Unity and Continuity in Covenantal Thought: a Study in the Reformed Tradition to the Westminster Assembly (Reformed Historical - Theological Studies)

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:
Part One: Setting the Scene
1. Historical Background to the Westminster Assembly
2. Sources and Covenant Doctrine of the Westminster Standards
3. Historiography of Covenantal Thought: The Nineteenth Century
4. Historiography of Covenantal Thought: The Twentieth Century
Part Two: Forerunners
5. The Covenant in the Church Fathers
6. The Covenant in Medieval Thought
7. The Covenant in the Early Reformers
Part Three: The Genevan Influence
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: Post-Reformation Development
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

Andrew A. Woolsey served as minister of the evangelical Presbyterian Church in Crumlin, N. Ireland for nineteen years.