John Calvin was a covenant theologian. He did not fully develop the discipline, but he pointed the way for its further refinement and expansion. P.A. Lillback acknowledges that covenantal thinking existed in the church prior to Calvin, but he is to be considered, "the forerunner of Reformed federal [i.e., covenant] theology" (New Dictionary Of Theology, edited by Sinclair Ferguson, David Wright, and J.I. Packer ,p.175). Carl Bogue agrees when he writes that although covenant theology is not the sole "organizing principle" in the Reformer's theology, nevertheless, "the essentials are definitely present" (The Genesis Covenants, p. 3).