“There have been periods of epochal contribution and advance. The reformation of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is without question the most notable. It was then that the opus magnum of Christian theology was given to the church. [Footnote: The reference is to the definitive edition of Calvin’s Christianae Religionis Institutio.] It was then that creedal formulation reached its zenith. The architectonic theologies of the Protestant churches witness to the vigour and devotion with which the study of theology had been pursued. It was the golden age of precision and formulation. The theology that does not build upon these constructions or pretends to ignore them places a premium upon retrogression dishonours the Holy Spirit by whose endowments and grace these epochal strides in understanding and presentation have been taken.” (“Systematic Theology,” in Collected Writings of John Murray, Vol. 4, p. 7). (1 of 2 posts)