Gamble's monograph examines the nature, context and impact of antinomianism in relation to the debates and documents of the Westminster Assembly (1643–53). It represents the latest contribution in a series of studies on the Westminster Assembly that aims to reproduce classic works and produce new accessible scholarly thought on the members and ideas of the group at a watershed in British history. Gamble explores how English antinomianism was ‘more complex and multifaceted than the simple denial of the continued use of and obligation to follow the moral law’ (p. 1). Gamble draws on fresh documentary evidence in order to create a guided narrative of English Protestantism as it faced challenges from radical Calvinists and Arminians and created a (short-lived) confessional identity for the English Church in the Civil War, an identity largely reacting against the protean complexity of antinomianism. Gamble's work divides into two related parts: the first deals with the Westminster Assembly's work and proceedings against antinomianism; and the second turns to the theological impact of antinomianism on the Assembly's revision of the Thirty-Nine Articles and production of a new Confession.
The first part of Gamble's monograph provides a clear, coherent, readable and carefully reconstructed account of the rise of antinomianism from the early 1600s onwards that, as it ‘vied for the hearts and minds of the English people’ with Arminians and Reformed camps, left the Church of England ‘suffering a crisis of identity’ (p. 11). The strength of Gamble's work becomes immediately evident and she cuts through with a driving narrative the intricacies, idiosyncrasies and esoteric quality of antinomian thought, as well as the political intrigues and polemical responses to it. The first chapter considers the roots of English antinomianism in the thought of John Eaton (1574/75–1630/31), its relation to Arminianism and Reformed responses against Eaton in the 1630s. This chapter sets the immediate context of the Westminster Assembly, which began to meet as a perfect storm broke after censorship of antinomian thought was lifted in 1641 and, soon afterwards, civil war was declared. The second chapter picks up the narrative at the point that ‘the assembly divines were called to purge the Church of England of false doctrine’ (p. 40), making the antinomians their most critical targets. Gamble adeptly and parsimoniously takes her reader through the labyrinthine network of theological feuds, controversies and spats that broke friendships and began to forge a new orthodoxy for the English Church as the Assembly encountered head on from the beginning antinomian thinkers and theology. Particularly useful in this second chapter is Gamble's heuristic division of antinomian thought into discrete (if related) theological motifs which drew antinomianism into disagreement with the Westminster Assembly. The third chapter goes on to explore the Assembly debates over whether antinomianism was heretical, a crux question that brought into relief that doctrine bore political freight and could lead to mortal punishment, especially if it was seen to be seditious and if the government was responsible for godliness.
The second part of Gamble's monograph unpacks how ‘these dealings with antinomianism gave rise to complex and intramural debates over important soteriological matters directly provoked by and related to antinomianism’ (p. 84). Chapters in this section consider in turn debates over the person and work of Christ (chapter 4), faith, repentance and good works (chapter 5) and the moral law (chapter 6). A singular contribution of these chapters is to show how the six weeks the Westminster divines spent revising the Thirty-Nine Articles in light of antinomianism were not a colossal waste of time, but rather informed and enlightened the Assembly's final Confession of Faith. As Gamble puts it, ‘the confession's clear and concise paragraphs on justification, faith, repentance, and works reflect the weeks of tortuous theological debate the divines undertook as a response to antinomianism’ (p. 131).
Gamble's monograph provides a stellar contribution towards the retrieval of the Westminster Assembly in serious theological and historical study. Her careful and judicious use of Chad Van Dixhoorn's The Minutes and Papers of the Westminster Assembly (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 6 vols.) grounds the narrative in documentary detail without overwhelming the reader. Her sensitive delineation of antinomian thought, as well as her careful rendering of a historical narrative sensitive to context, meticulously makes a compelling case to see the response to antinomianism as the primary theological concern of the Westminster Assembly. Indeed, this novel thesis certainly ‘contributes to a deeper understanding of the formation, nature, and growth of Reformed theology as well as a greater appreciation for the diversity within the Reformed tradition’ (p. 155). Gamble's work opens the door to explore more about how the Westminster Assembly and its debates related to broader European Reformed thought and controversies, such as the antinomian controversy at the end of the seventeenth century that, as Gamble alludes to, ‘engulfed England, Scotland, and the Netherlands’ (p. 43). Future monographs may well address this broader context; but Gamble's work signals a compelling and eloquent retrieval of the importance of the Westminster Assembly.
