Acknowledgments

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

IN A D D I T I ON TO the Reformed tradition more generally (and the fresh examination of that tradition by Richard Muller and many others), I am especially indebted to the work of Geerhardus Vos, Herman Ridderbos, Louis Berkhof, and Meredith G. Kline. As the dedication suggests, this book is the outcome of years as a student of the likes of Robert B, Strimple, W. Robert Godfrey, Dennis Johnson, Mark Futato, and, of course, Meredith Kline. I am also grateful to those from whom I learned so much at Oxford (especially Alister McGrath, who supervised my thesis on a major figure in English Reformed scholasticism) and in my two postdoctoral years at Yale. Yet, now as a professor at my alma mater, I owe special gratitude to my colleagues who constantly refine my thinking and model remarkable churchmanship and pastoral practice along with it. Thanks especially to Bryan Estelle, who took the time to go through the manuscript in painstaking detail, whose suggestions spared me (and my readers) from several mistakes. As for the students, they routinely challenge me almost as much as my colleagues to greater faithfulness to the task of training servants for that enormously weighty calling that we share together in Christ's body. I am grateful also to Paul Brinkerhoff and Don Stephenson at Baker Books for their interest in this project and attention to detail. Finally, thanks to Lisa and those four children of the covenant who remind me daily of the practical implications of trusting the God of Promise,