Letham's Systematic ToC

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Regi Addictissimus

Completely sold out to the King
I have listed the table of contents for anyone that may be interested in seeing which topics Letham tackles. Please forgive the subpar formatting as I had to convert it to a plain .txt file from a pdf.
Crossway has also permitted me to share snippets. Let me know if there are topics you would like to see an example. Please keep this thread to the discussion of this title. It may seem superfluous to request that, but this is the Puritan Board, after all.
We will most likely do a bundle deal with this and the new edition of "Holy Trinity."





Contents


Acknowledgments 25
Permissions 27
Abbreviations 29
Introduction 33
PART 1 THE TRIUNE GOD
1 The Revelation of God 41
1.1 Arguments for the Existence of God 43
1.1.1 Anselm's Proof for the Existence of God
1.1.2 The Cosmological Argument
1.1.3 The Teleological Argument
1.1.4 The Moral Argument
1.2 General Revelation 52
1.2.1 The Extent of God's Revelation in Creation and Providence
1.2.2 The Limits of General Revelation
1.2.3 General Revelation and Natural Theology
1.2.4 The Interrelationship between General and Special Revelation
1.3 Special Revelation 60
1.3.1 Revelation Is from the Living God
1.3.2 How Far Can God Be Known?
1.3.3 The Nature of Our Knowledge of and Language about God
1.3.4 Revelation and the Bibl e
2 The Trinity (1): Biblical Basis 66
2.1 Progressive Revelation of the Trinity 67

2.2 The Old Testament Foundation 70
2.2.1 Hints of Plurality in the Old Testament
2.2.2 The Word and Wisdom of God
2.2.3 The Expectation of the Coming of the Messiah
2.3 Jesus and the Father 75
2.4 Jesus' Equality and Identity with God 79
2.5 Jesus as Creator, Judge, and Savior 81
2.6 Worship of Jesus 83
2.7 The Preexistence of Christ 84
2.8 The Holy Spirit 86
2.9 Trinitarian Formulae and Triadic Patterns 91
2.10 Trinitarian Questions 94
3 The Trinity (2): Church Formulation 97
3.1 From the New Testament to Constantinople I 97
3.1.1 Two Main Heresies
3.1.2 The Fourth-Century Crisis
3.1.3 The Crisis Resolved
3.1.4 The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (C)
3.2 One Ousia, Three Hypostases 105
3.2.1 Consubstantiality
3.2.2 Hypostatic Distinctions
3.2.3 Perichoresis
3.3 Inseparable Operations and Distinct Appropriations 109
3.4 The Taxis (Language did not transfer properly when converting) 111
3.5 Eternal Generation, Eternal Procession 114
3.6 The Processions and the Missions 121
3.7 The Father as the Source of the Son and the Spirit 122
3.8 Augustine and the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Settlement 123
4 The Trinity (3): Ongoing Questions 126
4.1 Is the Term Person Adequate? 126
4.2 Vestigia Trinitatis? 128
4.3 Eastern and Western Doctrines 131
4.4 The Filioque Clause 133

4.4.1 Biblical Teaching on the Procession of the Holy Spirit
4.4.2 Differences between the Eastern and the Western Churches
4.4.3 Problems of East and West
4.4.4 Historical Reconstruction
4.4.5 Recent Developments
4.5 Rahner's Axiom and the Social Trinity 144
4.6 Was It Necessary That the Son, Not the Father or Spirit,
Become Incarnate? 147
4.7 Did God Elect to Be Triune? 148
4.8 The Trinity in Contrast to Islam 152
4.9 Recent Evangelical Discussions 153
5 The Attributes of God 155
5.1 What Are the Attributes of God? 155
5.2 Classifications 158
5.2.1 Communicable and Incommunicable Attributes
5.2.2 Absolute and Relative Attributes
5.3 The Names of God 160
5.3.1 Proper Names
5.3.2 Essential Names
5.4 The Beauty of God 163
5.5 Biblical Foundations 164
5.6 The Will of God 168
5.6.1 Decretive and Preceptive
5.6.2 God's Decretive Will and the Problem of Sin and Evil 5.6.3 The Will of God as Desire
5.6.4 Absolute and Conditional Will
5.7 7 The Decrees of God 172
5.8 Predestination, Election, and Reprobation 173
5.8.1 The Meaning of the Terms
5.8.2 The Order of Decrees in the Mind of God
5.9 Open Theism 17 6
5.9.1 Open Theism's Major Claims
5.9.2 Evaluating Open Theism

PART 2 THE WORD OF GOD
6 The Doctrine of Scripture 185
6.1 The Necessity of Scripture 186
6.2 The Canon of Scripture 186
6.3 The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture 189
6.3.1 Inerrancy
6.3.2 Organic Inspiration
6.3.3 Scripture and the Word of God
6.3.4 Barth and the Threefold Form of the Word of God
6.4 How We Believe Scripture Is the Word of God 199
6.5 The Sufficiency of Scripture 200
6.5.1 What Is the Sufficiency of Scripture?
6.5.2 The Charismatic Movement and the Sufficiency of Scripture
6.6 The Clarity of Scripture 206
6.7 The Text of Scripture 208
6.8 Modern and Postmodern Challenges 210
6.8.1 The Princeton Theology
6.8.2 J. I. Packer and Fundamentalism
6.8.3 Excursus: Peter Enns on Scripture
6.9 Conclusion 219
7 Scripture and Tradition 220
7.1 The Meaning of Tradition 221
7.2 Changing Relationships between Scripture and Tradition 222
7.2.1 The First Two Centuries: Scripture and Oral Apostolic Teaching, a Seamless Whole
7.2.2 Tradition Supplements Scripture
7.2.3 The Reformation: The Paths Diverge
7.2.4 The Anabaptists
7.2.5 Renewal of the Roman Catholic Position
7.3 Newman and the Development of Doctrine 229
7.3.1 Newman's Theory of Development
7.3.2 Development Developed

7.4 Modern Developments 235
7.4.1 Developments within Protestantism
7.4.2 Roman Catholic Developments
7.4.3 Scripture and Tradition in Orthodoxy
7.5 Conclusion 240
8 The Interpretation of Scripture 242
8.1 Christ as the Focus of Scripture 243
8.2 Scripture as Self-Interpreting 247
8.3 Word and Spirit 249
8.4 The History of Biblical Interpretation 249
8.4.1 The Fathers
8.4.2 Later Clarifications
8.4.3 Rome
8.4.4 Postmodern Developments
8.4.5 Speech-Act Theory

PART 3 THE WORKS OF GOD
9 Creation 271
9.1 Creation ex Nihilo 271
9.2 The Trinity and Creation 275
9.2.1 Biblical Foundation
9.2.2 Basic Principles
9.3 Creation and the Revelation of God 280
9.3.1 Vestigia Trinitatis Again?
9.3.2 Creation as an Icon
9.3.3 Unity-in-Diversity
9.4 The Bible and Science on the Origin of the Universe 285
9.5 Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life? 288
9.6 The Goodness of God in Creation 289
10 Providence 292
10.1 Biblical Discussion 292
10.1.1 Preservation: The Noachic Covenant
10.1.2 Government
10.2 The Meaning of Providence 296

10.3 Ordinary Providence 297
10.4 Extraordinary Providence 298
10.5 Supernatural Providence: The Ministry of Angels 299
10.6 Providence and Human Sin 299
10.7 Special Providence 300
10.8 Evolution 301
10.9 Miracles 302
10.9.1 Defining Terms
10.9.2 The Purpose of Miracles
10.9.3 Have Miracles Ceased?
10.10 Providence, Disasters, and Human Responsibility 306

PART 4 THE IMAGE OF GOD
11 Humanity in Creation 315
11.1 Adam as a Historical Person, Unique Creation, and Original Progenitor 315
11.2 Features of Human Origins 319
11.3 Humanity as Male and Female 321
11.3.1 Equal and Different
11.3.2 Feminist Theology
11.4 Humanity as Made in the Image of God 328
11.4.1 Differing Interpretations
11.4.2 A Resolution of the Question
11.5 Monism, Dichotomy, or Trichotomy 337
11.5.1 Trichotomy
11.5.2 Monism
11.5.3 Dichotomy-Unity in Duality
11.6 The Origin of the Soul 343
11.6.1 Preexistence
11.6.2 Creationism
11.6.3 Traducianism
11.7 7 Other Questions 347
12 Humanity in Covenant 349
12.1 The Pre-fall Covenant. 349

12.2 Was the Pre-fall Situation Covenantal? 351
12.3 Arguments against the Pre-fall Covenant 352
12.3.1 James B. Torrance
12.3.2 John Murray
12.4 Misleading Arguments for the Pre-fall Covenant 353
12.5 Sustainable Arguments for the Pre-fall Covenant of Life 354
12.6 Biblical Considerations 356
12.6.1 The Context of the Pre-fall Covenant
12.6.2 The Parties to the Pre-fall Covenant
12.6.3 The Terms of the Pre-fall Covenant
12.7 Theological Considerations 359
12.7.1 By Law or by Grace Regulated by Law?
12.7.2 Grace and Law as Complementary, Not Competitive
12.7.3 Harmony with God's Subsequent Covenantal Operations
12.7.4 Implications for Union with Christ
12.7.5 The Covenant of Life and the Revelation of God
12.7.6 Christological Questions
12.7.7 Avoidance of a Nature-Grace Dualism
13 Humanity in Sin 366
13.1 Adam and the Fall 367
13.2 The Origin of Sin 369
13.3 The Nature of Sin 371
13.3.1 Biblical Terms for Sin
13.3.2 The Deceitfulness of Sin
13.3.3 Sin Is Directed against God
13.3.4 Sin Is against Justice and the Law of God
13.3.5 Sin as Privatio
13.4 The Consequences of Sin 374
13.4.1 Death
13.4.2 Guilt
13.4.3 Original Sin
13.4.4 The Imputation of Adam's Sin
13.4.5 Total Depravity
13.4.6 Total Inability
13.4.7 Condemnation

PART 5 THE COVENANT OF GOD
14 Election and the Counsel of Redemption 405

14.1
Election
14.1.1
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Biblical Teaching

14.1.2
Historical Development

14.1.3
Election in Christ

14.1.4
The Order of Decrees

14.1.5
Arminius and the Synod of Dort

14.1.6
Amyraldianism

14.1.7
Hypothetical Universalism

14.1.8
Karl Barth
14.2 The Covenant of Redemption (the Pactum Salutis) 431
14.2.1 Development of Covenant Theology
14.2.2 Outlines of the Pactum Salutis
14.2.3 Evaluation
14.2.4 Positive Statement of the Consilium Salutis
15 The Covenant of Grace 440
15.1 The Emergence and Development of Covenant Theology 440
15.1.1 Origins of Reformed Covenant Theology
15.1.2 Medieval Antecedents?
15.2 Biblical Covenants after the Fall 442
15.3 The Covenant of Grace 443
15.3.1 The Unity of the Covenants
15.3.2 With Whom Is the Covenant Made?
15.4 The Abrahamic Covenant 447
15.5 The Mosaic Covenant 447
15.6 The New Covenant 461
15.7 The Law 463
15.7.1 The Law in the Covenant of Grace
15.7.2 A Brief Summary of the Law

PART 6 Christ, THE Son of God
16 Incarnation (1): Biblical Teaching 471
16.1 The Eternal Son and the Incarnation 474

16.2 The Word Became Flesh: John 1:14 476
16.3 Biblical Evidence for Christ's Humanity 479
16.4 The Virginal Conception: Mary as Theotokos 481
16.4.1 The Narratives in Matthew and Luke
16.4.2 Allusions to the Virginal Conception in the Rest of the New Testament
16.4.3 The Significance of the Virginal Conception
17 Incarnation (2): Church Formulations 490
17.1 The Battle for Orthodoxy 490
17.2 Christ Is One Indivisible Person: The Council of Ephesus (431) . 491
17.2.1 The Nestorian Crisis
17.2.2 The Council of Ephesus
17.3 The Humanity of Christ Is Not Absorbed by the Deity:
The Council of Chalcedon (451) 494
17.3.1 Eutyches and the Council of Chalcedon
17.3.2 Assessment of Chalcedon
17.4 How Is Christ to Be Understood as One Indivisible Person? Constantinople II (553) 500
17.4.1 The Monophysites and the Chalcedonians
17.4.2 The Second Council of Constantinople (5 5 3)
17.5 Christ Has a Human Will as Well as a Divine Will:
Constantinople III (680-681) 506
18 Incarnation (3): Ongoing Questions 513
18.1 The Communicatio Idiomatum and the Extra-Calvinisticum 513
18.1.1 Lutheran Christological Innovations
18.1.2 Zwingli, Chemnitz, and Calvin
18.1.3 The Extra-Calvinisticum
18.2 The Sinlessness of Christ 520
18.3 Was It Possible for Jesus to Sin? 520
18.3.1 Arguments for Peccability
18.3.2 Arguments for Impeccability
18.3.3 What Are the Main Issues?
18.4 Did Christ Assume a Fallen Human Nature? 526
18.4.1 Are There Differences between Christ's Humanity and Ours?
18.4.2 What Is at Stake?

18.5 The Kenosis Theory 533
18.5.1 Historical Background
18.5.2 Theological Arguments for the Kenosis Theory
18.5.3 General Theological Objections
18.5.4 Relevant New Testament Passages
18.6 Predication regarding Christ 538
18.6.1 Christ as God
18.6.2 Christ as Man
18.6.3 Christ as Sent by the Father
18.7 Wolfhart Pannenberg on Jesus, History, and the Resurrection 541
19 Christ Our Great High Priest 545
19.1 The Threefold Office 545
19.2 Functions of a Priest 547
19.3 Aaron and Melchizedek 547
19.4 Jesus' Qualifications as High Priest 548
19.5 Vicarious Humanity 548
19.6 Atonement 549
19.6.1 Covenant and Atonement
19.6.2 Obedience
19.6.3 Expiatory Sacrifice
19.6.4 Propitiation
19.6.5 Reconciliation
19.6.6 Redemption
19.6.7 Conquest
19.6.8 Penal Substitution
19.6.9 Historical Theories
19.7 The Scope of the Atonement 570
19.7.1 Theological Considerations
19.7.2 Historical Background
19.7.3 Arguments for Definite Atonement
19.7.4 Arguments against Definite Atonement
19.7.5 Counterarguments
19.8 Intercession and Benediction 574
19.8.1 Old Testament Background to the Ascension

19.8.2 The Ascension in Luke-Acts
19.8.3 The Ascension and Christ as Priest
19.8.4 The Ascension in the New Testament beyond Luke-Acts
19.8.5 The Ascension and Our Present Life
20 Christ Our King 584
20.1 The Ascension and Christ as King 584
20.2 The Cosmic Scope of Christ's Kingdom 586
20.3 The Corporate Nature of Christ's Kingdom 587
20.4 The Two-Kingdoms Theory 588
PART 7 THE SPIRIT OF GOD AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD
21 Union with Christ 597
21.1 Creation: The Creator-Creature Distinction and
Compatibility 598
21.2 Incarnation: Christ's Union with Us 599
21.3 Pentecost: The Holy Spirit Unites the Church to Christ 600
21.4 Union with Christ and Representation 604
21.4.1 Union with Christ and Atonement
21.4.2 Union with Christ and Justification
21.5 Union with Christ and Transformation 606
21.6 Union with Christ and the Sacraments 607
21.7 Union with Christ in Death and Resurrection 608
21.8 Union with Christ and the Trinity 609
22 Salvation and the Church 612
22.1 The Ordo Salutis and Biblical Theology 612
22.1.1 Biblical Texts
22.1.2 The Ordo Salutis and Union with Christ
22.2 The Church and the Means of Grace 616
22.2.1 The Church
22.2.2 The Communion of Saints
22.2.3 Biblical and Theological Background
22.2.4 Metaphors for the Church

22.3 Preaching as a Means of Grace 623
22.3.1 The Necessity of Preaching
22.3.2 Preaching and the Holy Spirit
22.4 The Sacraments 634
22.4.1 The Sacraments and God's Covenant Promises
22.4.2 The Sacraments in the Confessions of the Church
22.4.3 The Necessity of the Sacraments
23 The Beginning of the Christian Life (1): Effectual Calling
and Regeneration 648
23.1 Calling 649
23.1.1 The Universal Call
23.1.2 The Gospel Call 23.1.3 Effectual Call
23.2 Regeneration 658
23.2.1 Regeneration as the Equivalent of Salvation
23.2.2 Regeneration as Personal Transformation
23.2.3 Regeneration as the Initial Stage of Personal Transformation
23.2.4 Regeneration, Union with Christ, and Baptism
23.2.5 Regeneration and Gospel Proclamation

24 The Beginning of the Christian Life (2): Justification 669
24.1 Saving Faith and Repentance 670
24.1.1 Saving Faith: Terminology
24.1.2 The Object of Saving Faith
24.1.3 The Elements of Saving Faith
24.1.4 Repentance: Biblical Terminology
24.1.5 The Meaning of Repentance
24.1.6 The Necessity of Repentance
24.2 Justification 677
24.2.1 The History of Debate
24.2.2 Biblical Teaching
24.2.3 Two Questions
24.3 Baptism 705
24.3.1 The Necessity of Baptism
24.3.2 Baptism Involves Washing with Water

24.3.3 The Baptism of Christ
24.3.4 Baptism and Biblical Interpretation
24.3.5 The Meaning of Baptism
24.3.6 Who Is to Be Baptized?
25 The Progress of the Christian Life ( 1): Assurance,
Adoption, and Sanctification 724
25.1 Assurance of Salvation 724
25.1.1 The Meaning of Assurance
25.1.2 Historical Debates
25.1.3 The Privilege and Duty of Assurance
25.1.4 The Foundation of Assurance
25.2 Adoption 730
25.2.1 Terminology
25.2.2 Adoption and Justification
25.2.3 Adoption and Regeneration
25.2.4 Israel, the Church, and Adoption
25.2.5 Adoption and the Holy Spirit
25.3 Sanctification 733
25.3.1 The Meaning of the Term
25.3.2 Sanctification Is a Work of God
25.3.3 Sanctification Begins with a Break with Sin
25.3.4 The Progress of Sanctification
25.3.5 The Criterion for Sanctification
25.3.6 The Means of Sanctification
25.3.7 The Goal of Sanctification
25.3.8 Erroneous Views of Sanctification
25.4 Perseverance 742
25.4.1 The Meaning of the Term
25.4.2 The Foundation of Perseverance
26 The Progress of the Christian Life (2): The Lord's Supper
and Theosis 751
26.1 The Lord's Supper 751
26.1.1 Biblical Foundations
26.1.2 The Lord's Supper in Church History
26.1.3 Word and Sacrament



26.1.4
The Lord's Supper and Union with Christ

26.1.5
The Lord's Supper and Practical Matters

26.1.6
The Lord's Supper and the Future
26.2
Theosis .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768

26.2.1
Union with Christ and Theosis

26.2.2
The Doctrine of Theosis in Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria

26.2.3
Biblical Support for Theosis

26.2.4
The Western Church and Theosis

26.2.5
Excursus: Reformed Theology on Union with Christ and Transformation

26.2.6
Nine Theses on Theosis

27 The Church and Its Offices 790
27.1 The Marks of the Church 790
27.2 The Attributes of the Church 792
27.3 The Visible and the Invisible Church 793
27.4 The Members of the Visible Church 795
27.5 Major Doctrines of the Church 796
27.5.1 Rome
27.5.2 Orthodoxy
27.5.3 Anglicanism 27.5.4 Independency
27.5.5 Presbyterian and Reformed
27.6 The Priority of the One Church 810
27.7 The Ordination of Women to Teaching and Ruling Offices 811
PART 8 THE ULTIMATE PURPOSES OF GOD
28 The Future 817
28.1 Inaugurated Eschatology 817
28.1.1 Promise and Fulfillment
28.1.2 What Is the Kingdom of God?
28.1.3 Genesis 1-2 and Eschatology
28.2 Future Dimensions 823
28.2.1 The Personal Level

28.2.2 Israel and the Mosaic Covenant
28.2.3 The Church and the Progress of the Gospel
29 The Parousia and the Resurrection 842

29.1
Principal
29.1.1
Millennial Theories 842
Premillennialism

29.1.2
Dispensational Premillennialism

29.1.3
Preterism

29.1.4
Postmillennialism and Amillennialism
29.2 Revelation 20 849
29.2.1 Main Interpretative Questions
29.2.2 Differing Interpretations
29.2.3 Matters to Be Decided
29.3 Biblical Teaching on the Parousia 854
29.3.1 New Testament Words for the Parousia
29.3.2 The Connections of the Parousia
29.4 The Resurrection of the Dead (1 Corinthians 15) 860
30 The Judgment and Hell 867
30.1 The Final Judgment 868
30.1.1 General Considerations
30.1.2 Christ the Judge
30.1.3 The Basis for Judgment
30.2 Purported Pathways to Salvation 871
30.2.1 Oblivion
30.2.2 Universal Salvation
30.2.3 Pluralism
30.2.4 Inclusivism
30.2.5 Exclusivism
30.2.6 Calvinistic Exclusivist Eschatological Universalism
30.3 Hell 883
30.3.1 Hell as a Place of Everlasting Conscious Punishment
30.3.2 Exegetical Objections to Hell as a Place of Endless Punishment
30.3.3 Theological Objections to Hell as a Place of Endless Punishment

30.4 Conditional Immortality 892
30.5 Annihilationism 895
30.6 In Perspective 897
31 The Life of the World to Come 899
31.1 Biblical Teaching 899
31.2 Will There Be Rewards? 900
31.2.1 Biblical Support for Rewards
31.2.2 Two Key Pauline Passages
31.3 Aspects of the World to Come 903
31.3.1 Absence of Sin and Suffering
31.3.2 Enhancement and Glorification
31.3.3 The Renewal of the Cosmos
31.3.4 Administering the Renewed Cosmos in Christ
31.3.5 Everlasting Union and Communion with Christ

Appendix 1: Main Interpretations of Genesis 1 909
Appendix 2: Historic Creeds 933
Glossary 939
Bibliography 949
Name Index 1006
Subject Index 1019
Scripture Index 1047
 
Last edited:
This looks awesome. I preordered it in Logos. Now the question is whether I should put Bavinck on pause to read this!
 
This looks awesome. I preordered it in Logos. Now the question is whether I should put Bavinck on pause to read this!

I have been trying to start it for a couple of weeks now, and finally, I got around to it last night. I appreciate how he begins with the Trinity.
 
I have listed the table of contents for anyone that may be interested in seeing which topics Letham tackles. Please forgive the subpar formatting as I had to convert it to a plain .txt file from a pdf.
Crossway has also permitted me to share snippets. Let me know if there are topics you would like to see an example. Please keep this thread to the discussion of this title. It may seem superfluous to request that, but this is the Puritan Board, after all.
We will most likely do a bundle deal with this and the new edition of "Holy Trinity."
My wife, Monica, did the Scripture proofs for it. She really liked it. I think it was pretty informative when she was wrestling with the Reformed perspective on covenants and baptism.
 
My wife, Monica, did the Scripture proofs for it. She really liked it. I think it was pretty informative when she was wrestling with the Reformed perspective on covenants and baptism.

This just reminded me of her e-mail. Tell her I apologize and I haven't forgotten. Things have been crazy with the Puritan documentary and with our acquisition of Sprinkle. I will be in touch soon.
 
This just reminded me of her e-mail. Tell her I apologize and I haven't forgotten. Things have been crazy with the Puritan documentary and with our acquisition of Sprinkle. I will be in touch soon.
Sounds good, brother! I hope the chaos dies down a bit soon.
 
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