Marrow of Modern Divinity

by Edward Fisher

Overview

The Marrow is the historically important book that caused the Marrow Controversy in the Church of Scotland. The Marrow is written as a dialogue among a pastor, a legalist, an antinomian, and a neophyte Christian. It advocates a free grace gospel against both a works-righteousness gospel and a cheap-grace gospel. At the time that Boston's edition came out (circa 1720), the Moderate Party dominated the Church of Scotland, and advocated a legalistic or neonomian gospel. Thus the free-grace perspective of the Marrow was condemned, and its maintainers, the so-called Marrowmen, were deposed from the ministry. The deposed ministers formed the Associate Presbytery, nicknamed the Secession Church. More information can be found in History Of The Secession Church (1839) and The Erskines: Ebenezer And Ralph (1880). In spite of the accusations of antinomianism, the book clearly advocates a role for the Law in sanctification, though not in justification, a dual-covenant view of the Law, as a covenant of grace to the elect, but a covenant of works to the reprobate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781495446955
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	02/07/2014
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	7.99(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.64(d)

About the Author

Edward Fisher (1627-1655) was an English theological writer. He is generally considered the author of The Marrow of Modern Divinity (1645) by E. F., a work which influentially stated the doctrine of unconditional grace, [2] and was at the centre of the later Marrow Controversy. This is a view held since Thomas Tanner's attribution of 1721, but it is contested by Alexander Gordon in the Dictionary of National Biography who considers it unlikely on internal evidence

What People are Saying About This

Carl R. Trueman - Paul Woolley Professor of Historical Theology and Church History

Thomas Boston's annotated edition of The Marrow of Modern Divinity is one of the most important texts in the history of Reformed discussions of justification, assurance and ethics. It has a controversial history - as the notes provided by Boston indicate - but that is because the matters on which it touches are so central to understanding both the gospel and the Christian life. This is a book which repays the time spent studying it.

Philip G. Ryken - President

The Marrow emphasizes biblical, evangelical doctrines such as the sovereignty of God in the covenant of grace, the free offer of the gospel, assurance in Christ as the essence of faith, and sanctification by grace rather than by the law.

From the Publisher

The Marrow emphasizes biblical, evangelical doctrines such as the sovereignty of God in the covenant of grace, the free offer of the gospel, assurance in Christ as the essence of faith, and sanctification by grace rather than by the law. ~ Philip G. Ryken (President, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois)

Anyone who comes to grips with the issues raised in The Marrow of Modern Divinity will almost certainly grow by leaps and bounds in understanding three things: the grace of God, the Christian life, and the very nature of the gospel itself. I personally owe it a huge debt. ~ Sinclair B. Ferguson (Associate Preacher, St Peter's Free Church, Dundee, Scotland)

"The Marrow of Modern Divinity is one of the most important theological texts of all time" ~ Derek Thomas (Senior Minister of Preaching and Teaching, First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, South Carolina)

Thomas Boston's annotated edition of The Marrow of Modern Divinity is one of the most important texts in the history of Reformed discussions of justification, assurance and ethics. It has a controversial history - as the notes provided by Boston indicate - but that is because the matters on which it touches are so central to understanding both the gospel and the Christian life. This is a book which repays the time spent studying it. ~ Carl R. Trueman (Paul Woolley Professor of Historical Theology and Church History, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Derek Thomas - Senior Minister of Preaching and Teaching

"The Marrow of Modern Divinity is one of the most important theological texts of all time"

Sinclair B. Ferguson - Associate Preacher

Anyone who comes to grips with the issues raised in The Marrow of Modern Divinity will almost certainly grow by leaps and bounds in understanding three things: the grace of God, the Christian life, and the very nature of the gospel itself. I personally owe it a huge debt.

Editorial Reviews

"This truly evangelical volume is remarkably well done. This would be a great gift for your pastor and, if he takes it to heart and it changes his preaching, it could be a great gift to the whole congregation!"

R. Scott Clark

The Marrow emphasizes biblical, evangelical doctrines such as the sovereignty of God in the covenant of grace, the free offer of the gospel, assurance in Christ as the essence of faith, and sanctification by grace rather than by the law.

Philip G. Ryken(President

"The Marrow of Modern Divinity is one of the most important theological texts of all time"

Derek W. H. Thomas(Teaching Fellow

What can a London barber-surgeon and "amateur" theologian tell us about theology? A lot. This book is famous for the controversy it sparked in Scotland in the eighteenth century, but it has a hidden prehistory that goes back to the early seventeenth century. Essential reading for us today if we wish to understand the Antinomian and Neonomian debates of those eras and how these debates, even today, never seem to go away.

Mark Jones

Anyone who comes to grips with the issues raised in The Marrow of Modern Divinity will almost certainly grow by leaps and bounds in understanding three things: the grace of God, the Christian life, and the very nature of the gospel itself. I personally owe it a huge debt.

(Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic Theology

"The Marrow addresses issues which are vital for evangelism and for the health and vitality of the Christianity and the church."

Evangelicals Now

The Marrow of Modern Divinity, written by Edward Fisher (whose identity is obscure) and published in the mid-seventeenth century, was systematic theology in a popular format. Featuring discussions among four people -- Nomista, a legalist; Antinomista, an antinomian; Neophytus, a young Christian; and Evangelista, a Christian minister -- it distilled in palatable form complex issues in law and grace that drive toward Christian maturity. A century later, Thomas Boston, that most prolific of Scottish pastor-theologians, so prized the work that he published a new edition, complete with his own notes. This new edition by Christian Focus preserves all of this material, but in a new layout with wide margins and clean type, making it a joy to read.

D. A. Carson

"The Marrow of Modern Divinity is one of the most important theological texts of all time"

Derek W. H. Thomas(Senior Minister of Preaching and Teaching

The Marrow emphasizes biblical, evangelical doctrines such as the sovereignty of God in the covenant of grace, the free offer of the gospel, assurance in Christ as the essence of faith, and sanctification by grace rather than by the law.

Philip G. Ryken

"The Marrow of Modern Divinity is one of the most important theological texts of all time"

Derek W. H. Thomas

Thomas Boston's annotated edition of The Marrow of Modern Divinity is one of the most important texts in the history of Reformed discussions of justification, assurance and ethics. It has a controversial history - as the notes provided by Boston indicate - but that is because the matters on which it touches are so central to understanding both the gospel and the Christian life. This is a book which repays the time spent studying it.

Carl R. Trueman

Anyone who comes to grips with the issues raised in The Marrow of Modern Divinity will almost certainly grow by leaps and bounds in understanding three things: the grace of God, the Christian life, and the very nature of the gospel itself. I personally owe it a huge debt.

Sinclair B. Ferguson

" The Marrow of Modern Divinity is one of the most important theological texts of all time"

Derek Thomas

Anyone who comes to grips with the issues raised in The Marrow of Modern Divinity will almost certainly grow by leaps and bounds in understanding three things: the grace of God, the Christian life, and the very nature of the gospel itself. I personally owe it a huge debt.

Sinclair B. Ferguson - Associate Preacher

The Marrow emphasizes biblical, evangelical doctrines such as the sovereignty of God in the covenant of grace, the free offer of the gospel, assurance in Christ as the essence of faith, and sanctification by grace rather than by the law.

Philip G. Ryken - President

What can a London barber-surgeon and "amateur" theologian tell us about theology? A lot. This book is famous for the controversy it sparked in Scotland in the eighteenth century, but it has a hidden prehistory that goes back to the early seventeenth century. Essential reading for us today if we wish to understand the Antinomian and Neonomian debates of those eras and how these debates, even today, never seem to go away.

Mark Jones - Minister

"The Marrow of Modern Divinity is one of the most important theological texts of all time"

Derek Thomas - Senior Minister of Preaching and Teaching

The Marrow of Modern Divinity, written by Edward Fisher (whose identity is obscure) and published in the mid-seventeenth century, was systematic theology in a popular format. Featuring discussions among four people — Nomista, a legalist; Antinomista, an antinomian; Neophytus, a young Christian; and Evangelista, a Christian minister — it distilled in palatable form complex issues in law and grace that drive toward Christian maturity. A century later, Thomas Boston, that most prolific of Scottish pastor-theologians, so prized the work that he published a new edition, complete with his own notes. This new edition by Christian Focus preserves all of this material, but in a new layout with wide margins and clean type, making it a joy to read.

D. A. Carson - Research Professor of New Testament

Thomas Boston's annotated edition of The Marrow of Modern Divinity is one of the most important texts in the history of Reformed discussions of justification, assurance and ethics. It has a controversial history - as the notes provided by Boston indicate - but that is because the matters on which it touches are so central to understanding both the gospel and the Christian life. This is a book which repays the time spent studying it.

Carl R. Trueman - Paul Woolley Professor of Historical Theology and Church History