Westminster Handbook to Reformed Theology., The

The Westminster Handbook to Reformed Theology. By Donald K. McKim, ed. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001, 241 pp., $24.95.

This book serves primarily as a reference tool designed for clergy and students with scholarly and compact articles on a variety of topics related to Reformed thought. Each piece is accompanied by a brief bibliography. A number of entries are of particular interest.

The article on scholasticism is important to the early development of Reformed theology after the Reformation. It is a bit surprising that McKim did not have Richard Muller, the foremost expert in the field, write this article, especially since Professor Muller is a contributor to this book. Elsewhere, Muller argues that the term "scholasticism" should be defined in the way that the sixteenth and seventeenth-century divines used it. They defined scholasticism as the setting and method of doing theology. Using this definition of scholasticism primarily as a method allows for the possibility of disagreement in terms of the content of theology among the major confessional groups.

Arvin Vos, the author of the entry on scholasticism, argues that Reformed scholasticism came into prominence with the theology of Theodore Beza, who "modified Calvin's position in significant ways" on the subjects of predestination, Scripture, and limited atonement. I would argue for essential agreement between Calvin and Beza on this score. Although Calvin did not develop the concept of limited atonement in the Institutes, he did make clear statements in support of that doctrine in his commentaries. Vos also argues that the Aristotelian influence on Vermigli, Zanchi, and Beza (all of whom made the divine decrees a more central aspect of their thought) resulted in a more prominent place for the doctrine of predestination. This perspective is a modification of the traditional argument that predestination was the central dogma for Reformed scholasticism, an argument that Muller has consistently refuted. Vos correctly notes, however, that Calvin was only one of many contemporaries (including Zwingli, Bucer, and Vermigli) who together founded what became known as Reformed theology.

Another interesting entry is Derk Visser's article on law. He points out that the third use of the law is a prominent feature in Reformed theology. For Calvin, this means that the moral law serves as a guide for proper behavior. Visser argues that on this score Calvin was not arguing against Luther, who had a strong view of the applicability of the Ten Commandments for the Christian. Yet, Luther did not make the formal argument on the third use of the law and generally viewed the law in negative terms, i.e., as being associated with sin and death. Calvin, by contrast, saw the law as his ally to help express God's will. For Calvin, the law was an element of the divine covenant and a source of continuity between the OT and the NT.

Dewey Wallace's essay on federal theology is of considerable interest. Federalism was the dominant form of Reformed thought in the seventeenth century. Wallace highlights Heinrich Bullinger's contribution on the topic of covenant as a central theme running throughout Scripture. For Bullinger, there was only one covenant in the Bible, the covenant of grace, which was anticipated before Christ and remembered afterwards. Each period had its own sacraments. The argument in favor of infant baptism is its relationship to the OT sacrament of circumcision. Later Reformed theologians highlighted a covenant of works made with Adam as our federal head. In such a scheme, we have an obligation to fulfill our side of the bargain. For believers who live under the covenant of grace, works are still important "as a pattern for a devout life possible through sanctifying grace." Wallace, therefore, notes a change from a single covenant to a double covenant. A recent book by Peter Lillback, entitled The Binding of God: Calvin's Role in the Development of Covenant Theology, shows a higher level of continuity between Calvin, Bullinger, and the federal theologians on the topic of the covenant.

In the article on predestination, Wallace outlines Calvin's stance on double predestination and shows how Calvin drew heavily from the theology of Augustine. Wallace agrees with Vos that, in the post-Reformation period, Calvin's successors such as Beza enlarged the scope of the discussion of predestination and, according to Wallace, Beza made it a "more central part of his theology."

The articles draw from a virtual "who's who" of scholars of Reformed theology. On the whole, the articles are well written and insightful, providing an excellent introduction to the cardinal doctrines of the Reformed faith. McKim is to be commended for his continued contributions to our understanding of Reformed theology and history.

Martin I. Klauber

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL

Copyright Evangelical Theological Society Mar 2003
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