Recent analyses of the relationship between Calvin and Reformed theology argue that post-Reformation Reformed theologians distorted the John Calvin's doctrine of predestination. Scholars argue that it was scholasticism and rationalism that turned Calvin's biblical doctrine of predestination into an arid metaphysical system of decrees. This thesis argues contra the modern critics that post-Reformation Reformed theologians did not distort Calvin's doctrine of predestination but rather modified it. The thesis accomplishes this by comparing the lapsarian views of Calvin, the Synod of Dort, and the Westminster Confession of Faith. The thesis demonstrates that Calvin was a supralapsarian and that Dort and Westminster are infralapsarian.

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Recent scholarship has increasingly recognized the unity of Herman Bavinck's (1854-1921) thought, shedding the once-predominant reading that Bavinck was a conflicted thinker caught between modernity and orthodoxy. There were 'two Bavincks', the secondary literature claimed. The catalyst of unity for Bavinck's thinking is located in his deployment of organic language to characterize particular theological loci. The organic motif stems from Bavinck's Trinitarian doctrine of God, according to which God exists as the archetypal and self-existent Three-in-One. Creation, then, is an ectypal reflection of the triune Godhead, and as such can be described as an organism comprising of many unities-in-diversities. This new reading, propelled by James Eglinton, argued that for Bavinck the Trinity ad intra leads to an organic cosmology ad extra. Though this reading has showcased the unity of Bavinck's thought in general, current scholarship on Bavinck's theological epistemology remains fractured along the lines of the 'two Bavinck' thesis, with two sides that emphasize, respectively, the modern strand of Bavinck's thinking or his classical, orthodox, side. This thesis reinvestigates the primary texts in which Bavinck discusses epistemology and argues that the organic motif is also the lens through which his epistemology is to be read. In doing so, this thesis argues that the organic motif allowed Bavinck to utilize both classical (Thomistic) and post-Kantian sources in a way that produces coherence rather than inconsistency. Thus, it is unnecessary to pit Bavinck's use of classical sources against his use of modern sources: particular deployment is not systematic endorsement. The thesis, then, is that a Trinitarian doctrine of God ad intra produces not merely an organic cosmology ad extra, but also an organic epistemology. It then proceeds to demonstrate this in two ways. First, the thesis observes that Bavinck characterizes the sciences (wetenschappen) as a single organism made up of a unity-in-diversity. The specialization and divisions of the sciences mean that each field has its own sphere of existence with unique grounds and methodologies, but there is an underlying theological unity between them that relativizes that diversity precisely because all of the sciences are theological. Second, for Bavinck subjective knowledge can organically correspond with objects because both participate in a larger, organic universe. Mental representations connect with the world because all of creation is primordially interconnected by way of God's organic design. In each of these steps Bavinck's eclectic use of sources and overall creativity and unity are displayed. This thesis also relates his discussion both to his interlocutors and contemporary philosophical and analytic epistemology. Hence, this thesis not only demonstrates the overall coherence of Bavinck's thought, thereby further eradicating ill-conceived notions of there being 'two-Bavincks', but also showcases potentially generative insights concerning the place of theology within the university and the resources theology might provide for philosophical epistemology.

In this study three apologetic methodologies (evidentialism, Reformed epistemology, and presuppositionalism) are analyzed to determine which method is most coherently related to Reformed theology. It is argued that comparing how each methodology relates the doctrine of Scripture with the doctrine of the resurrection can demonstrate which method is best suited to defending Christianity in its Reformed interpretation. The doctrine of Scripture is taken to be that of full plenary inspiration and inerrancy, and the question is which apologetic method can be successful in defending that position. After contemporary arguments for the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ are surveyed, each of the three respective apologetic methodologies is subjected to an examination and critique. Each method is intra–systematically evaluated to determine whether it suffers from internal contradictions or incoherencies. Each method is further tested to determine whether, on its own internal principles, it is capable of a logical defense of a high doctrinal view of Scripture. The respective methods are also compared and contrasted with each other. A prominent issue is the direction of the methodology, i.e., its sequence. Some strands of evidentialism attempt to move from the historical fact of the resurrection to their doctrine of Scripture; Reformed epistemologists do not necessarily require any historical argumentation at all; presuppositionalists take their doctrine of Scripture and the resurrection as both necessary and mutually reinforcing points in their worldview. In the final analysis, it is the presuppositional methodology which emerges as that which is most capable of coherently defending a doctrine of Scripture that includes full inspiration and inerrancy. This is due to the transcendental nature of the argument that it presents. It is urged in this study, however, that evidences, historical details, and logical analysis are all critically important for a fully–orbed apologetic system. Presuppositionalism needs to be ramified with evidential arguments, even if they are transposed into a transcendental key, as supporting details in a transcendental framework. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Dogmatics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

In this study three apologetic methodologies (evidentialism, Reformed epistemology, and presuppositionalism) are analyzed to determine which method is most coherently related to Reformed theology. It is argued that comparing how each methodology relates the doctrine of Scripture with the doctrine of the resurrection can demonstrate which method is best suited to defending Christianity in its Reformed interpretation. The doctrine of Scripture is taken to be that of full plenary inspiration and inerrancy, and the question is which apologetic method can be successful in defending that position. After contemporary arguments for the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ are surveyed, each of the three respective apologetic methodologies is subjected to an examination and critique. Each method is intra–systematically evaluated to determine whether it suffers from internal contradictions or incoherencies. Each method is further tested to determine whether, on its own internal principles, it is capable of a logical defense of a high doctrinal view of Scripture. The respective methods are also compared and contrasted with each other. A prominent issue is the direction of the methodology, i.e., its sequence. Some strands of evidentialism attempt to move from the historical fact of the resurrection to their doctrine of Scripture; Reformed epistemologists do not necessarily require any historical argumentation at all; presuppositionalists take their doctrine of Scripture and the resurrection as both necessary and mutually reinforcing points in their worldview. In the final analysis, it is the presuppositional methodology which emerges as that which is most capable of coherently defending a doctrine of Scripture that includes full inspiration and inerrancy. This is due to the transcendental nature of the argument that it presents. It is urged in this study, however, that evidences, historical details, and logical analysis are all critically important for a fully–orbed apologetic system. Presuppositionalism needs to be ramified with evidential arguments, even if they are transposed into a transcendental key, as supporting details in a transcendental framework. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Dogmatics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

This thesis examines how biblical typology was used in early modern Scotland. It focuses on the works of the Aberdonian minister and theologian, William Guild (1586–1657), who was one of the most prominent seventeenth-­‐century typological exegetes. His handbook, Moses Unvailed (1620), has been repeatedly noted as one of the key works in the development of Protestant typology. Yet his typological exegesis has not been properly explored. Indeed, detailed analysis of Guild’s life and works has been lacking. This study seeks to address those issues. Chapter One offers an updated biography of Guild, focusing on his intellectual development and religious involvement. Chapter Two provides the first detailed study of the theological influences on, and beliefs undergirding, Moses Unvailed, showing that Guild’s typological exegesis became more Christocentric in the period between 1608 and 1620. Chapters Three and Four explore the varied uses of typology in Guild’s sermons, biblical study aids, polemical works, and political treatises, drawing comparisons with his Scottish contemporaries. Chapter Three examines how typology was used in works addressed to godly audiences, while Chapter Four focuses on how typology was used in works aimed at theological opponents and political authorities. These chapters suggest that typology was consistently used – either directly or indirectly – to edify Reformed Protestants. Chapter Five turns to Guild’s commentaries to consider how typology related to allegorical, moral, and prophetic exegesis. This chapter argues that while typology was rarely Guild’s primary interpretative approach it still served vital functions in allowing him to reinforce, clarify, and expand his expositions. This thesis provides the first study of early modern typology in a Scottish context and also represents the most detailed engagement with Guild’s works to date. It challenges the divisions that have been drawn by scholars between different applications of typology and argues that Guild’s distinction between types and comparisons offers a more helpful way of understanding the varied uses of typology in early modern Scotland. From this analysis a clearer understanding of the functions of typology for early modern exegetes emerges. This thesis argues that while, for Guild and his contemporaries, typology served to demonstrate how the Old Testament reveals Christ, they were frequently drawn to this approach because it also gave them a biblically and providentially grounded means of articulating their vision of Protestant godliness.

This thesis examines Thomas Goodwin’s (1600–1680) doctrine of union with Christ within his soteriology. It builds upon Michael Lawrence’s historical reassessment which uncovered that, contrary to previous scholarly assumptions, the majority of Goodwin’s treatises were composed during the 1650s and intended to form a grand project defending Reformed soteriology against the new threats of Socinian and radical teachings as well as its traditional opponents, Catholics and Arminians. Goodwin considered this grand project to be his life’s work. It represents the longest exposition of Reformed soteriology composed by an English puritan. However, no modern critical study of the soteriology of his grand project has appeared to date. This thesis, therefore, offers a theological examination in light of his immediate historical context. The study focuses on union with Christ, because Goodwin assumed it occupied a fundamental role in salvation and, therefore, it allows identification of the architectonic structures of his soteriology. The immediate historical context is privileged, because union with Christ (and related loci) was a point of sharp dispute in the 1640s–1650s. By offering a careful examination of this theme in an important individual theologian, this study also aims to make a significant contribution to recent controversy over union with Christ in the post-Reformation period. At stake are two competing visions of the structure of Reformed applied soteriology: some scholars contend that the Reformed tradition granted priority to union with Christ; others contend that priority was granted to justification. The former commonly argue that seventeenth-century divines allowed the priority of union with Christ to be displaced by a causal chain of application; the latter, disputing this claim, argue for continuity within the tradition and that the priority of justification was held alongside broader notions of union with Christ. The main argument of this thesis is a demonstration that Goodwin founded the application of every aspect of salvation upon a ‘real’ union with Christ (i.e., mystical union forged by Christ’s indwelling within the believer) rather than upon a mere ‘relative’ union (i.e., legal union external to the believer). Moreover, Goodwin contended that real union with Christ must involve the indwelling of the uncreated grace of the person of the Holy Spirit. This, he believed, was essential to maintain a trinitarian, federal, high Reformed soteriology in which redemption from the problem of sin is set within a Reformed scheme of christocentric deification. Goodwin’s conception of union with Christ and his high soteriology departed from the views of the conservative majority of seventeenth-century Reformed puritan divines who denied the indwelling of uncreated grace. Instead, his conception often resembled the teachings of antinomians and radicals, though Goodwin remained within the bounds of orthodoxy by repeated application of key theological distinctions. These findings support the view in recent controversy that Reformed applied soteriology was governed by the priority of union with Christ. Yet, neither side accurately construes seventeenth-century views on union with Christ, because disagreement amongst divines over the nature of real union with Christ has not been adequately recognised. Chapter 1 establishes the case for this study from a literature survey. The argument then unfolds in four main chapters. Chapter 2 establishes the nature of real union with Christ embraced by Goodwin. Chapters 3 and 4 demonstrate that Goodwin advocated high doctrines of transformation and forensic justification respectively and determine how each was founded in his conception of real union with Christ. Chapter 5 advances the argument by demonstrating that real union with Christ occupied a fundamental place in his soteriology as a consequence of his conviction that salvation principally consists in participation in Christ and his divine nature. Chapter 6 concludes by assessing the significance of Goodwin’s doctrine of union with Christ in his grand project, in his immediate historical context, and for the recent controversy over union with Christ.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta dissertação busca investigar a existência de uma Teologia Reformada brasileira no âmbito da eclesiologia e da relação com a cultura, trabalhando com a Igreja Presbiteriana do Brasil como base de dados para tal investigação. Na primeira parte, pesquisa-se como se formou o reformador João Calvino e que relação a sua formação humanista teve com os ensinos que desenvolveu, bem como tais ensinos poderiam ser aplicados à Teologia Reformada brasileira, escolhendo-se a graça comum para entender a relação com a cultura e buscando-se compreender a abrangência de sua eclesiologia. Na segunda parte, calvinismo, puritanismo e neopuritanismo são analisados sob a perspectiva de compreenderem-se possíveis rupturas ou continuidades. Tais situações serão verificadas na influência cultural do silogismo prático dos calvinistas e da relação de Calvino e dos puritanos com a ciência. A terceira parte apresenta Richard Shaull como contraponto ao modo de ser reformado designado como neopuritano, aplicado à boa parte dos reformados brasileiros da IPB, na medida em que tenta construir uma Teologia Reformada da revolução, que seus seguidores, possivelmente seu maior legado, transformariam em Teologia da Libertação. Ele será comparado em sua visão eclesiológica com Ashbel Green Simonton, pioneiro da IPB no Brasil. Por fim, à guisa de conclusão, a quarta e última parte estudará a construção da atual Teologia Reformada da IPB, sua possível relação com o fundamentalismo, a partir dos puritanos ou não, e acima de tudo o grande receio quanto a sua brasilidade, buscando pistas para responder que tipo de eclesiologia afinal tem produzido a Teologia Reformada da IPB. / This dissertation seeks to investigate the existence of a Brazilian Reformed Theology in the area of ecclesiology and its relation to culture by using the Presbyterian Church of Brazil as the object of investigation. The first part investigates how the reformer John Calvin was educated and how his humanism related to the teaching he developed, as also its possible application to Brazilian Reformed Theology, choosing common Grace to understand this relation to culture in seeking to understand how wide was its influence in his ecclesiology. In the second part, Calvinism, Puritanism and Neopuritanism are analyzed toward possible divisions or continuity. Such situations will be studied as a possible cultural influence of the practical rationalization of the Calvinists and of the relation of Calvin and the puritans with science. The third part presents Richard Shaull as a contradiction to the style of being reformed neopuritans, applical to a good part of the Brazilian reformed of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, to the extent that he attempted to construct a Reformed Theology of Revolution that his followers, perhaps his major contribution, could transform into a Theology of Liberation. His ecclesiastical vision will be compared to that of Ashbel Green Simonton, pioneer of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil. The fourth and final part will study the construction of Reformed Theology in the Presbyterian Church of Brazil today, its possible relation to fundamentalism, beginning or not with the puritans, above all a real fear as to its Brazilianity, seeking ways to respond to the kind of ecclesiology the Reformed Theology of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil has produced.

Benjamin Keach, the most prolific Particular Baptist theologian of the seventeenth century, described himself as a defender of ‘Reformed Orthodoxy’. Despite this self-identification, modern scholarship has largely relegated Keach to a self-educated dissenting pastor whose major achievement could be found in his controversial support of hymn singing. Two recent dissertations have attempted to revise this view of Keach, but no scholarly work has yet attempted to wrestle holistically with Keach’s view of himself as a Reformed theologian. This work fills that void by reviewing Keach’s own understanding of the term ‘Reformed Orthodoxy’, reconstructing Keach’s connections both in the personal contacts available in dissenting London and Buckinghamshire and in the books at his disposal, examining the major aspects of his theology, and placing that theology within the spectrum of Reformed Orthodoxy. From the time of his entry onto the public theological stage, Keach quickly became identified with those with whom he networked intellectually. From his branding as a Fifth Monarchist to his identification first as a General Baptist and later as the most prominent Particular Baptist, those connections proved to be the most idiosyncratic characteristic of Keach’s theological pilgrimage. Those connections crossed the conventional lines of systematic theology and boundaries of religious sects, resulting in Keach’s theology crossing those same lines yet remaining Reformed in its major assertions. Following the organizational structure of Keach’s catechisms and confessions, this work proceeds by expounding and interrogating Keach’s major theological positions—his understanding of the Trinity including this doctrine’s foundational role in ecclesiology, the significance of the covenants, justification, and eschatology. Throughout this exposition, Keach’s theological lenses, shaped by his contacts and his independent, creative thought, become clear. Ultimately, Keach proves himself to be a capable Reformed theologian, able and willing to dialogue with the most influential theologians, yet consistently forging his own ground within Reformed Orthodoxy as a whole and more specifically Particular Baptist theology.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T13:48:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 LAZARA DIVINA COELHO.pdf: 2121141 bytes, checksum: cd4a685fb28ee75bab3fe1a7fdf87201 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-26 / The object of this research is the Historical-Grammatical Method understood as a system of Bible interpretation derived from the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Its goal is to trace the route of this method, since the post-apostolic period up to contemporary times, and solidification as a method of interpretation adopted by different theological currents in the search for systematization of its methodology. Its relevance lies in the possibility of rescuing the history of the method seen as a precedent over the others in terms of the orthodox system and aim of biblical interpretation. The search path can be set into stages of research and presentation of the results: in the first case takes place the identification and definition of method: the traditional hermeneutic, as presentation of methodological principles and techniques needed to interpret biblical texts, is the formal principle of the Method; and the exegesis, as the application of hermeneutical principles to the biblical text in order to understand and explain it, it is the method referred, in practice, to the steps to be given in the interpretation process. In the second stage, there is a review of the historical process which culminated in the Grammatical-Historical Method: by it the embryo of the method is located in the post-New Testament period and its development in the centuries that followed, passing by the schools of Antioch, the West and St. Victor, beyond the Protestant Reformation and later periods. And, in the third stage, we describe the method itself of theological and methodological perspectives. The conclusion is that the grammatical-historical method of the view that God exists and has revealed himself to man through the written Word and that this revelation, to have originated in his will, makes this knowledge possible and necessary to man. The possibility of knowledge achieves the sense of the Scriptures as intended by God through the human author. It is about a unique, true and full sense, clearly stated and explained in the Scriptures and their understanding can be achieved through ordinary means, as the preaching, the reading and the prayer. / O objeto dessa pesquisa é o Método Histórico-Gramatical entendido como um sistema de interpretação da Bíblia procedente da Reforma Protestante do século XVI. Seu objetivo é traçar o percurso desse método, desde o período pós-apostólico até a contemporaneidade, e sua solidificação como método de interpretação adotado por correntes teológicas distintas na busca da sistematização de sua metodologia. Sua relevância encontra-se na possibilidade de resgatar a história do método visto como precedente sobre os demais em termos de sistema ortodoxo e objetivo de interpretação bíblica. O caminho da pesquisa pode ser definido em estágios da investigação e da apresentação dos resultados: no primeiro, acontece a identificação e definição do método: a hermenêutica tradicional, como apresentação de princípios metodológicos e técnicas necessárias para interpretar textos bíblicos, é o princípio formal do Método; e a exegese, como a aplicação dos princípios hermenêuticos ao texto bíblico com o objetivo de entendê-lo e explicá-lo, é o método que se refere, na prática, às etapas a serem dadas no processo de interpretação. No segundo estágio, há uma revisão do processo histórico que desembocou no Método Histórico-Gramatical: por ela o embrião do método é localizado no período pós-Novo Testamento e seu desenvolvimento nos séculos que se seguiram, passando pelas escolas de Antioquia, do Ocidente e de São Vitor, além da Reforma Protestante e períodos posteriores. E, no terceiro estágio, descreve-se o método propriamente dito das perspectivas teológica e metodológica. A conclusão é que o Método Histórico-Gramatical parte da perspectiva de que Deus existe e revelou-se ao homem por meio da Palavra escrita e que essa revelação, por ter origem na sua vontade, faz esse conhecimento possível e necessário ao homem. A possibilidade de conhecimento alcança o sentido das Escrituras conforme pretendido por Deus por meio de autor humano. Trata-se de um sentido único, verdadeiro e pleno, claramente exposto e explicado nas Escrituras e sua compreensão pode ser conseguida mediante os meios ordinários, como a pregação, a leitura e a oração.