Berkhof, Louis

This new printing of Louis Berkhof's Systematic Theology offers a bit of a surprise and, we hope, a significant service to the readers of this eminent volume. For most of its history under the title Systematic Theology, Professor Berkhof's work has appeared as a theological system without introduction or prolegomenon. In this new edition of Berkhof's work, we have returned his prolegomenon to its proper place. For Berkhof did indeed write a formal prolegomenon to his theology, titled Introduction to the Study of Systematic Theology. That Professor Berkhof himself intended the Introduction to be read together with the system is immediately evident. It is also the case that the Introduction was an integral part of Berkhof's address to theology from the outset of his teaching. We can only hope that the publication of Berkhof's Systematic Theology, now complete with its prolegomenon, will increase its usefulness and extend its time of service to the world of theology. It remains the best modern English-language introduction to the doctrinal theology of the Reformed tradition. - Back cover.

Geerhardus Vos' Reformed Dogmatics (5 vols.) represents the early theological thought of one of the premier Reformed thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Originally self-published in five volumes in 1896, under the title Gereformeerde Dogmatiek, this important piece of Reformed theology has never before been available to an English audience. Throughout his life, Vos was connected with a number of important Reformed institutions. He was the first alumnus of Calvin Seminary (then Theological School) to earn a doctoral degree and also the first Calvin Seminary faculty member to have an advanced degree. Before his appointment at Calvin, Vos was invited by Abraham Kuyper to take the chair of Old Testament Theology at the newly formed Free University (Vrije Universiteit) in Amsterdam. After teaching at Calvin, Vos accepted a position at Princeton during the days of the Old Princeton Theologians. He held the chair of Biblical Theology there from 1892 until 1932. Vos is perhaps best known to English speakers for his books Pauline Eschatology, published in 1930, and Biblical Theology: Old and New Testament, published in 1948. Vos' strong grounding in biblical scholarship and biblical theology makes his Reformed Dogmatics unique, bringing a fresh biblical perspective. Though these five volumes are systematic in nature, Geerhardus Vos brings the skills and acumen of a biblical theologian to the task. - Publisher.