Two key ideas are here brought into clear focus. The first is the reception of the thought of earlier generations of biblical interpreters and theologians, a field which has been informed by work on Calvin's use of and relationship with the fathers and the medievals. The essays explore various facets of reception history-textual transmission, the identification of editions used, the deployment of these sources in doctrinal formulation, in polemic, and in relation to the contested site of 'catholicity'.
The second broad theme is the exchange of ideas across confessional boundaries with essays offering analyses of occasions when individuals or groups have learned something important from, or made a determined effort to engage constructively with, other confessional identities and allegiances. Research on the doctrine of justification in recent ecumenical dialogue and on the Regensburg Colloquy are models of scholarship in this area. The essays presented here will shed light on the past and stimulate contemporary theological reflection.
