François Turrettini - Institutes of Elenctic Theology: 3 Volumes in 1

by

Francis Turretin

Pastor in the Church and Academy of Geneva and S. S. Professor of Theology

translated by

George Musgrave Giger

Princeton University

edited by

James T. Dennison, Jr.

Westminster Theological Seminary in California

Volume

First Through Tenth Topics

PUBLISHING

P.O. BOX 817 PHILLIPSBURG NEW JERSEY 08865-0817

Copyright 1992, 1994, 1997 by James T. Dennison, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, except for brief quotations for the purpose of review, comment, or scholarship, without written permission from the publisher, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, P.O. Box 817, Phillipsburg, New Jersey 08865.

The editor acknowledges permission from the following publishers to use excerpts from their publications:

Baker Book House, for material from Francis Turretin, The Doctrine of Scripture . Translated and edited by John W. Beardslee III. Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1981.

Harvard University Press, for material from the Loeb Classical Library.

Horace: Satires, Epistles and Ars Poetica . Translated by H. Rushton Fairclough. 1929.

Juvenal and Persius . Translated by G.G. Ramsey. 1979.

Ovid: Fasti . Translated by James G. Frazer. 1976.

Prudentius . Translated by H.J. Thomson. 1949.

Hesiod . Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. 1914.

Cicero, De Natura Deorum . Translated by H. Rackham. 1972.

. De Senectute, De Amicitia, De Divinitatione . Translated by William A. Falconer. 1971.

Pliny, Natural History . Translated by H. Rackham. 1967.

Virgil . Translated by H. Rushton Fairclough. 1974.

Seneca, Moral Essays . Translated by John W. Basore. 1970.

The editor acknowledges permission from Harvard University Press to use excerpts from the Loeb Classical Library.

Juvenal and Persius . Translated by G.G. Ramsey. 1979.

Seneca, Moral Essays . Translated by John W. Basore. 1970.

Virgil, Aeneid . Translated by H. Rushton Fairclough. 1974.

Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars . Translated by J.C. Rolfe. 1970.

Ovid, Fasti . Translated by James G. Frazer. 1976.

All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Turrettini, Franois, 16231687.

[Institutio theologiae elencticae. English]

Institutes of elenctic theology / by Francis Turretin; translated by George Musgrave Giger; edited by James T. Dennison, Jr.

p. cm.

Translation of: Institutio theologiae elencticae.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Contents: v. 1. First through tenth topics.

v. 2. Eleventh through seventeenth topics.

v. 3. Eighteenth through twentieth topics.

ISBN-10: 0-87552-451-6 (v. 1)

ISBN-13: 978-0-87552-451-1 (v. 1)

ISBN-10: 0-87552-452-4 (v. 2)

ISBN-13: 978-0-87552-452-8 (v. 2)

ISBN-10: 0-87552-453-2 (v. 3)

ISBN-13: 978-0-87552-453-5 (v. 3)

1. Reformed ChurchDoctrinesEarly works to 1800. 2. Theology, DoctrinalEarly works to 1800. 3. Catholic ChurchControversial literatureEarly works to 1800. I. Giger, George Musgrave, 18221865. II. Dennison, James T., 1943. III. Title.

BX9421.T7913 1992

230.42dc20

92-10128

Francis Turretin

Photograph from the frontispiece of volume 1 of Turretins Institutio theologiae elencticae (1696), courtesy of La Bibliothque publique et universitaire de Genve .

To

SHARON LYNN

Quam pulchra es amica mea!

Quam pulchra es!

Quam pulchra es, et quam decora,

Carissima, in deliciis!

Primogenito filio, J. T.

et

Primogenitae filiae, Kristin

Laudemus novissimum Agnum!

Meo filio, Bryan

et

Meae filiae, Autumn

Laudemus novissimum Pastorem!

Tables of Abbreviations and Transliteration

Editors Preface

Acknowledgments

Turretins Dedication

Turretins Preface to the Reader

First Topic: Theology

Question I. Should the word theology be used in the Christian schools, and in how many ways can it be understood?

II. Whether there is a theology and its divisions

III. Whether natural theology may be granted

IV. Is natural theology sufficient for salvation; or is there a common religion by which all promiscuously may be saved? We deny against the Socinians and Remonstrants

the object of theology

V. Are God and divine things the objects of theology? We affirm

the genus of theology

VI. What is the genus of theology?

VII. Is theology theoretical or practical?

VIII. Is human reason the principle and rule by which the doctrines of the Christian religion and theology (which are the objects of faith) ought to be measured? We deny against the Socinians

IX. Does any judgment belong to reason in matters of faith? Or is there no use at all for it?

X. May the judgment of contradiction be allowed to human reason in matters of faith? We affirm

XI. Is there any use of the testimony of the senses in mysteries of faith; or ought it to be entirely rejected? We affirm the former and deny the latter

the use of consequences

XII. Are the doctrines of faith and practice to be proved only by the express word of God? May they not also be legitimately proved by consequences drawn from Scripture? We affirm the latter

XIII. Is there any use of philosophy in theology? We affirm

fundamental articles and errors

XIV. Are some theological topics fundamental, others not; and how can they be mutually distinguished?

Second Topic: The Holy Scriptures

the word of god

Question I. Was a verbal revelation necessary? We affirm

the necessity of scripture

II. Was it necessary for the word of God to be committed to writing? We affirm

III. Were the sacred Scriptures written only occasionally and without the divine command? We deny against the papists

the authority of the holy scriptures

IV. Are the holy Scriptures truly authentic and divine? We affirm

V. Do real contradictions occur in Scripture? Or are there any inexplicable ( alyta ) passages which cannot be explained and made to harmonize? We deny

VI. From what source does the divine authority of the Scriptures become known to us? Does it depend upon the testimony of the church either as to itself or as to us? We deny against the papists

the canon

VII. Has any canonical book perished? We deny

VIII. Are the books of the Old Testament still a part of the canon of faith and rule of practice in the church of the New Testament? We affirm against the Anabaptists

the apocryphal books

IX. Ought Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, the two first books of the Maccabees, Baruch, the additions to Esther and Daniel to be numbered among the canonical books? We deny against the papists

the purity of the sources

X. Have the original texts of the Old and New Testaments come down to us pure and uncorrupted? We affirm against the papists

the authentic version

XI. Are the Hebrew version of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New the only authentic versions? We affirm against the papists

XII. Is the present Hebrew text in things as well as words so authentic and inspired ( theopneustos ) in such a sense that all the extant versions are to be referred to it as a rule and, wherever they vary, to be corrected by it? Or may we desert the reading it supplies, if judged less appropriate, and correct it either by a comparison of ancient translators or by suitable ( stochastik ) judgment and conjecture and follow another more suitable reading? We affirm the former and deny the latter