Doctoral Marginalia
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Doctoral Marginalia: Two Sides of the Same Coin
This thought comes from my reading of History of the Reformation in the 16th Century, Vol. 1 by J.H. Merle D’Aubigné. D’Aubigné (1794–1872) was a Swiss Reformed historian and theologian who served as professor of church history at the Theological School of Geneva. In Book 1, Chapter 8, he writes (quoting Luther): “Erasmus knows very…
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Doctoral Marginalia: The Timidity of Philipp Melanchthon
This thought comes from my reading of The Reformers and the Theology of the Reformation by William Cunningham. Cunningham (1805–1861) was a Reformed theologian and church historian who served as Principal of New College, Edinburgh. Here is the quote: “The grievous shortcomings of Philipp Melanchthon have been usually ascribed to the timidity of his disposition.…
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Doctoral Marginalia: Ignatius and the Prelacy
This thought comes from my reading of Historical Theology by William Cunningham. Cunningham (1805–1861) was a Reformed theologian and church historian who served as Principal of New College, Edinburgh. Here is the quote: “I have no doubt, indeed, that the epistles of Ignatius, as we now have them, even in the purest and most uncorrupted…
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Doctoral Marginalia: A Protestant View of the Church Fathers
The first book I chose to read for my course in Reformed Historiography was Historical Theology by William Cunningham. Cunningham (1805–1861) was a Reformed theologian and church historian who served as Principal of New College, Edinburgh. What struck me most in reading him was his approach to the Church Fathers. Cunningham was unashamedly critical of…
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Doctoral Marginalia: An Introduction
Serious reading has rarely been a silent or passive exercise. Historically, it was done with ink close by and margins left intentionally wide. For centuries, Christians have read with pen in hand—underlining, questioning, clarifying, sometimes disagreeing. These marginal notes were rarely polished and never meant for publication, yet they often reveal more about how theology…