2009 - 2010 Academic Catalog - Westminster Theological Seminary

{Course Descriptions}
Church History
Owen, Herman Ridderbos, Stuart Robinson, James Thornwell,
Geerhardus Vos, and Thomas Witherow.
Fall semester. (Not given in 2009-2010.) Mr. Troxel.
CH 863 Scottish Presbyterianism
Purpose:
• To enable students to understand how and why
Presbyterianism developed in the manner in which it did
• To enable students to read for themselves some of the great
foundational writings of the early Scottish Presbyterians
• To encourage students to reflect upon the relationship
of historic Presbyterianism to the contemporary world
Theologians covered include John Knox, David Calderwood, Samuel
Rutherford, and George Gillespie.
Spring semester. (Not given in 2009-2010.) Mr. Trueman.
CH 872 The Life and Thought of John Owen
Purpose:
• To familiarize students with the life and writings of John Owen
through intensive study and discussion of his writings
• To help students to read and appropriate the theology
of the past for theological reflection today
• To encourage students to read the Puritans for themselves
Topics covered include the social and political background,
Arminianism, Socinianism, Trinitarianism, christology, church and
state issues, and Owen’s significance in the ongoing development
of Reformed theology.
Winter Term. Mr. Trueman.
CH 883 The Life and Thought of Francis Turretin
Purpose:
• To examine the history and theology of Francis
Turretin (1623-1687) through a careful reading of
Turretin’s Institutes of Elenctic Theology (the primary
Systematic Theology textbook of Old Princeton)
• To introduce the historical and theological context of
seventeenth-century Protestant Scholasticism and
its relation to the sixteenth-century Reformers
• To enable students to reflect upon the Reformed theological
tradition and its value for the contemporary church
Topics covered include the background of Post-Reformation
Scholasticism, theological prolegomena, the doctrine of God, the
decrees of God, man’s free will, justification, covenant theology,
ecclesiology, and eschatology.
Spring semester. (Not given in 2009-2010.) Mr. Jue.
CH 892 Reformed Confessions and Catechisms
Purpose:
• To familiarize students with the confessional and
pedagogical literature of the Reformed tradition
• To facilitate students’ understanding of these
documents in their historical context
• To encourage students to interact with these
documents as items of perennial interest
Topics covered include the nature and function of confessions and
catechisms, the various historical backgrounds and contexts for
the documents, early Reformed confessions, the Three Forms of
Unity, and the Westminster Standards.
Winter semester. (Not given in 2009-2010.) Mr. Trueman.
CH 901 The History of North
American Eschatology
Purpose:
• To examine the history of eschatological thought from the
seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries in North America
• To help students analyze how the historical context
shaped the development of eschatology
• To introduce students to the history of
biblical exegesis on the Apocalypse
Topics covered include the background of Augustinian eschatology
and seventeenth-century millenarianism, Colonial apocalyptic
expectations, the postmillennialism of Jonathan Edwards, the
millennium and the War of Independence, the eschatology of Old
Princeton, the rise of Dispensationalism, biblical theology and
eschatology, and post-modern eschatology.
Fall semester. (Not given in 2009-2010.) Mr. Jue.
2009–2010
109