Calvin and the Reformed Tradition: On the Work of Christ and the Order of Salvation

“In this impressive book, Richard Muller gives a clarion call for scholars to awaken from their dogmatic slumbers when approaching the early Reformed tradition and Reformed orthodoxy on the application of Christ's work, union with Christ, and the order of salvation. Muller gives an illuminating contextual reading of a broad range of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Reformed sources. Full of nuance and fresh historical insight that cuts through muddy thinking, Calvin and the Reformed Tradition is an indispensable resource for ongoing discussions of these topics among historians and theologians.”

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“Richard Muller's newest collection of essays offers readers a clear introduction to several long-standing disputes over the identity and theology of the so-called Calvinist tradition as well as a relatively short entryway into Muller's own extensive scholarship. Written with his usual candor and suffused with a mastery of the original sources, these essays are a welcome defense of the integrity and independence of the Reformed tradition's sixteenth- and seventeenth-century exponents against those who would distort the historical record or reduce them to a series of footnotes to a Calvin who never existed. Sensitive to historical context and literary genre as well as to the influence of theological traditions and biblical exegesis, these essays are a clinic in responsible historical-theological method.”

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“Once again, Richard Muller has provided us with a sophisticated and provocative analysis of the Reformed tradition. In this detailed and careful study of Reformed Orthodoxy, Muller debunks the 'master narratives' of both 'Calvin for the Calvinists' and 'Calvin against the Calvinists.' Rejecting simplistic grand narratives, Muller goes directly to the texts. In so doing he analyzes in detail the different contexts, language, augmentation, exegesis, and changing debates of the authors. He demonstrates that the development of the Reformed tradition was determined by many sources besides that of John Calvin. In his analyses he brings to life the complexity and variety of the sources, arguments, and doctrines of these various authors. By allowing them to speak on their own terms and in the context of the debates of their times, he demonstrates that the development of Reformed Orthodoxy was far from monolithic. Muller teaches us that this tradition stemmed from multiple backgrounds, relied on various predecessors and sources, and must be understood in terms of changing circumstances. This book is indispensable for understanding the development of the theology of the Reformed tradition.”

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“This forcefully written and persuasively argued book casts in relief the diversity and complexity of the Reformed tradition in the early modern period. With an astonishing grasp of a broad range of sources, Muller offers a challenging and illuminating examination of the tightly woven relations between theology and history. The analysis is penetrating and the arguments break new ground, all in conversation with generations of scholarship on Reformed thought. Essential reading.”

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“Meticulous attention to texts and their contexts, expressed in Muller's own lively, precise language and expressing his astute assessment of the theologians he studies, marks this collection of new and old from the leading living scholar of the practice of Reformed theology in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Muller takes readers into the intellectual world and the thinking of Calvin and a number of others, representatives of Calvin's own time and of the following generation. Muller plumbs the depths of their teaching in their historical settings with judiciousness and acumen while clarifying the intricate relationships among Reformed thinkers. He places his own monumental work into the framework of current scholarly discussion and of the sources which have produced his insights in ways that will bring readers at every level of familiarity with Reformed theology much deeper into its riches.”

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“Calvin and the Reformed Tradition is a masterful and penetrating look into critical dimensions of Calvin's soteriology in relation to the Reformed tradition. Richard Muller presents here the fruit of decades of careful research into sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sources. Sometimes he gives us a satellite view of conflicting master narratives in retelling Reformation and post-Reformation theology. At other times he gives us a microscopic view of specific texts in Calvin's works, carefully analyzed in their context. At every turn he calls scholars to careful definition of terms and the avoidance of imposing anachronisms on early modern writers. Students of historical theology with an interest in matters such as the divine intent of Christ's death, the free offer of the gospel, the will of God for salvation, union with Christ, and the relation of assurance of salvation to the fruit of the Spirit will find this book challenging, illuminating, and helpful.”

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