Extract

The spirit of this book is an irenic one. According to its inclusive definition of Reformed theology, one gets a sense of a familiarity with the Early Modern English side of that tradition, akin to what Richard Muller and others have promoted in more detail for ‘continental’ counterparts. The author is a systematic theologian for whom historical theology is grist to the mill. However, for all that, there is a pleasing respect for the Early Modern for its own sake, even an empathy with the likes of Davenant and Ussher. Davenant was happy to affirm the five-point Calvinism of the Synod of Dort: Crisp thinks that he thought himself able to work within their confines. (Or, to put it a bit more negatively, he wanted above all to find allies with whom to resist Arminianism.) So the first chapter makes a case for widening the tent. Even Reformed and Roman are ‘two branches of one rich and complex religious tradition’ (p. 15).

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