Historical Dictionary of Reformed Churches.

Falconer, Alan D.

Robert Benedetto, Darrel L. Guder, Donald McKim, eds, Historical Dictionary of Reformed Churches, Lanham, MD and London, Scarecrow, 1999, 507pp., US$79.50.

This is the twenty-fourth in the series Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, and Movements under the general editorship of Jan Woronoff. In his foreword, the editor notes that the volume, which reveals a certain diversity within the family of churches, covers a broad span of activities, from theology and government to education and social engagement. Specific entries focus on geographical regions in which the Reformed faith has become rooted, while other entries are devoted to figures who in their various times and places have helped to nurture and shape the Reformed tradition. The editors have drawn on some fifty consultants representing different regions of the world, though none of the articles is identified with a specific author. A guiding framework for all the entries is that of the description of the Reformed tradition found in the constitution of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, that the Reformed tradition "is a biblical, evangelical and doctrinal ethos".

The twenty-six regional articles are well done. They provide a good, though brief, historical outline of the involvement of Reformed churches in the area, and identify key persons, events and influences in the story. In short compass, they enable the reader to get a sense of the place and to find resources for a further, more detailed examination. The articles on theological topics present a good concise statement of Reformed teaching and are illustrated by judicious references to the writings of the Reformers or to the Reformed confessions of faith, while those on issues of social justice demonstrate constant engagement with the issues of human community. There are also numerous articles on major figures in the history of the Reformed churches throughout the world.

This historical dictionary undoubtedly helps the reader to appreciate the geographical impact of the Reformed churches. It is a valuable tool for anyone involved in missionary research, pointing as it does to key persons, movements and events. However, there is constant reference to the "gospel and culture" movement as if this was clearly a defined school of thought, related to the Reformed tradition; other historians and missiologists might be less persuaded of this. Further probing on this and other topics is facilitated by the excellent and very extensive bibliography (pp.359-482).

In assessing this new publication, comparison becomes inevitable with the Encyclopaedia of the Reformed Faith, edited by Donald McKim (Louisville, Westminster-John Knox, and Edinburgh, St Andrew, 1992). On theological topics, the encyclopaedia provides a more comprehensive summary -- though, curiously, it contains no article on the interpretation of scripture nor on hermeneutics, while the dictionary does. The dictionary article, however, on "the church" does not mention the Reformed emphasis on the marks of the church nor the description of the church as the community of "word and sacrament". For a fuller and more helpful account of the doctrinal and scriptural ethos of the Reformed churches, the reader is better served by the encyclopaedia.

The dictionary offers a more comprehensive array of personalities who have helped to shape the Reformed tradition than the encyclopaedia does. As mentioned above, this provides a fertile source for the missiologist. There are however curious inclusions and exclusions. William Carey, for example, appears because he was influenced by the Reformed tradition, while Johannes Wollebuis, the 17th-century Reformed theologian who helped decisively to shape the tradition, is omitted. When comparing the accounts in the two volumes on Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, there is no reference to the impact of the Reformed tradition on him in the dictionary whereas the encyclopaedia does examine the impact of Calvin on Cranmer and the 32 Articles.

In each dictionary article persons or topics which are treated elsewhere in the volume are highlighted in bold type. This becomes intrusive and distracting, though perhaps it is less so if the reader is simply consulting a specific article. But there are occasions when this device does seem misleading, e.g. when reference is made to Jean de Laladia, the one-time Jesuit who embraced the Reformed faith, where the word "faith" is highlighted. There are also a number of inconsistencies in the volume, as is inevitable in such a publication, e.g. John Knox is said to have been born in either 1505 or 1514 depending on whether the chronology at the beginning of the book or the article on Knox is consulted.

The editors of this dictionary have put us in their debt. This is a rich resource for the history of the tradition, for its major figures, and for missiology. The bibliography provided in the volume is a rich tool for researchers. Those concerned with the doctrinal and scriptural ethos of the Reformed tradition, however, should also make use of the encyclopaedia.

Alan D. Falconer is director of the secretariat of the Faith and Order commission, World Council of Churches.