The text and the footnotes to the lectures have been carefully worked over and the vocabulary and sentence structure have sometimes been changed to improve readability. The spelling has also been updated to contemporary norms. The editor, George Harinck, has also added a general introduction to the lectures and their historical context, as well as some new footnotes and an index of proper names.

The book is part of the series Maatstaf [Standard], which endeavors to publish reprint editions that “offer a maatstaf to contemporary readers in our unprincipled, relativistic society—a criterion for the true, the good, and the beautiful.” Harinck also published a fifth edition (see 2008.01), which appeared in Klassiek licht [Light from the classics], a series of Christian books by Dutch authors who have influenced Christianity in the Netherlands.

George Harinck is the director of the Historical Documentation Center (HDC) at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, where he also serves as Professor of the History of Neo-Calvinism. He is also director of the Archives and Documentation Center of the Reformed Churches (Kampen) and professor at the Theological University of the Reformed Churches, Kampen.