[Without Dutch translation]    

News

New book: "Reformed Thought on Freedom" [29/01/2010]

Prof. Dr. Willem J. van Asselt has co-edited the book Reformed Thought on Freedom: The Concept of Free Choice in Early Modern Reformed Theology. Texts and Studies in Reformation and Post-Reformation Thought (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009), 256 pp. Two other faculty members, Prof. Dr. Andreas J. Beck and Prof. Dr. Antonie Vos, have contributed to this volume which examines the concept of freedom in the work of six early modern Reformers.
According to the publisher Baker Academic, this volume "fills a significant gap in Reformed knowledge by presenting sources in translation and commentary on works of major importance to the Protestant tradition that have been neglected for centuries". In doing so, this book "makes a major contribution to historical scholarship on the problem of free choice and to contemporary debates over determinism and divine foreknowledge of future contingencies. [...] The contributors demonstrate that traditional Calvinism cannot be easily dismissed as a form of philosophical determinism."
Carl R. Trueman, Academic Dean of Westminster Theological Seminary, calls this book "[a]n excellent contribution to the current remapping of the relationship of early modern Protestantism to late medieval theology".

Conference on "‘Scotism’ in ‘Calvinism’" [20/10/2009]

On 6 November 2009 an international  conference in commemoration oft he 700th anniversary of the death of John Duns Scotus (†1308) and the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin (*1509) will be held. This conference on "‘Scotism’ in ‘Calvinism’" will be organized by The Institute of Post-Reformation Studies (IPRS) of ETF and the Research Group John Duns Scotus. [Check this link for the programme].

Inaugural address of Prof. Dr. Willem van Asselt [04/09/2009]

Friday, September 4, Dr. Willem van Asselt held his inaugural address on "Covenant Theology: An Invitation To Friendship" as Professor of Historical Theology. Prof. Van Asselt is teaching and doing research at ETF, in particular for the Institute of Post-Reformation Studies. [Read more on this in the Dutch newspaper "Reformatorisch Dagblad"].

Inaugural address of Prof. Dr. Antonie Vos [03/09/2009]

Thursday, September 3, Dr. Antonie Vos held his inaugural address on "Solus Christus" as Professor of Historical Theology. Prof. Vos is teaching and doing research at ETF, in particular for the Institute of Post-Reformation Studies. [Read more on this in the Dutch newspaper "Reformatorisch Dagblad"].

Conference on "The Reception of Calvin and his Theology in Reformed Orthodoxy" [01/10/2008]

On 4 and 5 June 2009 an international conference will be held on “The Reception of Calvin and his Theology in Reformed Orthodoxy” in remembrance of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin. This conference is organized by The Institute of Post-Reformation Studies (IPRS) of ETF, the Institute of Reformation Research (Apeldoorn), the Research-group Classic Reformed Theology (Utrecht), and Calvin Theological Seminary (Grand Rapids, MI, USA). [Read the brochure which includes the programme and see also www.500jaarcalvijn.nl].

Dr. Antonie Vos and Dr. Willem J. van Asselt appointed as professors of Historical Theology [18/04/2008]

ETF recently appointed Dr. Antonie Vos (1944) and Dr. Willem J. van Asselt (1946) as professors of Historical Theology. The appointment is in the context of launching the Institute of Post-Reformation Studies (IPRS). This institute includes studies in reformed orthodoxy, an area in which both Dr. Vos and Dr. Van Asselt are renowned experts. Their appointment as professor is for a period of five years, starting in 1 September 2008.

[Read more on this in the Dutch newspaper "Reformatorisch Dagblad"].

Goal and Motivation of IPRS

The Institute of Post-Reformation Studies (IPRS) seeks to stimulate academic studies of the Early Modern Period following the Reformation (±1550 up to ±1800), thereby helping ETF to fulfill its mission “to deepen and strengthen the international Evangelical movement” (Mission Statement).

Post-Reformation studies are especially relevant for this mission since in the designated period classical theological lines of thought encountered the Enlightenment. Whereas the Enlightenment has been the subject of much research, the study of Protestant Orthodoxy has been generally neglected. This is partly due to the fact that in its academic discourse the early modern university still followed the scholastic method as developed since the foundation of the university in the Middle Ages (±1200). This discourse was international and interconfessional, following in its discussion with the Enlightenment the lines of the Augustinian-Franciscan tradition and the Reformation. Post-Reformation studies are indispensable for understanding the particular historical roots of the international Evangelical movement.

Functioning of IPRS

The Institute emphasizes research (Master projects, PhD projects, conferences, publications) without neglecting areas of research-based teaching on the Master’s level (the courses “History of Christian Doctrine”; “Medieval and Post-Reformation Scholasticism”) and services to a broader academic public (e.g. conferences).

Fields of Research

Movements

• Protestant Orthodoxy (seen against its historical background in the Patristic Period, Middle Ages, and Reformation)
• English and American Puritanism, Dutch Further Reformation (Nadere Reformatie), German Pietism
• Revival movements such as Wesleyanism and the First Great Awakening (Jonathan Edwards)
• (Roots of) the Evangelical Movement

Research questions (broad examples)

• Continuity and discontinuity between Protestant Orthodoxy and its background in the theology of the Patristic Period, Middle Ages and Reformation (the “catholicity” of Protestant Orthodoxy)
• The complex relationship between Protestant Orthodoxy and the Catholic (Counter-)Reformation (unity and diversity)
• The complex relationship between classical theological lines of thoughts with the Enlightenment (unity of faith and thinking versus autonomy of thinking)
• The complex relationship between tradition and renewal
• Developments within the Evangelical Movement

Researchers

Senior researchers 

• Prof. Dr. Willem van Asselt
• Prof. Dr. Andreas J. Beck (director)
• Prof. Dr. Johannes Hofmeyr
• Prof. Dr. Antonie Vos 

 Junior researchers

• Yoshinori Aoki, M.Th. (Ph.D. candidate)
• Philip Fisk, M.Th. (Ph.D. candidate)
• Charles Geschiere, M.Th. (Ph.D. candidate)
• Andrew Hollingsworth, M.Th. (Ph.D. candidate)