Customer Reviews

Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics: The Rise and Development of Reformed Orthodoxy, ca. 1520 to ca. 1725 (4 vols.)

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First, in response to a previous reviewer: a single sentence lifted from a page deep within this erudite work does not prove that its design is solely for Th.D. & D.D students. The fact of the matter is, while certain isolated sections are for the advanced student, any learned layperson with a passion for historical theology will be able to understand what's contained in these four volumes.

Dr. Richard A. Muller of Calvin Theological Seminary (Grand Rapids, MI) has, after much toil; finally completed his magnum opus began some twenty-five years ago. The first two volumes, which were published in 1987 & 1993, respectively, are largely rewritten. Also present in these two volumes, not included in the first editions, are exhaustive indices.

This extended treatise is indeed intended for the lay or professional scholar and the very detailed Table of Contents makes that manifestly clear. Every historian working in this particular area and peripheral disciplines will have to come to grips with Muller's research and subsequent theses. His primary interlocutors here are the German and Swiss historians and theologians of the past two centuries, who maintained that there are well-defined discontinuities betwixt the theology of the magisterial Reformers (both Lutheran & Calvinist) and that the Post-Reformation period ca. 1520-1725, is a kind of via moderna. One significant obstacle for said scholars is that there are no sources brought to bear upon this peculiar form of pseudo-historiography. It's simply tradition, conjecture and prejudice that has informed their thinking, not a rigorous reading of both primary and secondary material.

The subtitles of the four volumes, which occupy 2100 pages, are as follows: Prolegomena To Theology; Holy Scripture; The Divine Essence and Attributes; and The Triunity of God. This is not a systematic theology; rather it's a chronicle of the way the Reformers and their followers constructed their theological systems. Also of note, the end of the fourth volume contains a bibliography spanning 124 pages, 57 of which are comprised of primary sources.

Muller's thesis is well documented, lucid and judicious. Read, learn and enjoy.

Soli Deo Gloria.
Robert

In the world of Christian literature, if an author writes for an educated audience, he is accused of being inaccessable and difficult; neither accusation sticks for Muller, though he does write for an educated audience. After all, who in our day is interested in post-Reformation Reformed dogmatics except the theologically educated?

Richard Muller's work is an welcome antidote for decades of abusive misreadings of the Reformed Scholastics (the theologians who came after the Reformation and stood in the Reformed tradition). Muller has done us the great (and laborious) service of examining the theology of the generations of Reformed Scholastics by their own works, not through the eyes of their various theological interpreters.

The work is ordered with clarity and precision. Vol. 1, Prolegomena to Theology, discusses the nature of theological knowledge. Vol. 2, Holy Scripture, developes various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture. Vol. 3 discusses the essence and attributes of God and vol. 4 his triunity. These volumes do not deal directly with other aspects of Christian theology (e.g., anthropology, hamartiology, soteriology, eschatology, etc.). We all hope that Muller lives another 50 years in order to analyize these doctrines, too.

Within each section, Muller identifies "trajectories" of theology from the Middle Ages, through the Reformation, and into the period of "orthodoxy" following the Reformation. As he demonstrates these various trajectories, he tries by them to show that Reformed theology (especially that of the Reformed Scholastics) relies heavily upon theological thought in the Middle Ages and the early Church. Ordinarily, his analysis begins with Calvin's thought and moves forward chronologically. As he proceeds, Muller shows how the magisterial Reformers as well as the Reformed Scholastics draw from the pre-Reformation church.

These volumes are well bound and will last a long time. Each volume is indexed and makes the mass of information contained in it quickly accessible. Further, Muller has given us 135 pages of bibliographical information at the end of the final volume and many of the entries are the works of modern scholars, with which Muller interacts throughout the body of his work.

I think Muller's volumes will pay huge dividends to those who are willing to spend their time studying through them. They are accessably written, but, again, they are a quantum leap forward from the so-called theological books on the best-seller list. Not for kids (whether they have a Ph.D. or not)!

As one who has spent a significant amount of time working with Protestant Scholasticism I can assure you that this is the product of a an extremely fine mind working for decades on this subject. The scholarship is simply remarkable. Richard Muller is a man steeped in primary sources that few bother to read, though much is assumed of this oft maligned time period. Muller is a man on a mission determined to redeem Reformed Orthodoxy from the opproprium it endures for its supposed departure from Calvin himself. You may not agree with his conclusions but he is well armed as he makes his case in these magisterial volumes.

I would first like to say I am not a Th.D or D.D. I would recommend reading "A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith" by Dr. Robert Reymond first in case you are not familiar Reformed Theology.

I would agree that this work is not for children. If you are not interested in theological topics and there history then this series is not for you.

This is a very Excellent work! I cannot say enough good things about it. I will echo the first two reviewers of this work. It is very clear and precise. Today is really not that much different than in the time period of the Reformation. We have more modern conveniences but mankind is still the same.

Here is a typical sentence from the book. Infralapsarian and supralapsarian forms of the doctrine of predestination can become identifiers of alternative orthodoxies. This book is written in the compact scholarly journal style. Unless you are Ph.D. level theologian or philosopher you will not be able to follow the arguments, much less understand the technical terms. I have no trouble reading any other theology book so far and that includes Knox written in the spelling and speech of Scotland in 1550. This book is rough going for me. My Ph.D. is in a scientific area. This book is so famous in its area that if you have to read reviews about it you are not talented enough to get any benefit from attempting to read it.