Over the past decade, the project of Protestant resourcement has exploded, giving pastors, scholars, and lay-people access to the great thinkers who shaped their tradition. Despite this great progress, many treasures of Reformed theology remain obscured from the lay-person, confined to academics with a working knowledge of Latin and Biblical languages–or, if translated, affordable only by libraries with large budgets. 

Synopsis of a Purer Theology, otherwise known as “the Leiden Synopsis,” is one such work. Collecting theological disputations delivered at the University of Leiden in the early 1600s, it is one of the most historically important and theologically comprehensive handbooks of Reformed theology, being a key influence for many Reformed theologians including Herman Bavinck, Abraham Kuyper, Karl Barth, Louis Berkhof, and Richard Muller. And yet, it has remained largely forgotten and left to a handful of Latin-reading scholars.

Now for the first time, the Davenant Press has published this significant work in a full English-only translation, in an affordable and concise two-volume set that includes introductory material to orient the reader to the text.

The Synopsis offers both a snapshot of the state of confessional theology in the 17th-century Dutch Reformed tradition, and also an enduring example of how the project of systematizing doctrine can serve the church. The Leiden professors modeled thoroughness and clarity of thought in the face of confusion, and a vision of irenic Christian unity over brittle doctrinal uniformity. 

As Protestants endeavor both to recover their forgotten heritage and to pass it down to the next generation, we need examples of how this has been done before us. The Synopsis of a Purer Theology will serve to bring such illumination and perspective to a generation desperately in need of its boldness, clarity, and wisdom.

2 Vols, Hardcover with dust jacket, 856 pages, Davenant Institute

Endorsements 

Finally in English in a single volume, the Leiden Synopsis can now take its well-deserved place as a standard reference work for a wide readership. Its clear organization, careful distinction-making, transparency to scriptural sources, respectful engagement with the full Christian tradition, and organic coherence as a system make it a tool to be used regularly. The four authors’ steady awareness of their location in a particular confessional tradition makes their work eminently useful not only for those who share their full confessional position, but also for those who listen in to overhear Reformed Protestant theology at its best.

Fred Sanders, Torrey Honors College, Biola University

“ Every English-speaking Reformed pastor and student would do well to own these two outstanding volumes. That may sound hyperbolic, or even cliché, but it’s true. This is an invaluable resource that can serve as a wise, reliable, profound, and easy to use (which does not mean simple) reference for anyone interested in defining and defending Reformed theology.” 

 Kevin Deyoung, Pastor of Christ Covenant Church 

“Doctrinal controversy brings strife but it also brings clarity and precision to doctrinal formulation, which is a blessing. This benefit of debate is no less true of the Leiden Synopsis, written in the wake of the Arminian controversy. This collection of theological disputations is grounded in Scripture, razor sharp in its distinctions, and conversant with the history of doctrine. No serious student of theology can afford to ignore this theological work.”