second half of the 16th – 17th century

Protestant Orthodoxy and "Protestant Scholasticism": The Return of Aristotle

In the period of orthodoxy, according to McGrath, doctrine became the chief means of confessional self-definition for Lutherans and Calvinists. Reformed theologians turned to the Aristotelian method: Vermigli, who had studied in Padua, introduced the method, and Beza built theology deductively from the decree of election, whereas Calvin had proceeded inductively from the historical event of Jesus Christ; predestination thus moved from the doctrine of salvation to the doctrine of God. In Lutheranism Gerhard, in his Loci theologici, based the system on Aristotle's metaphysics as interpreted by Suárez, departing from Luther; orthodoxy reached its peak in Calov and Quenstedt (1683). González considers the name "Protestant scholasticism" partly accurate.