The Federal Theology of Johannes Cocceius (1603-1669)

This volume deals with the Federal theology of Johannes Cocceius, who lived in the 17th century (1603-1669). German by birth, he taught at Bremen, Franeker and Leiden, where he was Professor of Theology (1650-1669). As foremost biblical interpreter he sought to formulate a Covenant theory which described all of human history by introducing the structure of consecutive covenants or foedera. The volume poses a surprising alternative to the readings of earlier scholarship on Cocceius by its careful presentation of the pneumatological components of the doctrine of covenants. Cocceius’ Federal theology was of considerable importance in the theological and political history of Europe and the United States and forms the framework for much of the Reformed theology since the 1700s.