The Westminster Confession Into the 21st Century, volume II [Hardcover]

J.. Ligon Duncan (Editor)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 572 pages
• Publisher: Mentor (July 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857928784
• ISBN-13: 978-1857928785
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #435,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Westminster Confession in the 21st Century volume 2, January 13, 2008

By 

Kevin Gordon "supracalvinist" (King, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Westminster Confession Into the 21st Century, volume II (Hardcover)

Ligon Duncan has done an excellent service in his gathering and support of numerous articles, and books in answer to the revisionists trying to divide Calvin and the Calvinists. His latest consortium is the 4 volume series on The Westminster Confession in the 21st Century. While this is broader than just answering the revisionists, its chapters on Ursinus, Oxford and the Westminster Divines, Westminster and Protestant Scholasticism and The Westminster Shorter and the Heidelberg Catechisms Compared strive to show the unity of thought in Calvin and the other reformers leading up to Westminster. Paul Helm makes the point that if later Calvinism moved away from the "rationalism" of Calvin and the High Calvinists why did they embrace Cartesianism, whereas the High Calvinists rejected it. I would like to have seen more of a discussion the doctrine of assurance as the essence of faith in Hall's, and Clark's and Beeke's chapters as this is a true distinction between Calvin and his heirs. while it is true Calvin was not the only reformer, Reformed theology is often called calvinism and so he was pivotal. The chapter Old Princeton Seminary and the Westminster Standards touches on differences amongst reformed theologians on apologetics issues but does not indicate whether the Westminster Confession subscribes a particular apologetic. Is there room in the reformed fellowships for differences between classicalists and presuppositionalists(either Clarkian or VanTillian)? Derek Thomas discusses The Eschatology of the Westminster Confession and Assembly in his chapter. He does a good job of mentioning the variety of views among the authors of the confession pertaining to the millenium but contra some current commentators which claim an amillenial stance, he says they do not dogmatize on the issue. Ligon takes up the Lord's Supper in his chapter. Comparing and contrasting the views of Calvin and Zwingli, he also shows current deviations set forth by those in the Federal Vision. The most ambitious chapter is Fesko's chapter on Lapsarianism. Fesko convincingly claims Calvin for Supralapsarianism but admits that Westminster is Infralapsarian. While I appreciate much of his argument for Calvin's Supralapsarianism, by denying "equal ultimacy" he has watered the doctrine down so much there really isn't much difference. Calvin denied "permissive will" in God and so also held contra Westminster to "equal ultimacy". This book is a valuable resource in explaining the Confession. Being a Baptist myself,I also respect Ligon for his inclusion of Baptist contributors.