Product Description
A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life offers a groundbreaking treatment of the Puritans’ teaching on most major Reformed doctrines, particularly those doctrines in which the Puritans made significant contributions. Since the late 1950s, nearly 150 Puritan authors and 700 Puritan titles have been reprinted and catalogued by Joel Beeke and Randall Pederson in their 2006 collection of mini-biographies and book reviews, titled, Meet the Puritans. However, no work until now has gathered together the threads of their teaching into a unified tapestry of systematic theology.
A Puritan Theology, by Joel Beeke and Mark Jones, attempts to do that. The book addresses Puritan teachings on all six loci of theology, covering fifty areas of doctrine. The book explores Puritan teachings on biblical interpretation, God, predestination, providence, angels, sin, the covenants, the gospel, Christ, preparation for conversion, regeneration, coming to Christ, justification, adoption, church government, the Sabbath, preaching, baptism, heaven, hell, and many other topics. It ends with eight chapters that explore Puritan “theology in practice.” Some chapters highlight the work of a specific theologian such as William Perkins, William Ames, John Owen, Stephen Charnock, or Thomas Goodwin on a specific topic. Other chapters survey various authors on a particular subject. The goal of A Puritan Theology is to increase knowledge in the mind and godliness in the soul. It was written for theologians, historians, pastors, and educated laymen who seek to learn more about Puritan theology.
Hardcover, 1060 pages
Publication Date: October 2012
Table of Contents:
Prolegomena
1. The Puritans on Natural and Supernatural Theology
2. Puritan Hermeneutics and Exegesis
3. The Learned Doctor William Ames and The Marrow of Theology
Theology Proper
4. Stephen Charnock on the Attributes of God
5. The Puritans on the Trinity
6. John Owen on Communion with the Triune God
7. William Perkins on Predestination
8. Thomas Goodwin and Johannes Maccovius on Justification from Eternity
9. Thomas Goodwin’s Christological Supralapsarianism
10. The Puritans on Providence
11. The Puritans on Angels
12. The Puritans on Demons
Anthropology and Covenant Theology
13. The Puritans on the Sinfulness of Sin
14. The Puritans on the Covenant of Works
15. The Puritans on the Covenant of Redemption
16. The Puritans on the Covenant of Grace
17. The Puritans on the Old and New Covenants: A Gracious Moses?
18. The Minority Report: John Owen on Sinai
19. The Puritans on Covenant Conditions
Christology
20. The Puritans on Law and Gospel
21. Puritan Christology
22. The Puritans on Christ’s Offices and States
23. The Blood of Christ in Puritan Piety
24. Anthony Burgess on Christ’s Intercession for Us
25. Thomas Goodwin on Christ’s Beautiful Heart
26. The Puritans on Understanding and Using God’s Promises
Soteriology
27. Puritan Preparatory Grace
28. The Puritans on Regeneration
29. The Puritans on Union with Christ, Justification, and Regeneration
30. John Owen on Justification by Faith Alone
31. The Puritans on Coming to Christ
32. The Puritans on Living in Christ
33. The Puritans on Adoption
34. The Third Use of the Law
35. Richard Sibbes on Entertaining the Holy Spirit
36. William Perkins and His Greatest Case of Conscience
37. The Puritans on Perseverance of the Saints
Ecclesiology
38. The Puritans on the Government of the Church
39. The Puritans on the Offices of the Church
40. John Owen on the Christian Sabbath and Worship
41. Puritan Preaching (1)
42. Puritan Preaching (2)
43. John Bunyan’s Preaching to the Heart
44. The Puritans and Paedobaptism
45. The Puritans on the Lord’s Supper
46. Puritan Prayers for World Missions
Eschatology
47. “The City on a Hill”: The American Puritans’ Optimistic View of the End Times
48. Thomas Manton on the Judgment According to Works
49. How History Informs the Historicist: Thomas Goodwin’s Reading of Revelation
50. Christopher Love on the Glories of Heaven and Terrors of Hell
Theology in Practice
51. Puritan Theology Shaped by a Pilgrim Mentality
52. The Puritans on Walking Godly in the Home
53. Matthew Henry on a Practical Method of Daily Prayer
54. The Puritan Practice of Meditation
55. The Puritans on Conscience
56. Puritan Casuistry
57. Puritan Sacrificial Zeal
58. Practical Lessons from Puritan Theology Today
Afterword
59. A Final Word
Endorsements
“For more than half a century primary research on Puritan theologians and their teaching has been in full swing. Here now is a massive compendium of the findings, digested into sixty lively chapters. The authors’ expository skill will keep readers on their toes, and the Puritans’ own concern for godly living, which runs through everything, will send readers to their knees. This is a landmark book in every way.”
- J. I. Packer, Board of Governors’ Professor of Theology, Regent College
"A Systematic Theology, covering the main loci of doctrine, from a Puritan perspective, with insightful comment and analysis from two respected Puritan scholars of our time—what more needs to be said by way of commendation? A necessary text for seminarians and all serious students of theology"
- Derek W. H. Thomas, Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary
"No expression of the Christian faith has excelled that of the great Puritans and those who followed in their steps. This excellent volume by Dr. Beeke and Dr. Jones presents to the reader a rich feast both in academic theology and practical divinity. It deserves to be read, studied, and re-read by all who are hungry to know God better and to know how to glorify Him more."
- Maurice Roberts, Emeritus Minister in Inverness, Free Church of Scotland (Continuing)
“Joel Beeke’s and Mark Jones’s work marks a major milestone in the study of Puritan and early modern Reformed theology, setting forth in modern scholarly essays an examination of a full body of seventeenth-century divinity. The work evidences a significant understanding of the primary texts and an excellent grasp of the secondary literature, both providing a sound introduction to Puritan theology and setting aside the myths of a rigid, rationalistic, monolithic system of thought divorced from Christian life. Perhaps the most consistent and unifying theme in the book is the profound connection between faith and practice that, for the Puritans and other early modern Reformed, grounded the exposition of all doctrine. A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life will provide a starting point for further study of Puritan thought for years to come.”
- Richard A. Muller, P. J. Zondervan Professor of Historical Theology, Calvin Theological Seminary
"What did the Puritans believe about God’s providence and the perseverance of the saints? What were their views on conscience and Christ’s intercession for us? In A Puritan Theology compiled by Dr. Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, we have the answers to these and many other questions. In this unique one volume work we have a robust systematic theology drawn from the teachings of the most beloved Puritans — an outstanding achievement indeed! This resource is a must read for every pastor, seminarian and serious student of the Reformed Faith. It will be a volume that I turn to again and again."
— Rob Ventura, Pastor, Grace Community Baptist Church, North Providence, Rhode Island, co-author of A Portrait of Paul
Authors
Joel R. Beeke (PhD, Westminster Seminary) is president and professor of systematic theology and homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary; a pastor of the Heritage Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan; editor of Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth; editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books; and a prolific author.
Mark Jones (Ph.D., Leiden, 2009) has been the minister at Faith Vancouver Presbyterian Church (PCA), Canada since 2007. He is also Research Associate in the Faculty of Theology at the University of the Free State (Bloemfontein) and Lecturer in Dogmatic Theology at John Wycliffe Theological College, in association with North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus), South Africa.
