Richard Sibbes: Puritanism and Calvinism in Late Elizabethan and Early Stuart

Description

This book is a historical and theological study of Richard Sibbes (1577-1635), preacher of Gray's Inn, London, and master of Katharine Hall, Cambridge. In the first part of the study, Sibbes' life and ministry are explored, investigating particularly his family and education, and exploring his relationships with individuals, institutions, and the larger church. In the second half of the book, the author investigates Sibbes' theology. Contrary to what has sometimes been suggested, Sibbes was undeniably a Reformed, covenant theologian, and notes the congruity of this with his ecclesiology and with his experience of the Church. The book concludes that a greater historical understanding of Sibbes, and a more careful theological reading of his works cause him to appear more consistent, and less puzzling.

Table of Contents:

Part One: Amiable Living

1. Sibbes’s Formative Context, the 1590s

2. Sibbes and Conformity, 1601-1617

3. Sibbes and the Communion of Saints, 1617-1635

Introduction

Circles of Friendship

Conclusion

4. SIbbes and the Contentious Age, 1617-1635

Introduction: ‘Change’ and Changelessness

Innovations in Immoderate Times

The Substance of Moderation: Sibbes’s Ecclesiology

Conclusion: The Disappearing Middle

Part Two: The Vitals and Essentials of Religion

5. A Reformed Theologian

Predestination and Election: Predestination

Predestination and Election: Election

Covenant, Conversion, and Preparation

Conclusion

6. An ‘Affectionate’ Theologian

Affectionate Theology

The Centrality of the Heart

Conclusion

7. A Conforming Theologian

Assurance

The Reformed Tradition

Sibbes’s Contemporaries

8. Conclusion

Appendix I: Richard Sibbes’s Family Tree

Appendix II: Paul Sibbes’s Will 

Endorsement

“As an ‘affectionate practical divine’ of mainstream Puritan type, [Sibbes] taught constantly the realities of communion with the Father and the Son through the Spirit of assured faith through the witness of the Spirit, and of patient endurance and personal advance by the Spirit’s power in the face of all kinds of troubles, appearing throughout as a Bible-man who knew himself to be on the victory side in and through Jesus Christ. Mark Dever surveys all this with welcome precision and sets the record straight on key points. His book is a fine contribution to Puritan studies, and it is with great pleasure that I commend it.” – J.I. Packer.

Author

Mark E. Dever is Senior Pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. and Executive Director for 9Marks Ministries. Dr. Dever has contributed to several books on church health and church leadership, and is a visiting professor at both Beeson Divinity School and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.