Unity and Continuity in Covenantal Thought

A Study in the Reformed Tradition to the Westminster Assembly

Andrew Woolsey

• Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781601782168
• eBook ISBN: 9781601782175
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Over the years, some scholars have argued for competing streams of covenantal thought within the reformed tradition. For instance, some have pitted Calvin against the Calvinists, some have tried to detect unilateral and bilateral approaches to the covenant, and still others have set federalism against predestinarianism. In this landmark survey of covenant theology, Andrew A. Woolsey assesses the reformed tradition and finds that the development of diverse formulas actually maintained substantial agreement on the basic contours of covenantal thought.

Unity and Continuity in Covenantal Thought examines the historiographical problems related to the interpretation of the Westminster Standards, delving into the issue of covenantal thought in the Westminster Standards, followed by an exhaustive analysis of nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarship on covenant. After surveying patristic and medieval backgrounds, Woolsey's study looks in detail at a representative list of writers who contributed to the early development of federal thought (Luther, Oecolampadius, Zwingli, Bullinger, Calvin, and Beza). The final part of his study explores the early orthodox approach to covenant and the rise of emphasis on the covenants of works and grace in the thought of Heidelberg theologians (Ursinus and Olevianus), the English Puritans (Cartwright, Fenner, and Perkins), and Scottish divines (Knox, Rollock, and Howie). Here is a substantial contribution to the study of reformed thought on covenant from its reformation origins to the more detailed formulations of the early to mid-seventeenth century.

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Bibliography
• Index
• Title Page
• Series Page
• Copyright page
• Table of Contents
• List of Abbreviations
• Part One
• 1 Historical Background to the Westminster Assembly
• 2 Sources and Covenantal Doctrine of the Westminster Standards
• 3 Historiography of Covenantal Thought - The Nineteenth Century
• 4 Historiography of Covenantal Thought - The Twentieth Century
• Part Two
• 5 The Covenant in the Church Fathers
• 6 The Covenant in Medieval Thought
• 7 The Covenant in the Early Reformers
• Part Three
• 8 John Calvin on the Unity of the Covenant
• 9 John Calvin on Covenant, Law, and Grace
• 10 John Calvin on Covenantal Conditions
• 11 John Calvin on Covenant and Predestination
• 12 John Calvin - Conclusion
• 13 Theodore Beza and the Covenant
• Part Four
• 14 The Heidelberg Story - Zacharius Ursinus
• 15 The Heidelberg Story - Caspar Olevianus
• 16 The Puritan Stream - Thomas Cartwright and Dudley Fenner
• 17 The Puritan Stream - William Perkins
• 18 The Scottish Connection - John Knox
• 19 The Scottish Connection - Robert Rollock and Robert Howie
• 20 Conclusion