Read more
A noted religious scholar and leader of Protestant thought, James Ussher (1581-1656) helped shape the Church of Ireland and solidify its national identity in the seventeenth century. In
Catholicity and the Covenant of Works, Harrison Perkins addresses the development of Christian doctrine in the Reformed tradition, paying particular attention to the ways in which Ussher adopted various ideas from the broad Christian tradition to shape his doctrine of the covenant of works, which he utilized to explain how God related to humanity both before and after the fall into sin.
List of contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter One: James Ussher, Covenant Theology and Theological Contexts
- Chapter Two: The Content of the Covenant of Works
- Chapter Three: Developing and Debating the Covenant of Works
- Chapter Four: The Covenant of Works and Predestination
- Chapter Five: The Covenant of Works and Christology
- Chapter Six: The Covenant of Works and the Doctrines of Salvation
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
About the author
Harrison Perkins is Assistant Minister at London City Presbyterian Church, Lecturer in Christian Doctrine at Cornhill Belfast, and Visiting Lecturer in Systematic Theology at Edinburgh Theological Seminary.
Summary
James Ussher (1581-1656), one of the most important religious scholars and Protestant leaders of the seventeenth century, helped shape the Church of Ireland and solidify its national identity. In Catholicity and the Covenant of Works, Harrison Perkins addresses the development of Christian doctrine in the Reformed tradition, paying particular attention to the ways in which Ussher adopted various ideas from the broad Christian tradition to shape his doctrine of the covenant of works, which he utilized to explain how God related to humanity both before and after the fall into sin.
Perkins highlights the ecumenical premises that underscored Reformed doctrine and the major role that Ussher played in codifying this doctrine, while also shedding light on the differing perspectives of the established churches of Ireland and England. Catholicity and the Covenant of Works considers how Ussher developed the doctrine of a covenant between God and Adam that was based on law, and illustrates how he related the covenant of works to the doctrines of predestination, Christology, and salvation.
Additional text
In this fine study Dr. Perkins deploys his varied training and many years of study to advance our understanding of James Ussher, establishment Ireland's most innovative archbishop. Along the way, Perkins adeptly dismantles polarities constructed by previous scholars and leaves us with a richly complicated and true-to-life portrait of the impossible: a time when people could maintain both conformist and 'Calvinist' loyalties, patristic and post-Reformation commitments, and predestinarian and covenantal theologies.
