Pocket Dictionary of the

REFORMED TRADITION

Kelly M. Kapic & Wesley Vander Lugt

An imprint of InterVarsity Press

Downers Grove, Illinois

InterVarsity Press

P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426

World Wide Web: www.ivpress.com

Email: email@ivpress.com

©2013 by Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.

InterVarsity Press® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®, a movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, write Public Relations Dept., InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, 6400 Schroeder Rd., P.O. Box 7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895, or visit the IVCF website at www.intervarsity.org.

Cover design: Cindy Kiple

Image: Reformed tradition: Roberta Polfus

ISBN 978-0-8308-2708-4 (print)

ISBN 978-0-8308-8443-8 (digital)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kapic, Kelly M., 1972–

Pocket dictionary of the Reformed tradition / Kelly M. Kapic, Wesley Vander Lugt.

pages cm.—(IVP pocket reference series)

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8308-2708-4 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Reformed Church—Dictionaries. I. Vander Lugt, Wesley, 1981– II. Title.

BX9406.K37 2013

284’.203—dc23

2013003933

To Todd Capen and Jeff Weigum

Thank you for teaching me the faith in love,

passion and humility

Kelly

To my parents,

Gaylen and Marla Vander Lugt

For passionately upholding and consistently

demonstrating the richness of

the Reformed tradition

Wes

Preface

We all like to know and be known. Consequently, when situations arise in which we do not understand what we are reading or hearing, we easily become overwhelmed. This is true for all of us, whether we are in the classroom or at a dinner.

For example, when students are just beginning their studies in biology, all the terms and background information easily discourage the newcomer. Such feelings of disorientation are often forgotten after we have learned a skill or subject, but the novice experiences this intensely. In such situations, wise biology teachers remember what it was like when everything was new and they had little background knowledge. With that in mind, they slowly begin to teach through the basics—explaining key scientific theories and specialized vocabulary. During this process the goal is neither to learn the complexity of all the principles immediately nor to grasp the exhaustive history of the language at the outset, but rather to enter into the conversation through basic summaries and guidelines. After a season, the student is equipped and able to dive more deeply, learning some of the qualifications, complications and debates that go along with the theories and history of the subject at hand.

Theological ...