Cover | 1 |
Title Page | 4 |
Copyright | 5 |
Table of Contents | 6 |
Body | 10 |
Acknowledgements | 10 |
Abbreviations | 12 |
1. Introduction | 14 |
1.1 Prologue | 14 |
1.2 The evolving scripture “principle”: some issues | 20 |
1.3 Scope and shape of this study | 32 |
2. Reason of Faith (1677) and the problem of certainty | 38 |
2.1 Introduction | 38 |
2.2 “Certainty of adherence” and “certainty of evidence” | 39 |
2.3 “Infallible” versus “moral” certainty | 43 |
2.4 John Owen and certainty: Reason of Faith (1677) | 50 |
2.4.1 “Infallible faith” defined | 52 |
2.5 “Motives of Credibility” and the insufficiency of “Moral Certainty” | 57 |
2.6 Conclusion | 65 |
3. Implanted law and the light of nature | 68 |
3.1 Introduction | 68 |
3.2 “Natural light” and the exercise of reason | 70 |
3.2.1 Excursus: “Illumination” within the Christian cognitive tradition | 72 |
3.2.2 The “light of nature” and practical reasoning in seventeenth-century England | 78 |
3.3 Owen and the “law” and “light” of nature before the Fall | 81 |
3.3.1 The lex operationis | 81 |
3.3.1.1 The lex operationis and Adam's covenantal end | 82 |
3.3.1.2 The lex operationis and Adam's “light” | 84 |
3.3.2 Owen and the “light of nature” | 86 |
3.3.3 “Positive” commands | 92 |
3.3.4 Summary | 95 |
3.4 The “light of nature” after the Fall | 96 |
3.5 Conclusion | 103 |
4. The Habit of Grace | 106 |
4.1 Introduction | 106 |
4.2 “Supernatural illumination” and the light of grace | 107 |
4.2.1 The infused “habit of grace” | 108 |
4.2.2 Habitual grace, the Word of God and “special illumination” | 116 |
4.3 A new “spiritual sense”: habitual grace, the will, affections and the internal “testimony” of the Spirit | 127 |
4.4 Conclusion | 133 |
5. Scripture, evidence and the imago Dei | 136 |
5.1 Introduction | 136 |
5.2 Evidence and reason | 137 |
5.3 Evidence and faith | 146 |
5.3.1 Scripture's self-evidencing “light” | 150 |
5.3.2 Scripture's self-evidencing “power” | 155 |
5.4 A spiritual “intuition” | 158 |
5.5 The imago Dei and the authority of scripture | 161 |
5.6 Conclusion | 175 |
6. From Christ to scripture: the origin and inspiration of scripture | 182 |
6.1 Introduction | 182 |
6.2 Excursus: the problem of “inspiration” in the historiography of Early Modern Protestantism | 183 |
6.3 The origin of scripture | 191 |
6.4 The inspiration of scripture | 204 |
6.4.1 Prophecy | 205 |
6.4.1.1 Prophetic inspiration | 206 |
6.4.1.2 Divine concursus | 210 |
6.4.2 Scripture | 210 |
6.4.3 Summary and evaluation | 213 |
6.5 Conclusion | 217 |
7. From scripture to Christ: authority, perspicuity and the life of faith | 220 |
7.1 Introduction | 220 |
7.2 The perspicuity of scripture | 220 |
7.2.1 Illumination and the “unction” of the Spirit | 221 |
7.2.2 The “proper” object and motive of faith, love and obedience | 226 |
7.2.3 Spiritual unction and the church | 230 |
7.2.4 Summary | 235 |
7.3 The proper object of faith: a hermeneutical principle? | 236 |
7.4 The perspicuity of scripture and the use of “means” | 241 |
7.5 Conclusion | 247 |
8. Conclusion | 250 |
Appendix: Owen and the rudiments of cognition | 258 |
Bibliography | 266 |
1. Primary sources | 266 |
2. Secondary sources | 271 |
Names Index | 294 |
Subject Index | 298 |