The History of the Variations of the Protestant Churches" remains not only the greatest book of Bossuet (1627-1704), but also a classic in its field. Such works retain an instructiveness even in times that do not wish to be instructed about some basic, unalterable facts. There remains a stark disparity between ecumenical hopes and actual progress towards a reunion between the Catholic Church and the Protestant Churches. If one wants to understand this fact, one has to probe into the fact of the great variety of Protestant Churches and into the logic that inexorably generates their doctrinal variations. In presenting this logic and illustrating it with a wealth of statements from the works of the Reformers, Bossuet shifted the interconfessional debate from particular topics to general principles. Herein lies his genius, which is especially relevant for present day ecumenical theology.

By J.-B. Bossuet  •  Introduction by Fr. Stanley L. Jaki

ISBN 978-0-9641150-8-8  •  xxxv + 678 pages  •  softcover