The history of Reformed Christianity cannot be told without reference to the Synod of Dordt. Yet the decisions reached at Dordt have generally elicited strong reactions, reactions which have influenced the way in which it has been described by historians, as Joris van Eijnatten demonstrates in the final essay in this collection. To its supporters, the synod was a high point of shared purpose and conviction amongst the Reformed. It successfully defended the Reformed faith against Arminian innovations, and set a lasting benchmark for orthodox teaching on grace.To its detractors, by contrast, the Synod of Dordt was the moment when the Reformed tradition became fatally compromised by bigotry and narrow-mindedness. At Dordt, the fundamental Protestant principle of sola scriptura was eclipsed by a pedantic confessionalism, with schism the predictable and regrettable result. This refreshing and wide-ranging set of essays is intended to liberate the synod from the limits of these competing historiographic trends. It is the fruit of an international conference which was held in April 2006. That conference was envisaged as a scholarly preparation for the public commemoration of the synod in 2018–19. The contributors were invited on the basis that they represented a wide cross-section of the research which was currently taking place, rather than because, as a whole, they would offer a comprehensive discussion of the synod. Consequently, this set of essays does not attempt to offer a systematic analysis of Dordt, so much as a series of insights into how research in this area is now moving. There are sixteen papers in total, so the collection is a generous one; and they approach the synod from a number of different angles. In some, the subject matter is quite distantly related to the synod. Fred van Lieburg discusses Gisbertus Samuels, a Reformed minister who was having difficulties with the established orthodoxy on predestination in the 1590s, well before Arminius rose to prominence. Jürgen Beyer and Leigh Penman explore the life of Anne Walker, a prophetess who attempted to contribute her prophetic grasp of the end times to the discussions of the synod, but whose ministry was not warmly received. Jonathan Moore suggests that, despite his absence, James Ussher's theology had some bearing on the synod, because he had won Davenant over to his opinion on the atonement some time beforehand. Henri Krop argues that there are no grounds for suggesting that the Remonstrants were more influenced by humanist philosophy than the contra-Remonstrants. William den Boer discusses Arminius’ original motives for deviating from mainstream Reformed thinking. Willem op't Hof shows how, in the decades after Dordt, a number of Contra-Remonstrant writers involved in the Further Reformation, began openly to deplore the synod's preoccupation with doctrine at the expense of personal sanctification. These contributions certainly present some fresh and interesting scholarship, but they do not give us much of an insight into the synod itself, and a less generous editorial team might have left them to one side. The remainder of the essays, however, are directly relevant to an understanding of the synod, and they have some significant things to say. Aza Goudriaan shows that, although the controversy was focused on predestination and grace, it also reflected a number of fundamental differences in theological anthropology between the Remonstrants and their opponents. Anthony Milton demonstrates that the letters of John Hales and Walter Balcanquahall, which have strongly influenced the way that Dordt is often presented, are not nearly as trustworthy as many have assumed, and should not be allowed to eclipse other more reliable evidence. Nicholas Fornerod offers a compelling reassessment of the Genevan delegation to the synod, contending that its members were far more conciliatory and open-minded than they have sometimes been portrayed. Willem van Asselt examines the synod's decision about the controversy between Sibrandus Lubbertus and Johannes Maccovius, and shows that it was not so much a discussion of supralapsarianism, as a response to Maccovius’ application of modal logic within theological discourse. Robert Godfrey underlines that the canons drawn up at Dordt, eschewing as they did the scholastic language of the earlier judicia, had a clear pastoral objective, and were intended to show the implications of orthodox teaching for the life and piety of ordinary believers. Erik de Boer continues this pastoral theme by showing how the synod attempted to apply their doctrine with sensitivity to the emotionally laden subject of those who died in infancy. Donald Sinnema contributes first an essay which helpfully establishes the timetable for the drawing up of the canons during the synod, and then an essay showing how Dordt was gradually transformed from a specific judgement about Remonstrant theology, into a confessional document for the Dutch Church. Joke Spaans explores how Dordt was imagined in contemporary newssheets, allegories and satires, noting how theological issues rarely took centre stage in the way the synod was depicted. This collection contains a wealth of thought-provoking papers, and offers a number of trajectories for future research. So it has every chance of encouraging the reassessment of Dordt which the original conference was intended to provoke. Its editors make no attempt to draw such disparate contributions together into a unified conclusion, and it is perhaps temeritous for a reviewer to do so. But it is worth pointing out that the Synod of Dordt emerges from this collection of essays as a far more collaborative and pastorally minded assembly than it is often assumed to have been. The collection also demonstrates that the different national colleges, and perhaps especially the British, brought their influence to bear on the final outcome of the synod. So the old picture of a semi-detached British delegation holding their Anglican noses at Dordt's Calvinist excess will no longer do. This book provides a solid and stimulating foundation for scholarly reconsideration of the synod.