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    Reform according to Right Law: the Use of Legal Tradition in Reformation Theology. Issue Editor: André A. Gazal

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Perichoresis

Volume 20 (2022): Issue 5 (December 2022)
Doctoral Supplement. Postgraduate Research in Contemporary Evangelical Higher Education: Academic Perspectives on Variegated Theological and Historical Topics. Issue Editor: Marcel V. Măcelaru

Volume 20 (2022): Issue 4 (December 2022)
Miscellaneous Theological Investigations. From Economy, Literature, and Hermeneutics to Christology, Exegesis, and Typology. Issue Editor: Corneliu C. Simuț

Volume 20 (2022): Issue 3 (July 2022)
A Multi-Angle Examination of C. S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces. Theological, Philosophical, Ethical, and Literary Insights from one of Lewis's Greatest Novels. Issue Editor: Zachary Breitenbach

Volume 20 (2022): Issue 2 (June 2022)
Reform according to Right Law: the Use of Legal Tradition in Reformation Theology. Issue Editor: André A. Gazal

Volume 20 (2022): Issue 1 (March 2022)
Confessing the Trinity. The Trinitarianism of Particular Baptists, 1640s-1840s. Issue Editor: Michael A. G. Haykin

Volume 19 (2021): Issue 4 (December 2021)
Miscellaneous Theological Studies: Biblical, Apologetic, Historical, Patristic, Theodicean, and Systematic. Issue Editor: Corneliu C. Simuţ

Volume 19 (2021): Issue 3 (July 2021)
Islam and Islamism. The Challenge for Modern Liberal Democracies. Issue Editors: Raphael Lataster, Rumy Hasan

Volume 19 (2021): Issue 2 (June 2021)
Fundamental Aspects of Christological Anthropology: Theological and Philosophical Perspectives in Contemporary Debates. Editor: Christopher G. Woznicki

Volume 19 (2021): Issue 1 (March 2021)
Revivalism in Central European Protestantism, 1840-1940: Hungarian Calvinists, British Evangelicals & German-Austrian Pietists during the Spiritual Renewal of Protestant Churches in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Editor: Ábraham Kovács

Volume 18 (2020): Issue 6 (December 2020)
The Catholic Reformation. Ecclesiology, Justification, Freedom, Sin, Grace & the Council of Trent. Editor: Eduardo J. Echeverria

Volume 18 (2020): Issue 5 (October 2020)
Roman Catholic, Reformed Catholic and Evangelical Protestant. Reformation Issues Five Hundred Years Later. Editor: Issue editor: Joshua R. Farris

Volume 18 (2020): Issue 4 (August 2020)
Issue 4 (Aug 2020): From Paris to Tortosa, via Barcelona (1240-1413), Characters, Issues and Problems in Medieval Jewish-Christian Disputations. Editor: Francesco Bianchi

Volume 18 (2020): Issue 3 (July 2020)
In the Footsteps of the Divine Artist. On the Religious and Spiritual Dimension in Art. Editors: Wessel Stoker and Frank G. Bosman

Volume 18 (2020): Issue 2 (June 2020)
De Corpore – ‘On the Body’ through the History of Idea, Views of the Body in Philosophy, Literature and Religion. Editor: Ramona Simuț

Volume 18 (2020): Issue 1 (March 2020)
Baptist and Reformed Theologies of Vision and Deification (2). Constructive Issues in Contemporary Research. Editors: Joshua R. Farris and Ryan A. Brandt

Volume 17 (2019): Issue 4 (December 2019)
Patristic Thought in Byzantine and Protestant Theology. From Gregory Palamas and George Pachymeres to Luther, Calvin, Anglicans, and Anabaptists. Editor: Andre A. Gazal

Volume 17 (2019): Issue 3 (July 2019)
Contemporary Evangelicals on Carl F. H. Henry’s Theology. From Philosophy, Evangelism, and Apologetics to Education, History, and Practice. Editor: Robert W. Talley

Volume 17 (2019): Issue s2 (July 2019)
Single Author Supplement 2: The Background and Nature of the Dissensions in 1 Corinthians 1-4. Apollos' Role and Paul's Response. Author: Corin Mihăilă

Volume 17 (2019): Issue 2 (June 2019)
Baptist and Reformed Theologies of Vision and Deification. Editors: Joshua R. Farris and Ryan A. Brandt

Volume 17 (2019): Issue 1 (March 2019)
The Father, Son, and Spirit in Early Christian Theology, Second Century Examples. Editor: Paul A. Hartog

Volume 17 (2019): Issue s1 (January 2019)
Single Author Supplement 1: Theological Patterns in Reformation Thought. English, American, and Scottish Protestants on Christ, Revival, and the Covenant. Author: Dinu Moga

Volume 16 (2018): Issue 4 (December 2018)
Tome huitième: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1518-2018. Contemporary Perspectives on History and Theology in British Baptist Thought. Scottish and English Baptists on Salvation, Politics, and the End of Times. Issue editor: Alasdair Black

Volume 16 (2018): Issue 3 (July 2018)
Tome septieme: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1518-2018. Teaching Leaders, Leading Teachers. Biblical and Historical Perspectives on Education and Leadership: Jeffrey M. Horner Issue editor: Jeffrey M. Horner

Volume 16 (2018): Issue 2 (June 2018)
Tome sixième: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1518-2018. Contemporary Perspectives on Molinism. Theories, Responses to Objections, and Applications, Issue editor: Kirk R. MacGregor

Volume 16 (2018): Issue 1 (April 2018)
Tome cinquième: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1518-2018. Insights into Contemporary Baptist Thought. Perspectives on European Baptist Theology and History, Issue editor: Toivo Pilli

Volume 15 (2017): Issue 4 (December 2017)
Special Issue: Tome quatrieme: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1517-2017. Investigating the Magisterial Reformation and Its Radical Contenders. Contemporary Evangelicals on Reformation Research: from Lutheranism and Zwinglianism to Anabaptism and Baptism, Issue Editor: Marvin Jones

Volume 15 (2017): Issue 3 (October 2017)
Special Issue: Tome troisième: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1517-2017. Theologizing about Spirituality, Pedagogy, and Soteriology. Miscellanea Antiqua, Medievalia, Reformatorica & Moderna by Corneliu Simuț

Volume 15 (2017): Issue 2 (July 2017)
Special Issue: : Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1517-2017. ‘On the Soul’ through the History of Ideas. Views of the Soul in Philosophy, Literature & Relivion by Ramona Simuț

Volume 15 (2017): Issue 1 (May 2017)
Issue title: Tome premier: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation: 1517-2017. Anthologizing History, the Bible, and Theology. Miscellanea Celtica, Humanistica & Reformatorica by Thomas O’Loughlin and Corneliu C. Simuț

Volume 14 (2016): Issue 3 (December 2016)
Avant-Premiere: Celebrating 500 Years since the Reformation, 1517-2017. Contemporary Perspectives on Reformed Orthodoxy. Reformed Confessions, Scholastic Thought, and Puritan Divinity in Post-Reformation Protestantism, Issue Editors: Gijsbert van den Brink, Aza Goudriaan

Volume 14 (2016): Issue 2 (October 2016)
Transformative Poetry and Its Role in Catholic Theology. Dutch Contributions to Contemporary Catholic Research. Issue Editors: Archibald L. H. M. van Wieringen, Marcel Sarot. Translator: Brian Heffernan

Volume 14 (2016): Issue 1 (June 2016)
African Hermeneutics in the Twenty-First Century. Social History and Indigenous Theologies in Contemporary African Research. Issue Editor: Zorodzai Dube

Volume 13 (2015): Issue 2 (October 2015)
Issue title: The Long History of Lutheranism in Scandinavia. Contemporary Voices in Finnish Historical Research. Issue Editor: Pirjo Markkola

Volume 13 (2015): Issue 1 (June 2015)
Issue Title: The Value of Controversy. Defining Early Modern Religion through Ritual and Writing. Issue Editor: Angela Ranson

Volume 12 (2014): Issue 2 (October 2014)
Special issue title: Exploring the Contours of Patristic Thought. Studies on Exegesis, Christology, and Soteriology in the Early Church

Volume 12 (2014): Issue 1 (June 2014)
Established and Emerging Voices in Richard Hooker Research, Issue Editor: Paul A. Dominiak

Volume 11 (2013): Issue 2 (December 2013)

Volume 11 (2013): Issue 1 (June 2013)

Volume 10 (2012): Issue 2 (June 2012)

Volume 10 (2012): Issue 1 (January 2012)

Journal Details
Format
Journal
eISSN
2284-7308
First Published
20 Sep 2012
Publication timeframe
3 times per year
Languages
English

Search

Volume 20 (2022): Issue 2 (June 2022)
Reform according to Right Law: the Use of Legal Tradition in Reformation Theology. Issue Editor: André A. Gazal

Journal Details
Format
Journal
eISSN
2284-7308
First Published
20 Sep 2012
Publication timeframe
3 times per year
Languages
English

Search

7 Articles
Open Access

The Aristotelian Conception of Natural Law and Its Reception in Early Protestant Commentaries on the Nicomachean Ethics

Manfred Svensson
Manfred Svensson
Published Online: 09 May 2022
Page range: 3 - 18

Abstract

Abstract

The Protestant reception both of Aristotle and of the concept of natural law have been the object of renewed attention. The present article aims at a cross-fertilization of these two recoveries: did a specifically Aristotelian approach to natural law (among other important sources) play a significant role in classical Protestant thought? The article answers this question by means of a review of the Protestant commentaries on Aristotle’s natural law-passage in Nicomachean Ethics V, 7. Reformation and post-Reformation scholars sometimes offered original readings of this text, but above all they cultivated the various approaches to the passage that had been developed during the medieval period.

Keywords

  • Aristotle
  • Natural Law
  • Melanchthon
  • Velsius
Open Access

John Calvin on the Intersection of Natural, Roman, and Mosaic Law

David S. Sytsma
David S. Sytsma
Published Online: 09 May 2022
Page range: 19 - 41

Abstract

Abstract

Although there are many studies on John Calvin’s teaching on natural law, the relation between natural law and Roman law has received relatively less attention. This essay examines the relation between natural law and Roman law in Calvin’s exegetical writing on the Mosaic law. I argue that Calvin regarded Roman law as an exemplary, albeit imperfect, witness to the natural law, and he used Roman law to aid in his interpretation of the Mosaic law. Since he assumed that Roman law embodies principles of natural law, Calvin drew on Roman law as an aid in order to distinguish natural from positive law within the Mosaic law. He also broadened the scope of commandments in the second table of the Decalogue by comparison with natural and Roman law. Yet although Calvin drew many continuities between Mosaic and Roman laws, he remained critical of the Roman system due to various failings in comparison with Scripture and principles of natural law.

Keywords

  • John Calvin
  • natural law
  • Roman law
  • Mosaic law
  • Decalogue
Open Access

‘Vestiges of the Divine Light’: Girolamo Zanchi, Richard Hooker, and a Reformed Thomistic Natural Law Theory

Bradford Littlejohn
Bradford Littlejohn
Published Online: 09 May 2022
Page range: 43 - 62

Abstract

Abstract

This article assesses Jerome Zanchi’s (1560-90) theory of natural law in relation to that of Richard Hooker’s (1554-1600) by arguing three theses. First, Zanchi’s view of natural law is generally Thomistic, but he expands upon it in a manner similar to his contemporaries, thereby providing further evidence against the increasingly discredited narrative of a Protestant voluntarism dominating early Reformed scholastic thought. Second, Zanchi’s commitment to the Reformed doctrine of total depravity does not represent as drastic a departure from Thomas as might first appear. Third, Hooker’s disagreement with Zanchi on this last point does not, as often argued, result from his own diluted commitment to total depravity, but denotes a more coherent and elegant way of reaching the same Reformed Thomistic synthesis. The historical record suggests that Hooker’s approach proved more influential than Zanchi’s.

Keywords

  • Natural Law
  • Richard Hooker
  • Jerome Zachi
  • Thomas Aquinas
  • Re-Inscription
Open Access

Pagans and Theologians: An Examination of the Use of Christian Sources in Niels Hemmingsen’s De Lege Naturae

Eric J. Hutchinson
Eric J. Hutchinson
Published Online: 09 May 2022
Page range: 63 - 73

Abstract

Abstract

At the conclusion of his De lege naturae apodictica methodus, a treatise on the law of nature, how it is grasped by the human mind, and how it coheres with the Decalogue, Niels Hemmingsen claims to have eschewed the use of theological sources in his argument, claiming instead to have demonstrated ‘how far reason is able to progress without the prophetic and apostolic word’. Yet the reader of the treatise will notice several citations of theologians alongside those of pagan poets and philosophers. This essay demonstrates that there is less here than meets the eye, that is, that Hemmingsen quotes theologians only to buttress what one can know from natural reason or the classical tradition, even when he is discussing God, and thus he does not violate his own stated principle.

Keywords

  • Niels Hemmingsen
  • natural law
  • Aristotelianism
  • Lutheranism
  • Melanchthon
Open Access

‘All Things Are Lawful’: Adiaphora, Permissive Natural Law, Christian Freedom, and Defending the English Reformation

Paul Dominiak
Paul Dominiak
Published Online: 09 May 2022
Page range: 75 - 103

Abstract

Abstract

Adiaphora (‘indifferent matters’) and permissive natural law both conceptually pointed towards an arena of liberty in which the individual remained free to take up (or not) particular courses of action. In the Reformation debates over the external regulation of Christian freedom for the maintenance of peace and order, these two concepts became freighted with political significance; but they also in turn shaped attitudes over when and where obedience was due in relation to the civic regulation of liberty. Tudor apologetics deployed both ideas in order to defend the English Reformation, especially the claim of the royal supremacy to have due authority to regulate ecclesiastical affairs in indifferent matters, limiting Christian freedom and requiring obedience. By situating these debates within the context of the conceptual development of adiaphora and permissive natural law from their original philosophical roots through to the Reformation, this article establishes the genealogy of claims that defined such apologetics. After surveying the seemingly intractable dilemmas in the thought of Thomas Starkey and John Whitgift over why obedience to lay ecclesiastical supremacy was due, this article considers the radical return to the permissive natural law traditions of the medieval period in the Elizabethan conformist thought of Richard Hooker. In this return, Hooker supplanted divine permissions and scriptural principles as the guide for the proper regulation of indifferent matters with an appeal to the light of reason as the divine instrument through which binding human laws are made to govern society and limit freedom for the public good, even in the life of the national church.

Keywords

  • adiaphora
  • liberty
  • permissive natural law
  • Reformation
  • royal supremacy
Open Access

‘According to Right Law’: John Jewel’s Use of the Ius Antiqua in His Defense of the Elizabethan Church

André A. Gazal
André A. Gazal
Published Online: 09 May 2022
Page range: 105 - 126

Abstract

Abstract

In his Apology of the Church of England as well as many of his other works, John Jewel defended the orthodoxy of the Elizabethan Church on the basis of the following criteria: Scripture, the first four general councils, the writings of the Church Fathers, and the example of the primitive church.1 By emphasizing these authorities, the bishop of Salisbury also sought to impeach the Roman Church’s claim to orthodoxy by arguing that doctrines and practices which developed subsequently to the early church as defined by these criteria contradict them, thereby nullifying its charge of heresy against Protestants while simultaneously indicting the papacy itself as heretical. A question that emerges from studying Jewel’s prodigious polemical works concerns the source of this means of determining orthodoxy. Answering this question requires a close analysis of the apologist’s use of sources. This article will attempt to answer this question by arguing that this criteria for defining orthodoxy derived mainly from canon law tradition that is confirmed specifically by Gratian’s Decretum. This thesis maintains that Jewel’s criteria constituted a form of the ius antiqua with which he attacked the ius novum that provided the authoritative basis for papal supremacy, and in so doing, sought to vindicate the Elizabethan Church’s place in ancient catholic tradition.

Keywords

  • John Jewel
  • Gratian
  • Canon Law
  • Papacy
  • Elizabethan Church
Open Access

The Role of Nature in New England Puritan Theology: The Case of Samuel Willard

Stephen M. Wolfe
Stephen M. Wolfe
Published Online: 09 May 2022
Page range: 127 - 142

Abstract

Abstract

This article discusses the role of nature in the theological system of New England minister Samuel Willard (1640-1707). I focus specifically on his account of theological anthropology, the relationship of nature and grace, and the moral (or natural) law, and show how each relates to his views on civil government and civil law. Willard affirmed the natural law, natural religion, and natural worship, and he acknowledged and respected pagan civic virtue and grounded civil order and social relations in nature. Willard’s theological articulations are substantively the same as those found among the ‘Reformed orthodox’ theologians of 17th century Europe, which provides evidence for the thesis that Reformed orthodoxy was a transatlantic movement. His reliance on nature also corrects scholarship on the New England Puritans, which often assumes that they rejected the Christian natural law tradition.

Keywords

  • Samuel Willard
  • natural law
  • natural religion
  • Reformed Orthodoxy
  • New England Puritans
7 Articles
Open Access

The Aristotelian Conception of Natural Law and Its Reception in Early Protestant Commentaries on the Nicomachean Ethics

Manfred Svensson
Manfred Svensson
Published Online: 09 May 2022
Page range: 3 - 18

Abstract

Abstract

The Protestant reception both of Aristotle and of the concept of natural law have been the object of renewed attention. The present article aims at a cross-fertilization of these two recoveries: did a specifically Aristotelian approach to natural law (among other important sources) play a significant role in classical Protestant thought? The article answers this question by means of a review of the Protestant commentaries on Aristotle’s natural law-passage in Nicomachean Ethics V, 7. Reformation and post-Reformation scholars sometimes offered original readings of this text, but above all they cultivated the various approaches to the passage that had been developed during the medieval period.

Keywords

  • Aristotle
  • Natural Law
  • Melanchthon
  • Velsius
Open Access

John Calvin on the Intersection of Natural, Roman, and Mosaic Law

David S. Sytsma
David S. Sytsma
Published Online: 09 May 2022
Page range: 19 - 41

Abstract

Abstract

Although there are many studies on John Calvin’s teaching on natural law, the relation between natural law and Roman law has received relatively less attention. This essay examines the relation between natural law and Roman law in Calvin’s exegetical writing on the Mosaic law. I argue that Calvin regarded Roman law as an exemplary, albeit imperfect, witness to the natural law, and he used Roman law to aid in his interpretation of the Mosaic law. Since he assumed that Roman law embodies principles of natural law, Calvin drew on Roman law as an aid in order to distinguish natural from positive law within the Mosaic law. He also broadened the scope of commandments in the second table of the Decalogue by comparison with natural and Roman law. Yet although Calvin drew many continuities between Mosaic and Roman laws, he remained critical of the Roman system due to various failings in comparison with Scripture and principles of natural law.

Keywords

  • John Calvin
  • natural law
  • Roman law
  • Mosaic law
  • Decalogue
Open Access

‘Vestiges of the Divine Light’: Girolamo Zanchi, Richard Hooker, and a Reformed Thomistic Natural Law Theory

Bradford Littlejohn
Bradford Littlejohn
Published Online: 09 May 2022
Page range: 43 - 62

Abstract

Abstract

This article assesses Jerome Zanchi’s (1560-90) theory of natural law in relation to that of Richard Hooker’s (1554-1600) by arguing three theses. First, Zanchi’s view of natural law is generally Thomistic, but he expands upon it in a manner similar to his contemporaries, thereby providing further evidence against the increasingly discredited narrative of a Protestant voluntarism dominating early Reformed scholastic thought. Second, Zanchi’s commitment to the Reformed doctrine of total depravity does not represent as drastic a departure from Thomas as might first appear. Third, Hooker’s disagreement with Zanchi on this last point does not, as often argued, result from his own diluted commitment to total depravity, but denotes a more coherent and elegant way of reaching the same Reformed Thomistic synthesis. The historical record suggests that Hooker’s approach proved more influential than Zanchi’s.

Keywords

  • Natural Law
  • Richard Hooker
  • Jerome Zachi
  • Thomas Aquinas
  • Re-Inscription
Open Access

Pagans and Theologians: An Examination of the Use of Christian Sources in Niels Hemmingsen’s De Lege Naturae

Eric J. Hutchinson
Eric J. Hutchinson
Published Online: 09 May 2022
Page range: 63 - 73

Abstract

Abstract

At the conclusion of his De lege naturae apodictica methodus, a treatise on the law of nature, how it is grasped by the human mind, and how it coheres with the Decalogue, Niels Hemmingsen claims to have eschewed the use of theological sources in his argument, claiming instead to have demonstrated ‘how far reason is able to progress without the prophetic and apostolic word’. Yet the reader of the treatise will notice several citations of theologians alongside those of pagan poets and philosophers. This essay demonstrates that there is less here than meets the eye, that is, that Hemmingsen quotes theologians only to buttress what one can know from natural reason or the classical tradition, even when he is discussing God, and thus he does not violate his own stated principle.

Keywords

  • Niels Hemmingsen
  • natural law
  • Aristotelianism
  • Lutheranism
  • Melanchthon
Open Access

‘All Things Are Lawful’: Adiaphora, Permissive Natural Law, Christian Freedom, and Defending the English Reformation

Paul Dominiak
Paul Dominiak
Published Online: 09 May 2022
Page range: 75 - 103

Abstract

Abstract

Adiaphora (‘indifferent matters’) and permissive natural law both conceptually pointed towards an arena of liberty in which the individual remained free to take up (or not) particular courses of action. In the Reformation debates over the external regulation of Christian freedom for the maintenance of peace and order, these two concepts became freighted with political significance; but they also in turn shaped attitudes over when and where obedience was due in relation to the civic regulation of liberty. Tudor apologetics deployed both ideas in order to defend the English Reformation, especially the claim of the royal supremacy to have due authority to regulate ecclesiastical affairs in indifferent matters, limiting Christian freedom and requiring obedience. By situating these debates within the context of the conceptual development of adiaphora and permissive natural law from their original philosophical roots through to the Reformation, this article establishes the genealogy of claims that defined such apologetics. After surveying the seemingly intractable dilemmas in the thought of Thomas Starkey and John Whitgift over why obedience to lay ecclesiastical supremacy was due, this article considers the radical return to the permissive natural law traditions of the medieval period in the Elizabethan conformist thought of Richard Hooker. In this return, Hooker supplanted divine permissions and scriptural principles as the guide for the proper regulation of indifferent matters with an appeal to the light of reason as the divine instrument through which binding human laws are made to govern society and limit freedom for the public good, even in the life of the national church.

Keywords

  • adiaphora
  • liberty
  • permissive natural law
  • Reformation
  • royal supremacy
Open Access

‘According to Right Law’: John Jewel’s Use of the Ius Antiqua in His Defense of the Elizabethan Church

André A. Gazal
André A. Gazal
Published Online: 09 May 2022
Page range: 105 - 126

Abstract

Abstract

In his Apology of the Church of England as well as many of his other works, John Jewel defended the orthodoxy of the Elizabethan Church on the basis of the following criteria: Scripture, the first four general councils, the writings of the Church Fathers, and the example of the primitive church.1 By emphasizing these authorities, the bishop of Salisbury also sought to impeach the Roman Church’s claim to orthodoxy by arguing that doctrines and practices which developed subsequently to the early church as defined by these criteria contradict them, thereby nullifying its charge of heresy against Protestants while simultaneously indicting the papacy itself as heretical. A question that emerges from studying Jewel’s prodigious polemical works concerns the source of this means of determining orthodoxy. Answering this question requires a close analysis of the apologist’s use of sources. This article will attempt to answer this question by arguing that this criteria for defining orthodoxy derived mainly from canon law tradition that is confirmed specifically by Gratian’s Decretum. This thesis maintains that Jewel’s criteria constituted a form of the ius antiqua with which he attacked the ius novum that provided the authoritative basis for papal supremacy, and in so doing, sought to vindicate the Elizabethan Church’s place in ancient catholic tradition.

Keywords

  • John Jewel
  • Gratian
  • Canon Law
  • Papacy
  • Elizabethan Church
Open Access

The Role of Nature in New England Puritan Theology: The Case of Samuel Willard

Stephen M. Wolfe
Stephen M. Wolfe
Published Online: 09 May 2022
Page range: 127 - 142

Abstract

Abstract

This article discusses the role of nature in the theological system of New England minister Samuel Willard (1640-1707). I focus specifically on his account of theological anthropology, the relationship of nature and grace, and the moral (or natural) law, and show how each relates to his views on civil government and civil law. Willard affirmed the natural law, natural religion, and natural worship, and he acknowledged and respected pagan civic virtue and grounded civil order and social relations in nature. Willard’s theological articulations are substantively the same as those found among the ‘Reformed orthodox’ theologians of 17th century Europe, which provides evidence for the thesis that Reformed orthodoxy was a transatlantic movement. His reliance on nature also corrects scholarship on the New England Puritans, which often assumes that they rejected the Christian natural law tradition.

Keywords

  • Samuel Willard
  • natural law
  • natural religion
  • Reformed Orthodoxy
  • New England Puritans

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