Caspar Olevianus (1536–87) was an influential figure in the development of Reformed (as distinct from other versions of) covenant theology. He was a student of John Calvin (1509–64) and Theodore Beza (1519–1605). Like them, he was a Roman Catholic humanist scholar who became a confessional Reformed Protestant theologian and pastor. He taught and ministered in Heidelberg, where he labored alongside Zacharias Ursinus (1534–83) to help with the creation of the famous Heidelberg Catechism (1563). He wrote three works that relied on covenantal categories and language to explain the Scriptures and the Apostles’ Creed. He was also a biblical commentator and pastor. He did his work just as his colleague Ursinus was beginning to correlate the category of law with the covenant of works and the gospel with the covenant of grace, which pattern he followed. He contributed to the Reformed understanding of the unity of the covenant of grace, the focus on Christ in the history of salvation, and what became known as the covenant of redemption (between the Father and the Son). In the 17th century, Johannes Cocceius (1603–69) wrote that his work was an attempt to elaborate on Caspar’s.

Order here