on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, this collection of essays honors the life and work of Dr. Timothy J. Wengert. Wengert, a pastor, a teacher of pastors, and a noted Reformation historian, brings to the work of scholarship a deep sense of its practical dimensions in the life of the church. Over the course of his career, Wengert's work and insights have been marked by the way in which they apply to and make different the lived life of the church, whether in preaching, worship, or theology. In these essays, Wengert's students, colleagues, and peers follow in their honoree's footsteps by highlighting the practical and pastoral implications of a rich tapestry of Reformation topics organized into three parts. In Part One, Luther and a diverse cast of colleagues are considered in light of their significance for today. In Part Two, the texts of the Reformation are examined, opening to Part Three, where the formation of faith through catechesis and the life of the church bring the book to a close.

The church needs good theology that engages the head, heart, and hands. This four-volume work combines rigorous historical and theological scholarship with application and practicality—characterized by an accessible, Reformed, and experiential approach. In this volume, Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley explore the first two of eight central themes of theology: revelation and God.

During the Reformation of the sixteenth century, the role of the Bible in both Protestant and Roman Catholic branches of western Christianity was vital and complex. Drawing on new technologies such as movable type, this period saw extraordinary energy and enterprise put into the translation, interpretation, and publication of Christianity's sacred text. As a result, an increasingly broad section of the population, from scholars and clergy to laity and children, came to be involved in the reception of the Bible and its position in early modern religious expression. The Oxford Handbook of the Bible and the Reformation provides readers with a deeper understanding of the expansive history of the Bible as it was shaped, shared, and received across Christian traditions. Chapters explore the biblical canon, translation and print, the development of Reformation hermeneutics, the history of Bible commentators, and exegesis relating to key texts and theological themes of Reformation writing and discourse. Engaging the subject broadly, intricately, and robustly, the expertise of over fifty leading experts illuminates the early modern Bible's composition and position as scripture and, from the Renaissance era on, as a printed book. By including the contributions of radical reformers, Catholics, and women scholars, the Handbook presents a deep and wide-ranging account of the importance of the Bible's reach and authority among all western Christians.

Table of Contents: 1. Preserving the Reformation: A Historical Portrait of the Synod of Dort — W. Robert Godfrey 2. What’s the Difference? A Historical and Theological Comparison of the Three Forms of Unity — Lyle D. Bierma 3. The English Delegation to the Synod of Dort — Kevin J. Bidwell 4. The Everlasting Love of God: Election and Predestination — J. V. Fesko 5. Dead in Sin: The Utter Depravity of Mankind — Christopher J. Gordon 6. The Promise of the Gospel: Redemption in Christ — Michael Horton 7. The Irresistible Spirit: The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Canons of Dort — Sebastian Heck 8. The Preservation and Perseverance of the Saints — Danny Hyde 9. Comfort and Assurance: The Pastoral Implications of Dort — Joel R. Beeke and Ray B. Lanning 10. Preaching the Doctrines of Dort — Cornelis P. Venema 11. Proclaiming Joyful Tidings: Dort, Evangelism, and the Sovereignty of God — Jon D. Payne

Die Reformationsgeschichte der Stadt Bremen unterscheidet sich von vielen anderen Reformationen im Alten Reich, ist aber, auch in der intensiven Forschung während der Reformationsdekade, kaum einmal berücksichtigt worden. Sie ist deutlich "anders" als die Reformation in den "Kernlanden" und in den Städten. In der ersten, lutherischen Phase ist manches vergleichbar: die grundstürzenden Ideen, die ihre Legitimation aus Gottes Wort ziehen, kodifiziert in der Heiligen Schrift, Antiklerikalismus, Provokation, Gewalt und Beschwichtigung. Ab der Jahrhundertmitte gibt es aber ein Vorwärtsdrängen zu einer entschiedeneren zweiten Phase. Ziel des Bandes ist es, Bremen in der Reformationsgeschichtsforschung das verdiente Gewicht zu geben. Mit Beiträgen von Christoph Auffarth, Erik A. de Boer, Robert J. Christman, Gerald Dörner, Konrad Elmshäuser, Johannes Göhler, Monika Göhler, Andrea Hauser, Fred van Lieburg, Jan van de Kamp, Frank van der Pol, Pieter L. Rouwendal, Leo van Santen, Ruth Schilling, Stavros Vlachos, Manfred B. Wischnewsky und Regine Wolters. [The "other" Reformation in the Old Empire. Bremen and North-West Europe] The history of the Reformation in the city of Bremen differs from many other Reformation processes in the Old Empire. Yet it has hardly been addressed, not even in the decade of lively commemoration of the Reformation. Bremen's was a "different" Reformation in comparison with similar developments in the "core territories" of the Reformation, as well as in the cities. In the first, Lutheran, phase of Bremen's Reformation, many aspects were similar to those elsewhere: the groundbreaking ideas, which were legitimated by reference to the Word of God, as codified in Holy Scripture; anticlericalism; provocative stances; violence and appeasement. From about 1550 onwards, however, Bremen's Reformation proceeded towards a more uncompromising second phase. The aim of this volume is to give Bremen its due within the field of Reformation research.