A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s Supper

Description

Theodore Beza’s A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s Supper (1559) advances a tireless defense of the Reformed perspective on the Lord’s Supper, responding chapter by chapter to specific arguments raised against John Calvin by his Lutheran opponent Joachim Westphal. Beza makes great use of the concept of metonymy, or a figure of speech, in his interpretation of the words of institution, yet he equally champions the position that the Lord’s Supper is not a bare symbol and in it we have true communion with the risen Christ. And like Calvin, Beza refers extensively to the church fathers, especially Augustine, in defense of his position.

This often-overlooked treatise marks some of the major differences between the Reformed and the Lutheran movements during the so-called second generation of the Reformation. A critical issue at the time, sacramental theology was at the forefront of the original break with Rome and prevented the various Protestant movements from uniting. Its translation into English from the original Latin provides a wider opportunity for those interested in these movements to learn more about some of the substantial issues of the period.

Appended to the book are two smaller treatises of Beza: A System of Doctrine on the Sacramental Substance and The Law of God in Various Classes.

Contents:

Foreword – R. Scott Clark

Introduction – Martin I. Klauber

Preface

A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s Supper in Which the Published Slanders of Joachim Westphal Are Finally Refuted 

Appendix A: A System of Doctrine on the Sacramental Substance

Appendix B: The Moral, Ceremonial, and Political Law of God as Derived from the Books of Moses and Distributed into Particular Classes 

About the Contributors

Theodore Beza (1519–1605) was an influential French Protestant pastor and successor of John Calvin at the Geneva Academy. 

David C. Noe is associate professor of classics at Calvin College and a ruling elder in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. 

Martin I. Klauber is an affiliate professor of church history at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.