Debated Issues in Sovereign Predestination

Early Lutheran Predestination, Calvinian Reprobation, and Variations in Genevan Lapsarianism

Joel R. Beeke

• Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9783525552605
• eBook ISBN:
  9783647552606
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Joel R. Beeke's work is an academic monograph of historical theology that examines three flashpoints of controversy in Reformation and Post-Reformation theology. As the subtitle, Early Lutheran Predestination, Calvinian Reprobation, and Variations in Genevan Lapsarianism implies, the work addresses, first, the development of the Lutheran doctrine of predestination from Martin Luther (1483–1546) and Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560) to the Formula of Concord (1577); second, the development of John Calvin's (1509–1564) doctrine of reprobation as traced through his writings; and third, the doctrine of predestination in Geneva with a particular emphasis on lapsarianism from Theodore Beza (1519–1605) in the sixteenth century to Jean-Alphonse Turretin (1671–1737) and Jacob Vernet (1698–1789) in the eighteenth century.The fruit of three decades of study by a professor of systematic theology who specializes in Reformation and Post-Reformation theology, this book offers a harvest of insights into questions that stood at the center of Reformation debates. Dr. Donald Sinnema, a leading scholar in predestinarian theology and the Synod of Dort, writes: "Beeke addresses these difficult matters with sensitivity to historical context and development, with systematic acuity, and a broad grasp of secondary scholarly literature with which he dialogues. The result is a balanced analysis of these issues that should bring greater clarity to scholarly understanding of the doctrine of predestination in the early modern era."

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Body
• Foreword
• Author's Preface
• Part I: Predestination in Early Lutheranism
• Chapter 1: Historical Germination in Luther
• Chapter 2: Further Germination in Melanchthon
• Chapter 3: The Marbach-Zanchi Controversy
• Chapter 4: The Doctrinal Position of the Formula of Concord
• Chapter 5: Doctrinal Comparison of Concord and Dordt
• Chapter 6: The Historical Reception of and Doctrinal Reflections on Concordist Predestination
• Part II: Reprobation in Calvin's Theology
• Chapter 7: The Study of Calvin's Doctrine of Reprobation
• Chapter 8: The Sources of Calvin's Doctrine of Reprobation
• Chapter 9: Embryonic Reprobation in the Young Theologian (1535–1538)
• Chapter 10: Systematic Reprobation in the Strasbourg Theologian (1538–1541)
• Chapter 11: Developed Reprobation in the Theologian Par Excellence (1542–1564)
• Chapter 12: Conclusions and Implications of Calvinian Reprobation
• Part III: Lapsarian Variations among Later Genevan Theologians
• Chapter 13: Introduction to Post-Calvin Predestinarianism and the Lapsarian Question
• Chapter 14: Theodore Beza's Supralapsarianism and Infamous Tabula
• Chapter 15: Predestination in Beza's Other Writings
• Chapter 16: From Beza's Successors to Francis Turretin
• Chapter 17: The Decline under Francis Turretin's Successors
• Chapter 18: Conclusions on Sovereign Predestination
• Bibliography of Works Cited
• Subject Index