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Just another book on the Reformation or so I thought! My initial wrong attitude was swiftly replaced by appreciation once I got into the book. What I particularly liked was that it majors on the main effects of this great work of God’s Spirit half a millennium ago. In fact the chapters outline the vitally important changes that occurred in this period of church history. First there was the struggle for assurance and justification by faith, then the return to Scripture alone as the sole authority, then there was the priesthood of all believers, the recovery of right worship and the regulative principle, the refutation and exposure of the errors of the radicals and finally the vital importance of the Reformed confessions in the establishment of Reformed churches all over Europe but especially in the Netherlands. Other very important truths developed then were, scripture interprets scripture, the Spirit and word are never separated, the doctrine of the covenant and the importance of membership in a true church. One criticism is that at least one of the contributors mentions little of the politics of the time and the armed struggle involving many in the churches that had a significant bearing on the Reformation and the establishment of the Netherlands as a nation but perhaps for good reason because the Reformation was primarily a spiritual battle and victory not a political one! I highly recommend this book as a succinct account of this marvelous period in church history.
This short book (197 pages) is more than a brief summary of important highlights of the Reformation of 1517. The reader is reminded i.e. warned throughout of the grievous conditions that existed for the church before the Reformation. What was gained was summarized in Chapters 1 & 2: the belevers' assurance of salvation and reliance on "sola scriptura". Relevance for the contemprary believer is explained in Chapters 3 & 4: the three-fold office of all believers and the importance of proper worship (see John Calvin on the "regulative principle"). Chapter 5 details the radical branches of the Reformation. The book concludes in Chapter 6 summarizing the struggles in the Lowlands and the resulting development of the creeds, the liturgical forms, and church order forms. The author gives due credit in this history quoting the Belgic Confession, "The Son of God gathers ... for himself unto everlasting life ... a chosen community ... against the rage of the whole world ... though she sometimes appear very small." This book is highly recommended for the history and what was gained and can be lost in this most significant event.
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