The Puritan author, Morgan Llwyd, is an important figure of seventeenth-century Wales. This scholarly work deals specifically with the theological credo underlying Llwyd's work, and makes a cogent case for his standpoint that, although Llwyd used original ways to express Calvinist doctrine, he was very much an orthodox Calvinist. This is a detailed study of Llwyd's system of thought, and the author succeeds in illuminating complex aspects of Llwyd's work.

Although "God loves you" is a common summary of the central message of Christian teaching and preaching, a close reading of the Bible and attention to the Christian tradition will reveal passages of Scripture and Christian doctrines--particularly John Calvin's doctrine of predestination--that seem to undermine confidence in God's love for all people. For numerous theologians, including many within the Reformed tradition, the secret decree of Calvin's God to save some and condemn others seems to undercut completely one's assurance of salvation along with one's ability to trust in and worship God. However, pastor and scholar John Calvin confidently spoke of God as a loving Father throughout his teaching and preaching. In Uncovering Calvin's God, Forrest H. Buckner unearths Calvin's teaching about the God of love who reigns sovereign over predestination. Drawing upon sources from across Calvin's corpus, Buckner examines Calvin's teaching on the knowledge of God and the doctrine of predestination to provide a more robust and cohesive understanding of Calvin's theology, which Buckner then confirms through an extensive examination of Calvin's preaching in Geneva. He then offers a critical comparison of Calvin's approach with the teaching of Luther, Zwingli, Bullinger, Arminius, and Barth. Using Calvin's system as a starting point, this book helps readers perceive the essentials and trade-offs of any doctrine of predestination that takes seriously both the Bible and the loving God revealed in Jesus Christ.

New Calvinism and the Victim endeavors into the overlapping areas of psychological trauma and systematic theology by investigating the dynamic interplay between the psychology of holding maximalist theological beliefs and recovery from abuse trauma. Maxwell examines the effect that the Calvinist belief can have upon the traumatized Christian who negatively internalizes its superlative doctrines of divine control and human moral corruption. The project seeks to understand these intersecting realities by investigating a triptych of inquiries: From a theological perspective, can a Christian lose his faith because of a traumatic experience? Moreover, what are the consequences of such a loss? And, how could Reformed theology exacerbate this religious detachment? Ultimately, the research suggests that there are experiential harmonies between the belief in Reformed theology and the experience of trauma, which are neither existentially necessary nor therapeutically negligible-rather, they are conceptually likely based on both philosophical analysis and psychological research.