Christ and the Decree – Christology and Predestination in Reformed Theology from Calvin to Perkins

Richard A. Muller (PhD, Duke University) is P. J. Zondervan Professor of Historical Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the author of numerous books, including The Unaccommodated Calvin, After Calvin, and Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics. He also serves as the editor for the Texts and Studies in Reformation and Post-Reformation Thought series.

"Richard Muller does his homework. His is one of few books in recent memory to address seriously the systematic-theological issues inherent in the debate concerning the relationship of predestination and Christology in the thought of Calvin and his successors. This study is a welcome addition to the secondary sources in the field. Students--whether they finally agree or disagree with Professor Muller's views--will want to read thoroughly his carefully researched arguments... One will ... find a wealth of valuable research and trenchant observations in an area of Reformed thought which often is neglected, and even more often treated only with superficial scholarship... This book is worthy of reflection and argument."Michael Jinkins, Scottish Journal of Theology

• I. INTRODUCTION1. Protestant Orthodoxy: A Survey of Opinion2. Theological and Methodological ConsiderationsPART I: REFORMED THEOLOGY IN ITS FIRST CODIFICATION: The Systems of Calvin, Bullinger, Musculus and VermigliII. PREDESTINATION AND CHRISTOLOGY IN THE THOUGHT OF CALVIN1. Fundamental Distinctions in Calvin's Theology2. Calvin's Doctrine of Predestination3. Patterns in Calvin's Christology4. Christ and Election--the Interrelationship of Two Focal Points in Calvin's TheologyIII. THE SYSTEMS OF CALVIN'S CONTEMPORARIES1. Predestination and Christology in the Thought of Heinrich Bullinger2. Musculus' Loci Communes3. Vermigli's Loci CommunesEPILOGUE: Christ and the Decree in the First Codification of Reformed TheologyPART II: THE FORMULATION OF ORTHODOX SYSTEM: Reformed Theology in Its Second CodificationDivision 1. The Movement toward OrthodoxyIV. PREDESTINATION AND CHRISTOLOGY IN THE THOUGHT OF THEODORE BEZA1. The Tabula Praedestinationis (1555)2. Beza's Contribution to the Systematic Structure of Reformed TheologyV. REFORMED THEOLOGY IN HEIDELBERG: ZACHARIAS URSINUS AND JEROME ZANCHI1. Ursinus on Christ and the Decree2. Christology and Predestination in the Theology of ZanchiEPILOGUE: The Movement toward OrthodoxyDivision 2. Early OrthodoxyVI. CALVINISM AT THE CLOSE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY: POLANUS AND PERKINS1. Predestination in the Doctrinal Structure of Early Orthodoxy2. The Development of Christological Structures in Early Reformed Orthodoxy3. Predestination and Its Christological Referent in the Theology of Polanus and PerkinsEPILOGUE: The Early Orthodox CodificationVII. CHRIST AND THE DECREE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY ORTHODOXY: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECTIndex