The Covenant Of Grace In Puritan Thought

A comprehensive account of the major theological themes in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century Puritanism of England and New England as seen through the concept "covenant of grace." The covenant of grace, von Rohr argues, enabled Puritanism to affirm both a continuation of Calvinistic predestinationism and an emergent voluntaristic pietism, pastorally both the absolute and conditional promises of God. An extensive array of primary source material is used in substantiating the author's thesis.

A comprehensive account of the major theological themes in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century Puritanism of England and New England as seen through the concept "covenant of grace." The covenant of grace, von Rohr argues, enabled Puritanism to affirm both a continuation of Calvinistic predestinationism and an emergent voluntaristic pietism, pastorally both the absolute and conditional promises of God. An extensive array of primary source material is used in substantiating the author's thesis.

The relationship between church and state, indeed between religion and politics, has been one of the most significant themes in early modern English history. While scores of specialized studies have greatly advanced scholars' understanding of particular aspects of this period, there is no general overview that takes into account current scholarship. This volume discharges that task. Solt seeks to provide the main contours of church-state connections in England from 1509 to 1640 through a selective narration of events interspersed with interpretive summaries. Since World War II, social and economic explanations have dominated the interpretation of events in Tudor and early Stuart England. While these explanations continue to be influential, religious and political explanations have once again come to the fore. Drawing extensively from both primary and secondary sources, Solt provides a scholarly synthesis that combines the findings of earlier research with the more recent emphasis on the impact of religion on political events and vice versa.

Covenant theology is the "warp and woof" of Reformed theology, and its development was most seriously worked out during the seventeenth century. In Christ and the Condition, Michael Brown introduces us to an influential Puritan pastor who, though now largely forgotten, was a significant contributor to the covenantal debates of his day. Brown analyzes the covenantal thought of Samuel Petto and reveals a diversity of thought among the Puritans, especially concerning the Mosaic covenant. Brown¿s assessment places Petto in the context of the covenantal debates and also demonstrated the implications of covenantal thought on the doctrine of justification.

Without minimizing the validity of the social, political, and ecclesiastical approaches to this field of study, Yuille affirms that the essence of Puritanism is found in its spirituality. He demonstrates this by turning to a relatively unknown Puritan, George Swinnock (1627-1673). At the root of Swinnock's spirituality was his concept of fear of God as the proper ordering of the soul's faculties after the image of God. This concept is pivotal to Swinnock's spirituality, because he viewed it as the Christian's true principles of practice. Yuille shows the prevalence of this paradigm among Swinnock's fellow Puritans, and sets it in a historical tradition extending back to Augustine through Calvin.

Statues of Thomas Hooker and Samuel Stone grace downtown Hartford, Connecticut, but few residents are aware of the distinctive version of Puritanism that these founding ministers of Harford's First Church carried into to the Connecticut wilderness (or indeed that the city takes its name from Stone's English birthplace). Shaped by interpretations of the writings of Saint Augustine largely developed during the ministers' years at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Hartford's church order diverged in significant ways from its counterpart in the churches of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Hartford Puritanism argues for a new paradigm of New England Puritanism. Hartford's founding ministers, Baird Tipson shows, both fully embraced - and even harshened - Calvin's double predestination. Tipson explores the contributions of the lesser-known William Perkins, Alexander Richardson, and John Rogers to Thomas Hooker's thought and practice: the art and content of his preaching, as well as his determination to define and impose a distinctive notion of conversion on his hearers. The book draws heavily on Samuel Stone's The Whole Body of Divinity, a comprehensive exposition of his thought and the first systematic theology written in the American colonies. Virtually unknown today, The Whole Body of Divinity not only provides the indispensable intellectual context for the religious development of early Connecticut but also offers a more comprehensive description of the Puritanism of early New England than any other document.

Thomas Blake’s work is a master treatise on Covenant Theology. It follows the formula laid down in the Westminster Confession and demonstrates every aspect of biblical covenant theology from a systematic and well thought through argument. As it was said of John Owen’s “Death of Death in the Death of Christ” so it may be said of this work as well – Blake doth exhaust the argument. This is a tome of the highest caliber on a topic that is most needful to be understood by the Evangelical Church today – Covenant Theology and inclusion in the Covenant of God. This is not a scan or facsimile, has been updated in modern English for easy reading and has an active table of contents for electronic versions.

The free offer of the gospel has been a matter of significant debate within Reformed theology. However, despite this controversy, Reformed theologians such as James Durham preached a gospel offer which was a sincere and free invitation from God to all, to embrace Jesus Christ as Saviour. This gospel offer expressed God's grace and goodness to all. Donald MacLean argues that Durham's doctrinal position is representative of the Westminster Standards and embraced by his contemporaries and evidenced by the later disputes concerning the meaning of the teaching of the Westminster Confession of Faith.