A major study reevaluating the primary sources of the post-Reformation era, Richard Muller’s four-volume Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics chronicles the development of Reformed theology and documents the rise of Protestant orthodoxy. These volumes contain some of the most important treatments on the theological history of the Reformation, including:
- The formation of Reformed prolegomena
- The relationship between Scripture and theology
- The development of the Reformed doctrine of God
- The Reformed understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity
Contending that the theology of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is often misrepresented in church histories and scholarly treatments, Richard Muller has undertaken an exhaustive study of specific doctrines to demonstrate how doctrine developed in the early Protestant period. Muller writes out of the firm conviction that “a detailed study of Protestant thought in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is . . . a subject of direct relevance to the life and work of the church today as it attempts to understand itself in the light of its past and formulate its theology in the present.”
Few periods in the history of Christianity have been as badly neglected or as frequently misrepresented in contemporary theological discussions as the period of Protestant Orthodoxy. Richard Muller has overturned conventional wisdom on the significance of this period and redefined the field through his careful and comprehensive analysis of the primary sources. All future work on the history of Protestant theology from 1550 to 1800 will have to take Muller's studies into account.
—David C. Steinmetz, Duke University
The revised versions of volumes 1 and 2 include updated bibliographic references, rearranged chapters and sections, and attractive formatting to match Volumes Three and Four. Scholars, students of the Reformation, theological libraries, and devoted Reformed readers will find these volumes indispensable. Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics (4 Vols.) serves as an important addition to the libraries of theologians and pastors, and is intended for scholars interested in the history of thought and the history of Reformed theology from the Reformation to the rise of Protestant orthodoxy. This extensive work demands the attention of anyone interested in the history, the development, and the contemporary expressions of Reformed theology.
