This classic by Harnack was an epoch-making historical work that set the standard for any history of doctrinal development. Harnack locates the origins and traces the development of the authoritative Christian doctrinal system from its beginnings down to the Reformation, with a brief survey of later developments through 1870.

This classic work of Reformed theology is the third of four volumes now available in English.

In partnership with the Dutch Reformed Translation Society, Baker Academic is proud to offer in English for the very first time the third volume of Herman Bavinck's complete Reformed Dogmatics. This masterwork will appeal not only to scholars, students, pastors, and laity interested in Reformed theology but also to research and theological libraries. "Bavinck was a man of giant mind, vast learning, ageless wisdom, and great expository skill. Solid but lucid, demanding but satisfying, broad and deep and sharp and stabilizing, Bavinck's magisterial Reformed Dogmatics remains after a century the supreme achievement of its kind."--J. I. Packer, Regent College "This magisterial work exhibits Bavinck's vast knowledge and appreciation of the Christian tradition. Written from a Reformed perspective, it offers a perceptive critique of modern theology. . . . Recommended."--Library Journal

Dogma is one of those words. Many people see dogma as a bad thing-as the unreasonable, unthinking adherence to a belief, even in the face of contrary evidence. But when the Catholic Church presents some of her teachings as dogmas, she does not mean that these tenets are irrational or to be thoughtlessly embraced. Dogma is the bedrock of truth, an inexhaustible feast for the mind, not an impediment to thinking. Why? Because dogmas rest on the Word of God, Truth Himself, who can neither deceive nor be deceived, and who wants his Word to be known. The great theologian Charles Journet explores the meaning of dogma in his classic work What is Dogma? In what sense are dogmas an object of faith? How do reason and faith relate to dogmas? How are dogmas both essentially unchangeable and yet open to development? Are dogmas accessible only in learned theological language or are there common-sense ways of understanding them? Journet addresses these and other important questions. He also discusses examples of dogmatic development: the dogmas of the Trinity, of Christology, and of Mariology. And he explores the relationship of dogma and mystical contemplation. In short, Journet shows why "dogma" is a subject of which Catholics need not be afraid.

K. J. Popma, a teacher of classical languages and a special professor of Reformed philosophy at the universities of Groningen and Utrecht, wrote his book during the trying times of the Second World War. The work outlines a philosophy of history rooted in Scripture and takes the account provided by Scripture seriously, without eliminating its historical character, either by spiritualizing its message or by undercutting it through an appeal to science. It takes its cues from the Scriptural narrative: creation and fall, the tower of Babel, Abraham and Israel, Daniel’s Four Empires, and the principal division in world history, the coming of Christ. Popma’s fresh and challenging approach to history utilizes the perspective of the Calvinistic philosophy associated with Herman Dooyeweerd, but it does so in Popma’s unique and idiosyncratic way, and in a style that belies the learning that underlies it. Nor does one need to have any special acquaintance with the specifics of Dooyeweerd’s philosophy to profit from it. At the same time, the relation between history and theology is especially important – “the researcher who never took a peek in the workshop of theology will always be a bungler” (p. 85). "History is a unity, and a continuity—of the sacred and the secular, of the course of salvation history and secular history, of the here and the hereafter. Nor does it end at the resurrection from the dead. “Our earthly task continues, first in our task in heaven, presently in our task on the new earth. Thus, it is not true that our earthly task comes to an end. For heaven and earth belong together and our task never ends” (p. 116). So then, history is not something disconnected from eternity, but continues into eternity. There is a unity between heaven and earth, between culture here and now, and life in the renewed creation hereafter. The aim of this book is to point to the splendour of the structure that God has built, to history in its unity and course. He who learns to see something of that splendour will foster a burning interest for what has happened and is still happening and will happen. He will be afraid of nothing so much as the danger of shutting oneself up in a spiritual prison that makes it impossible to see the real history, even if such a prison displays the finest inscriptions over its entrance and is comfortably and even luxuriously furnished. Nor will he become discouraged when he discovers that history is full of injustice. For he knows that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be satisfied" (p. 133).