A question of consensus : the doctrine of assurance after the Westminster Confession / Jonathan Master.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Master, Jonathan, 1979- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Westminster Confession of Faith.

Assurance (Theology)--History of doctrines--17th century.

Assurance (Theology).

Reformed Church--Doctrines--History--17th century.

Reformed Church.

Presbyterian Church--Doctrines--History--17th century.

Presbyterian Church.

Presbyterian Church--Doctrines.

History.

Reformed Church--Doctrines.

Assurance (Theology)--History of doctrines.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

223 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis, MN : Fortress Press, [2015]

Summary:

From the very earliest days after its completion in 1646, the Westminster Confession's position on assurance has been a subject of controversy. Jonathan Master considers the Westminster Confession's statements on assurance as a position of consensus among a diversity of viewpoints. Master traces how from this one position, the idea was expanded and modified--even by the document's own authors!--just years after its reception, in very distinct ways. Each of these expansions on what was intended to be a consensus document forms the basis for later traditions regarding assurance within the Reformed and Evangelical traditions. To date, few studies have examined these expansions as a united whole, and Master's work highlights the ways in which the streams of thought flowing out of Westminster are as important as those flowing into it, raising as they do questions about confession and doctrinal freedom in the growing Reformed tradition.

Contents:

Setting the stage : Calvin, Beza, and the Reformed doctrine of assurance before Westminster

The Westminster consensus

Moving beyond Westminster : Anthony Burgess's framework for assurance

Further development : the framework for assurance in Thomas Goodwin and John Owen

The danger of false assurance : frameworks after Westminster

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781451469417

1451469411

OCLC:

898167197