Defending the Trinity in the Reformed Palatinate: The Elohistae

This study begins with an examination of Girolamo Zanchi's De Tribus Elohim (1572), setting this important defense of the doctrine of the Trinity in the immediate context of the recent rise of antitrinitarianism within the Reformed Palatinate. De Tribus Elohim focused on the grammatical peculiarity of the Hebrew word Elohim (God) in order to refute the biblicism of its contemporary antitrinitarians. In doing so, Zanchi's argument followed an exegetical thread common within the late medieval case for the doctrine of the Trinity, but which ran contrary to the exegetical sensibilities of many of Zanchi's own Reformed colleagues. This disagreement over the correct interpretation of the word Elohim, then became a touchstone for distinguishing between two different approaches to the Hebrew text with the Reformed Church of the late sixteenth century, and becomes a significant piece in understanding the development of Reformed exegesis.


Author: Benjamin R. Merkle
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 01/12/2016
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.60h x 5.40w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780198749622

About the Author

Benjamin R Merkle is a Fellow of Theology and Classical Languages at New Saint Andrews College, in Moscow, Idaho.

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