Covenant, Causality, and Law: A Study in the Theology of Wolfgang Musculus (Refo500 Academic Studies)

Jordan J. Ballor's study takes its point of departure in the doctrine of the covenant as it appears in the theology of the prominent second-generation reformer, Wolfgang Musculus (1497-1563), who is perhaps the earliest Reformed theologian to give the topic of the covenant a separate and distinct treatment in a collection of theological commonplaces. Musculus' covenantal teaching is characterized by an important distinction between general and special covenants and is rooted in his exegetical work on the book of Genesis. Where Musculus' Loci communes evidence an anti-speculative, soteriologically-focused, and pastorally-driven approach, his exegesis is intended to provide fulsome guidance in the study of Scripture. This examination of Musculus' views on covenant and related doctrines is followed by thematically-related explorations of questions of causality and metaphysics, concluding with considerations related to law and social order. By focusing on Musculus' theology as found both in his Loci communes, as well as in his extensive and voluminous exegetical work, and in comparison and dialogue with a host of antecedent and contemporary figures, this book is the first full-scale study to place Musculus' theology within its broader intellectual context. Musculus' positions with respect to doctrines connected to covenant, causality, and law embodies the eclecticism of Reformed reception of medieval traditions, and the final section of this study places Musculus within the later development of Reformed orthodoxy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, finding that Wolfgang Musculus is a significant and often-overlooked figure worthy of further consideration.