Early Reformation Covenant Theology: English Reception of Swiss Reformed Thought, 1520-1555

Robert Wainwright demonstrates the importance of covenant theology in the early years of the Reformation. Contrary to the usual focus on the origins of federal theology, his book suggests that medieval covenant theology was reformed by the Swiss theologians Huldrych Zwingli, Heinrich Bullinger, and John Calvin, using the new parameters of grace alone and Scripture alone. Their covenant ideas spread at a surprisingly early stage to England and had a significant influence on the emergence of English Reformed theology. The characterization of early English theology as Lutheran, whether proto-Puritan or a mild via media, is challenged in favor of the importance of measured Reformed thought. The study examines the covenant theology of four English reformers (William Tyndale, Myles Coverdale, John Hooper, and John Bradford) and then argues that their sacramental theology can help to identify their intellectual influences. What emerges is an early Reformed covenant theology that is biblical without being systematic.