The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Volume 4: The Age of the Reformation
Overview
In Volume 4, The Age of the Reformation, Old focuses on changes in preaching due to the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. This is the pivotal volume in Old's project, covering as it does not only what the Reformers and Counter-Reformers preached but also their reform of preaching itself. Old traces the main events and people involved in the development of preaching at this time— Luther, Calvin, Thomas of Villanova, Francis Xavier, William Perkins, John Donne, Johann Gerhard, Jacques Bossuet, and many more—while also giving due attention to how preaching was itself an act of worship.
Top Highlights
“Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, the three bishops who led the Reformation in its first phase, were men of deep faith and firmly committed to the reform of the Church.” (Page 135)
“First, Puritanism had a high sense of the sovereignty of God” (Page 253)
“Another gift of public speaking Calvin had in the highest degree was clarity of thought and expression.” (Page 129)
“One of the strong points of Calvin’s preaching was his constant concern for application.” (Page 130)
“As early as 1522 William Tyndale saw the need of a fresh translation along the lines of Christian humanist scholarship.208 Tyndale’s vision was broader and more profound than Wycliffe’s; the Wycliffe Bible had not been a fresh translation from the Greek and Hebrew, but rather a translation of the Latin Vulgate.” (Page 137)
Product Details
- Title: The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Volume 4: The Age of the Reformation
- Author: Hughes Oliphant Old
- Series: The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Publication Date: 2002
- Pages: 556
Reviews
1 rating
Glenn Crouch
2/21/2017
I continue to thank the Lord that I took the plunge into this multi-volume work. Old does a marvellous job of covering the preaching and the use of Scripture in Worship. Part of me will be sad when this journey is over, but let me share a bit about Vol 4 which I just finished. I had assumed that now that we were out of the Medieval period, I would be on much more familiar grounds when it comes to the Reformation Period - but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I learnt from this volume. Covering the 16th and 17th Centuries, and focusing mainly on Europe (including UK), one is not surprised that he starts with Luther - whom I thought the Author did a good coverage on - and moves through Zwingli and other early Reformation Preachers, and then on to Calvin. Whilst it is not surprising that the Author (being Presbyterian) does a good coverage of Calvin, I found it to be quiet a balanced one. But at this point, the book is barely started. From covering the English Reformation, then on to the Counter-Reformation, the Purtians, development of Anglicanism, Protestantism in several different countries and finishing with the Catholic Preaching in the court of Louis XIV - is a phenomenal ride! I haven't seen such a good and positive coverage of the Counter-Reformation, from a preaching point of view, by a Protestant author. Given that I am a Lutheran Pastor, there is of course bias on my side as well. However, I thought the Author was very gracious, and looked for the strengths - and thus I learnt a great deal. I also thought he did a good (though naturally brief given the scope) coverage of Puritan Preaching - and covered a couple of guys I was unfamiliar with. Similarly with the growth of 17th Century Protestantism covered by several chapters - a lot of ground I was quite familiar with, but still Old had a significant number of surprises for me. But overall, I was very surprised that the Author could make me interested in the Catholic preaching of the "over the top" court of King Louis XIV. Surely this is was a place where any aspect of genuine Christianity had been smothered. Whilst the Author in no way tries to justify the court, or "tone down" the sins, rather he uses them to set the challenges that the Preachers faced, and the challenges they chose to take on. I am very appreciative of this chapter, as I very much enjoyed Old's coverage of this. So I continue to enjoy my travels through Church History, seen through Preaching and the Reading of Scripture, and eagerly look forward to the surprises install in Volume 5!
Stephen Steele
3/22/2014
Product details need corrected! "Series: The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller"
