Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics: The Rise and Development of Reformed Orthodoxy, ca. 1520 to ca. 1725

Here we have a brilliant parsing of Reformed orthodoxy in its development, and in its polemical, philosophical, and exegetical contexts. Muller’s narrative of the codification or, from the perspective of social history, the institutionalization of Reformed theology will surely reinforce the author’s position as the undisputed leader of an international revisionist movement which has, in two decades, dramatically altered our understanding of post-Reformation historical theology. . . . One of the real strengths of this work is the author’s integration of the history of philosophy into this history of theology. So too is the author’s endeavour to remain theologically neutral in his analysis. Most of all, the work is finely tuned historically. Careful attention is paid to synchronic and diachronic variations in the theology of the Reformers and the Reformed orthodox. . . . An almost unmitigated strength of the work is its clear structure and accessibility. The table of contents is detailed and helpful, the bibliography (which draws on printed works only) is vast and well integrated into the text. The combined subject and name index is dependable. . . . With the publication of these volumes, the academic community has been given a work of great consequence. The ‘Muller thesis’ has profound significance for historians and theologians alike, for this is much more than a prolonged and devastating critique of neo-orthodox historiography. The comprehensiveness of its analysis and the force of its argument makes this study one of the truly essential works on post-Reformation history and theology. No future research in post-Reformation polemic and theology, whether orthodox or heterodox, can afford to ignore these volumes.”