Dr. Gordon Isaac taught a course on the life and writings of the great German reformer, Martin Luther at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts.
The following textbooks were used in the class:
Luther: Man Between God and the Devil, Heiko Oberman
Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, Timothy Lull, ed.
Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther, J. I. Packer & O. R. Johnston, trans.
Martin Luther’s Theology: Its Historical and Systematic Development, Bernhard Lohse
Legacy of John Calvin
by David W. Hall
Published by P and R
128 pages, paperback
“Read Legacy of John Calvin and you will understand why half a millennium after his birth, Calvin remains a vital spiritual leader for the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
-Dr. Peter A. Lillback, President, Westminster Theological Seminary
“David W. Hall makes many bold claims about the influence of John Calvin and then provides the evidence to back up those claims. As a pastor who has read widely and deeply on his subject, Dr. Hall provides a positive appreciation of Calvin’s life and influence for those celebrating the 500th anniversary of his birth.”
-William S. Barker, Professor of Church History Emeritus, Westminster Theological Seminary
Purchase The Legacy of John Calvin
Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, has recommended the following books on the Reformation.
Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. Nashville: Abingdon, 1950.
_______ . The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. Boston: Beacon, 1952.
Estep, William. The Anabaptist Story. Nashville: Broadman, 1963.
George, Timothy. The Theology of the Reformers. Nashville: Broadman, 1988.
McGrath, Alister. Reformation Thought. rev. ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 1993.
Noll, Mark. Confessions and Catechisms of the Reformation. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991.
Williams, George H. The Radical Reformation. Philadelphia: Westminister, 1962.
The following books and articles are some of those appearing on the Comprehensive Reading List for PhD Students in Reformation Studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
1. General Works
Cross, F.L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
George, Timothy. Theology of the Reformers
McGrath, Alister. Reformation Thought: An Introduction, 3rd ed.
2. Premature Reformations
Primary Sources
Colet, John. “Sermon to Convocation”
Erasmus, Desiderius. On the Freedom of the Will
_______. Enchiridion Militis Christiani
_______. Paraclesis
Gerson, Jean. “Ambulate”
More, Thomas. Utopia
Wyclif, John. De Simonia
Secondary Sources
Leff, Gordon. Heresy in the Later Middle Ages
Oakley, Francis. The Conciliarist Tradition
3. The Lutheran Reformation
Primary Sources
Luther, Martin. Commentary on Galatians
_______. On the Bondage of the Will
_______. On Temporal Authority
_______. Three Treatises
_______. The Marburg Colloquy
The Book of Concord
Secondary Sources
Althaus, Paul. The Theology of Martin Luther.
Lohse, Bernard. Martin Luther: An Introduction to His Life and Work.
4. The Reformed Tradition
Primary Sources
Bucer, Martin. De Regno Christi
Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion
_______. Commentaries
_______. Theological Treatises
Cochrane, Arthur C., ed., Reformed Confessions of the Sixteenth Century
Zwingli, Huldrych. On the Certainty and Clarity of the Word of God
Secondary Sources
Barth, Karl. The Theology of the Reformed Confessions
McNeill, John T. The History and Character of Calvinism
Wendel, François. Calvin: Sources et Évolution de sa Pensée Religieuse.
Articles on Calvin’s Exegesis
Gerrish, B.A. “Biblical Authority and the Continental Reformation.” Scottish Journal of Theology 10 (1950): 337–60.
Kraus, Hans-Joachim. “Calvin’s Exegetical Principles.” Interpretation 31 (January 1977): 8–18. A Translation of “Calvins Exegetical Prinzipien,” Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 79 (1968): 329–41.
Muller, Richard. “The Hermeneutic of Promise and Fulfillment in Calvin’s Exegesis of the Old Testament Prophecies of the Kingdom,” in The Bible in the Sixteenth Century, (Durham: Duke University Press, 1990): 68–82.
4. The Radical Reformation
Primary Sources
Bender, Harold, ed. The Complete Writings of Menno Simons
Estep, William R., ed. Anabaptist Beginnings, 1523 1533
Hubmaier, Balthasar. Theologian of Anabaptism
Klassen and Klaassen, eds. The Writings of Pilgrim Marpeck
Williams, G.H., and A.M. Mergal, eds. Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers
Secondary Sources
Estep, William. The Anabaptist Story, 2nd ed.
Littell, Franklin. The Anabaptist View of the Church
Williams, G.H. The Radical Reformation, 3rd ed.
5. The English Reformation
Primary Sources
Cranmer, Thomas. A Defense of the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Our Savior Christ
Bray, Gerald, ed. Documents of the English Reformation.
Latimer, Hugh. Sermons
Tyndale, William. On the Obedience of a Christian Man
Secondary Sources
Dickens, A.G. The English Reformation
Duffy, Eamon. The Stripping of the Altars
MacCulloch, Diarmaid. Thomas Cranmer: A Life
Articles on English Reformation Historiography
Dickens, A.G. “The Early Expansion of Protestantism in England 1520-1558,” Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 78 (1987): 187-221
_____. “The Shape of Anti-clericalism and the English Reformation,” in E.I. Kouri and Tom Scott, eds. Politics and Society in Reformation Europe: Essays for Geoffrey Elton on his Sixty-fifth Birthday (London: Macmillan, 1987), 379-410
Haigh, Christopher. “Anticlericalism and the English Reformation” History 68 (1983): 391-407
_____. “Revisionism, the Reformation and the History of English Catholicism,” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 36 (1985): 394-405
_____. “The Recent Historiography of the English Reformation,” Historical Journal 25 (1982): 995-1007
6. The Catholic Reformation
Primary Sources
Loyola, Ignatius. The Spiritual Exercises and Selected Works
Pole, Reginald. Defense of Unity of the Church
The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent
Secondary Sources
Chemnitz, Martin. Examination of the Council of Trent
Fenlon, Dermot. Heresy and Obedience in Tridentine Italy: Cardinal Pole and the Counter Reformation
7. The Long Reformation
Primary Sources
An Admonition to Parliament
Ames, William. The Marrow of Theology
Browne, Robert. A Treatise of Reformation Without Tarrying for Any
Articuli Arminiani sive Remonstrantia and Canones Synodi Dordrechtanae
Ursinus, Zacharias. Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism
Secondary Sources
Collinson, Patrick. The Elizabethan Puritan Movement
Kendall, R.T. Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649
White, B.R. The English Separatist Tradition
Sinclair Ferguson has offered the following endorsement of Stephen Nichol’s new book The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World.
“Professor Stephen Nichols is already well-known for his remarkable ability to make history live and sing. This new work is no exception and will simply enhance his well-deserved reputation. It is a scintillating helicopter tour of the amazing men—and wonderful women—of the Reformation. Here conviction joins with courage, holiness with humor, in a wonderful medley of Christian heroes and heroines.”
If you are in the process of deciding what college you will attend, you must give serious consideration to The College at Southwestern. I am probably The College’s biggest fan.
Check out some of the texts being used in the Life and Thought seminars.
Early Western Civilization
Aristotle – Rhetoric
Aristotle – Nichomachean Ethics
Plato – Republic
Plato – Timaeus and Critias
Sophocles – Oedipus Rex
Sophocles – Antigone
Church and Empires Seminar
Athanasius – On the Incarnation
Augustine – Confessions
Augustine – The City of God
Cicero – On Duties
World Religions Seminar
Buddhism – The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha
Confucianism – The Analects of Confucius
Hinduism – The Bhagavad Gita
Islam – The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an
Judaism – The Talmud
Renaissance and Reformation Seminar
Aquinas – Summa Theologiae
John Calvin – Institutes of the Christian Religion
Copernicus – On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres
Luther/Erasmus
Hubmaier – On the Christian Baptism of Believers
Habmaier – Catechism
Niccolo Machiavelli – The Prince
William Shakespeare – Hamlet
C.S. Lewis – The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature
Enlightenment and Romantic Seminar
John Bunyan – Pilgrim’s Progress
Rene Descartes – Discourse on Method
John Locke – Two Treatises on Gov’t
Blaise Pascal – Pensees
Jean Rousseau – Emile
John Wesley – Selected Works
Jonathan Edwards – Religious Affections
The 19th Century Seminar
Charles Darwin – On The Origin of Species
Fyodor Dostoevsky – The Brothers Karamazov
Charles Finney – Lectures on Revivals of Religion
Karl Marx – The Communist Manifesto
Friedrich Nietzsche – Beyond Good and Evil
Charles Spurgeon – Lectures to My Students
Alexis de Tocqueville – Democracy in America
Declaration of Independence
US Constitution
The Early 20th Century Seminar
G. K. Chesterton – Orthodoxy
Joseph Conrad – Heart of Darkness
John Dewey – Experience and Education
T. S. Eliot – The Waste Land
Sigmund Freud – Civilization and Its Discontents
William James – Pragmatism
Bertrand Russell – Why I am Not a Christian
Churchill’s – Second World War
The Late 20th Century Seminar
Karl Barth – The Word of God and the Word of Man
C.S. Lewis – Mere Christianity
Aldous Huxley – Brave New World
H. Richard Niebuhr – Christ and Culture
Vatican II Texts
J. F. Lyotard – Selected Works
Peter Kreeft – Between Heaven and Hell
The following texts are being used in the Founders Study Center course on Calvin and the Reformed Tradition.
The following texts are being used in the Founders Study Center Spring 2007 course on the Theology of the Reformers.
