Directions in the Study of Early Modern Reformed Thought

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Given both the advances in understanding of early modern Reformed theology made in the last thirty years, the massive multiplication of available sources, the significant literature that has appeared in collateral fields, there is a series of highly promising directions for further study. These include archival research into the life, work, and interrelationships of various thinkers, contextual examination of larger numbers of thinkers, study of academic faculties, the interrelationships between theology, philosophy, science, and law, and the interactions positive as well as negative between different confessionalities.KEY WORDS: Reformed orthodoxy, post-Reformation Reformed thought, early modernity, exegesis, philosophy Recent Advances in ResearchThe study of early modern Reformed thought has altered dramatically in the last several decades. The once dominant picture of Calvin as the prime mover of the Reformed tradition and sole index to its theological integrity has largely disappeared from view, as has the coordinate view of 'Calvinism' as a monolithic theology and the worry over whether later Reformed thought remained 'true' to Calvin. The relatively neglected field of seventeenth-century Reformed thought has expanded and developed both in the number of diverse thinkers examined and in the variety of approaches to the materials. (Given the number of recent published studies of early modern Reformed thought, the following essay makes no attempt to offer a full bibliography, but only to provide examples of various types of research. Readers are invited to explore the excellent bibliographies found in many of the recent works cited here.)There are several explanations for the development of this field. The positive study of late medieval backgrounds by scholars of the Reformation has altered assumptions about the nature and character of Protestant thought.

The Image of God in Reformed Orthodoxy. Soundings in the Development of an Anthropological Key Concept

“…Muller 2012a). Meanwhile, as Muller himself indicates in his contribution to this issue (Muller 2016), a lot of historical work has still to be done in this area.…”