The Grand Debate: The Reasons Presented by the Dissenting Brethren against Certain Propositions concerning Presbyterian Government

This monumental scholarly work contains primary documents that address one of the most controversial issues amongst the Westminster Assembly of Divines: church government. Discontented with the majority’s Presbyterian views, the Congregationalist members produced dissenting papers to which the Assembly replied. Thoroughly edited by Chris Coldwell, these polemical papers provide Presbyterians and Congregationalists alike with the strongest arguments and chief concerns in discerning a Reformed ecclesiology. Includes an appendix that presents an updated version of research into the theological resources available at the Westminster Assembly.

Contents

Foreword 

Introduction 

The Propositions as Voted in the Assembly of Divines 

• Presbyterian Government: Jerusalem
• Presbyterian Government: Ephesus
• Subordination of Synods
• Ordination
• Committee for Accomidation

Appendix: Westminster Abbey Library 

Bibliography 

Indices 

424 pages.

“Presbyterians and Congregationalists should especially appreciate the publication of these papers, as they shed much light on the concerns (e.g., Christian liberty and the limits of ecclesiastical authority) that animated both movements in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This first edition of The Grand Debate since 1648 of those papers circulated at the Assembly, with its excellent introduction by Rowland Ward, is much to be welcomed by all who would know the background of the language adopted by the Assembly and who wish to take a peek through this window into the working of the Westminster divines.” 

—R. Scott Clark, professor of church history and historical theology, Westminster Seminary California