Debated Issues in Sovereign Predestination

Book excerpt: Joel R. Beeke's work is an academic monograph of historical theology that examines three flashpoints of controversy in Reformation and Post-Reformation theology. As the subtitle, Early Lutheran Predestination, Calvinian Reprobation, and Variations in Genevan Lapsarianism implies, the work addresses, first, the development of the Lutheran doctrine of predestination from Martin Luther (1483–1546) and Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560) to the Formula of Concord (1577); second, the development of John Calvin's (1509–1564) doctrine of reprobation as traced through his writings; and third, the doctrine of predestination in Geneva with a particular emphasis on lapsarianism from Theodore Beza (1519–1605) in the sixteenth century to Jean-Alphonse Turretin (1671–1737) and Jacob Vernet (1698–1789) in the eighteenth century. The fruit of three decades of study by a professor of systematic theology who specializes in Reformation and Post-Reformation theology, this book offers a harvest of insights into questions that stood at the center of Reformation debates. Dr. Donald Sinnema, a leading scholar in predestinarian theology and the Synod of Dort, writes: "Beeke addresses these difficult matters with sensitivity to historical context and development, with systematic acuity, and a broad grasp of secondary scholarly literature with which he dialogues. The result is a balanced analysis of these issues that should bring greater clarity to scholarly understanding of the doctrine of predestination in the early modern era."