Francis Turretin (1623–87) and the Reformed Tradition

Book excerpt: In this biography of Reformed theologian Francis Turretin (1623–87), Nicholas A. Cumming provides critical context for the life and theology of this important seventeenth-century theologian and his impact on the Reformed tradition as a whole. Turretin has commonly been identified as a strict scholastic theologian; this work places Turretin in his broader context, analyzing his life and theology in terms of the political and religious aspects of post-Reformation Europe and his posthumous influence on nineteenth- and twentieth-century Reformed theology. This work begins with a biography of Turretin, including his education and ministry, then proceeds to the context of Turretin’s theology in the early modern and modern periods, particularly in relation to his major work The Institutes of Elenctic Theology.