| Summary: | Samuel Rutherford (c.1600-1661) is one of the most influential figures in post-Reformation Scotland. Among his contemporaries, he is unsurpassed in terms of literary output, standing within the church, and ardent advocacy of Calvinist and Presbyterian doctrine. He is best remembered today for his political thought, as memorialized in <i>Lex, Rex</i>, and for his nearly mystical piety. But his theology has been almost completely overlooked. Of the modest attention Rutherford’s theology has received, a large percentage has either incorrectly appraised it as hyper-Calvinist or misunderstood it at one point or another. This thesis hopes to fill both <i>lacunae</i>, first by simply presenting Rutherford’s theology and, second, by seeking to correct previous misinformation in regard to it. The <i>terminus a quo</i> for the study is the doctrine of revelation; the <i>terminus ad quem</i> is assurance of salvation. Even though Rutherford has no proper systematic theology text, he does have one treatise that is perhaps closer than any other to such a text – the <i>Examen Arminianismi</i>. No work yet to date interacts with the contents of the <i>Examen</i> in any significant way. The current study will give special attention to this treatise. Because it is a work of polemical theology, aimed chiefly against the Arminians, the <i>Examen</i> provides us with a glimpse into the condition of Calvinism in seventeenth-century Scotland, which is especially evident in the context of Calvinism’s reaction to Arminian theology. While many may argue that the seventeenth century was the apex of Calvinism’s golden age in Scotland, this thesis will tell a somewhat different story, a story of desperation and intrigue and of Calvinism at the precipice of defeat.
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