Argula von Grumbach's

T&T Clark Companion to Reformation Theology

Edited by

David M. Whitford

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Published by T&T Clark International A Continuum Imprint The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704, 11 York Road New York, London SE1 7NX NY 10038

www.continuumbooks.com

© David M. Whitford, and contributors, 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

David M. Whitford and contributors have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as the Author of this work.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-0-567-03360-4 (hardcover)

Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India Printed and bound in India

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The European Reformation was primarily a religious event driven by theological concerns. That it also had broad social, cultural, and political implications is not surprising. Because the early-modern world was not yet a secular world, the theological affected the social and political just as much and sometimes more than the narrowly defi ned ecclesiastical. When a sixteenth-century person confronted an unknown or unexplained event he or she looked fi rst to fi nd God’s hidden hand at work behind the event. Political events were simultaneously understood as religious events. The Fall of Belgrade in 1521 signaled not only a military defeat but was reckoned as a judgment of God. The Bible provided the norm and rule of life. When selecting a topic of study in Reformation theology, one needs to be cognizant of this reality. Attempting to write a paper or thesis on a Reformation theol- ogy topic, then, might seem an overwhelming task. It need not be, however. There are a number of steps that one can take to ensure a comprehensive—if not exhaustive—examination of a topic at hand. The fi rst step is to use this book as a guide. The articles and defi nitions within this book are designed to give you an overall introduction into the main theological loci (or top- ics) that were important in Reformation theology. The list is not exhaustive, but it is comprehensive. It covers the most important doctrines and topics. Each chapter, as you have seen, also has a bibliography that gives some of the most important English language works that you will want to look at as you move further into your research. This book is intended to help you delve deeper into the subjects, people, and theological perspectives of the European Reformation. In this opening chapter, I hope to provide you with a basic framework for how to write a semester paper or short thesis paper on a Reformation theology topic. It is my hope that this chapter, the topical chapters that follow it, and the brief dictionary of key terms and persons from the sixteenth century will help you chart a successful course through the study of Reformation theology.

1 Studying and Writing about the Reformation David M. Whitford

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When selecting a topic for your study, the most important thing to do is to fi nd a question or issue that has some natural interest for you. If it interests you and you write persuasively, it will also interest your reader. Interest does not mean, of course, that we set aside the ideal of being impartial when exam- ining and weighing evidence. A paper or essay on a particular theological issue in the Reformation, especially when written in a theological seminary, may end with a judgment about the correctness or suitability of that position but that is the fi nal movement in a paper and can only come after giving each side of a debate a fair and unbiased hearing.

After you have discovered a theological topic that resonates with your interest, the next most practical step is to identify a specifi c theologian that you want to learn more about. Many of the leading theologians of the six- teenth century have excellent introductions to their lives and theological positions. These introductions will enable you to quickly identify the key primary texts written by the theologian of your choice on issues you have selected as well as help you identify other major themes explored by that theologian. For a quick-reference guide that will enable you to grasp the overarching themes of many theologians and traditions, Carter Lindberg’s The European Theologians (2002) and my own Reformation and Early Modern Europe: A Guide to Research (2007) are excellent places to start. For specifi c individuals, one ought to begin with the major recent and thorough exami- nations of their thought. For Martin Luther, an excellent place to begin is Bernhard Lohse’s Martin Luther’s Theology (1999). Other works to consult include, The Theology of Martin Luther (1966) by Paul Althaus and Donald McKim’s Companion to Martin Luther (2003). For a theologically nuanced biography of Luther, see Heiko Oberman’s Luther: Man between God and the Devil . For John Calvin, François Wendel’s Calvin: The Origins and Development of His Thought (1963) and Donald McKim’s Companion to John Calvin (2004) are both excellent. For Calvin’s life and theological develop- ment, one ought to consult Bruce Gordon’s Calvin (2009). W. P. Stephens’ The Theology of Huldrych Zwingli (1988) is the best comprehensive introduc- tion to Zwingli’s theology available in English. Ulrich Gabler ’s Huldrych Zwingli: His Life and Work (1986) is also worth consulting. D. F. Wright has an excellent study of Martin Bucer in Martin Bucer: Reforming Church and Community (1994).

Introductions such as these will enable you to identify some of the key primary sources that touch upon your topic. Depending on the length of your intended study, it is often best to begin a project by identifying a single source. Primary sources can come in a variety of different formats. Some are archival, such as birth and death records written by parish clergy over the centuries or the records of minutes of church meetings or ecclesiastical bodies. There are

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also more concrete artifacts such as carvings of saints that have had their faces disfi gured during iconoclastic riots, epitaphs on gravestones, or the presence (or absence) of pews in churches. For Reformation theology, however, most of the primary sources are written documents that were published over the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Contextualizing and ana- lyzing a single source will often exhaust the requirements for all but the most in-depth papers. Finding the text of your author is often easier than it might appear at the beginning of a project.

Nearly all the major theologians of the sixteenth century have had their works compiled into collections or authoritative editions. Many theologians can also be found in both the original languages and in English translation. Whenever possible, it is a worthy exercise to compare the original language writings to the standard translation. The standard version of Luther ’s writ- ings is D. Martin Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe ; it is commonly referred to as the Weimar Ausgabe ( WA ) because it was published in the city of Weimar. 1 Publication began in 1883 and revisions and republica- tions continue to this day. The standard English version (often called the American Edition) is Luther’s Works , abbreviated LW . In 54 volumes plus 1 Index volume, many of the most important of Luther ’s treatises, let- ters, and Table Talks are translated and introduced. 2 In 2007, Concordia Publishing House announced plans to publish new volumes of previously un- translated works by Luther that will ultimately expand the LW to more than 70 volumes.

John Calvin’s, Ulrich Zwingli’s, and Philipp Melanchthon’s works in the original languages are all found in the Corpus Reformatorum ( CR ). Melanchthon has the fi rst 28 volumes, Calvin’s works are volumes 29–87, 3 and Zwingli’s writings are in volumes 88–101. The last volume in each group contains a relatively helpful index. 4 Of these three Reformers, only Calvin’s work has been widely and systemically translated into English. The most important works of Calvin’s, that is, The Institutes of the Christian Religion and his biblical commentaries, have all been translated. For the fi nal version of Institutes , one should consult the “McNeil-Battles” edition, Library of Christian Classics vol. 20–21, edited by John T. McNeill and translated by Ford Lewis Battles. If one is interested in learning how Calvin’s thought evolved over time, the 1536 edition of the Institutes and the 1541 French edition have both been translated into English. 5 The Commentaries are widely available in seminary, college, and university libraries and can also be read online at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. 6

Once you have identifi ed the doctrine or topic that you wish to examine and you have identifi ed the key text you wish to study in detail, you will need to contextualize the document. Asking the following questions will help you

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properly (and thoroughly) exegete your text. I have divided these questions into two groups: external questions and internal questions:

It is best to start with external questions fi rst since they will help you under- stand what was going on around your theologian at the time that he or she wrote the treatise you are examining. Then examine the internal structure and purpose of your work. Here a close reading will be your best asset. Finally, one should turn to assessing the effects and impact of the theological perspec- tive or treatise. The last step of this fi nal stage will be your opportunity to offer your own evaluation of the doctrine or topic.

Setting the External Context

In the history of the church, very few theologians have simply gotten up in the morning and decided to write a theological essay on some topic or another. Almost always, some larger historical or ecclesiastic event spurs them to write. In 1916, Karl Barth wrote his commentary on the book of Romans in part as a response to World War I. Fifteen centuries earlier, Augustine wrote The City of God as the western Roman Empire was collapsing. As with Augustine and Barth, Luther and others in the sixteenth century were as effected by the larger world around them as they affected it.

Provenance Provenance is the fi rst thing that must be settled when discussing any his- torical work of literature or artifact. Provenance actually encompasses two closely connected topics. First, where did the book or artifact come from and second, how did it get from that place and time to us? Provenance is especially

Setting the External Context Understanding the Internal Context

(1) Provenance (1) Genre (2) Wider Historical Context (2) Purpose (3) Life of the Theologian (3) Theological Sources (4) Audience (4) Use of the Bible

Understanding the Effects and Impact

(1) Other writings on same topic (2) Reactions—Responses (3) Legacy (4) Evaluation

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important for artifacts as it helps to prove authenticity. When we limit our dis- cussion to books, we ask similar but different questions. For example, can the authorship of the book be trusted? Do we know, for example, that Luther actu- ally wrote the Ninety-Five Theses ? While that question is fairly easy to answer because he claimed it was his and wrote defenses of it, his later lectures on the book of Genesis are a bit more complicated because they were published not from his manuscript but from student notes. Thus, one has to be a bit more circumspect about claiming they represent Luther’s thought when examining the Genesis lectures than the Ninety-Five Theses . Asking where a book was published and how it came to be published can offer many interesting facts as well. 7 If you discover that a source you were planning to work on is either of uncertain, unknown, or false origin, it is best at that point to discuss the topic with your professor. Pseudepigraphical (from the Greek for false writ- ing) works can be some of the most interesting works both for their history and their theology but they can also become a rabbit warren of complicated questions so that you ought to seek some guidance from your professor before moving on with the topic.

Historical Context Setting the historical context of a particular theological treatise during the Reformation is often simultaneously the most straightforward and most important aspect of contextualizing the document. Introductions to impor- tant treatises often highlight the events that helped precipitate it. For others, however, you may have to dig a bit deeper. All introductions and all publica- tions of the theological works you might analyze will provide you with the year it was published at the very least. There are only a handful of years in the sixteenth century when the exact month will make an enormous difference to the historical context. In those cases, introductions ought to clarify that. If they don’t, that is another good time to consult your professor. Once you have established the year, a good general introduction to the history of the Reformation will help contextualize the larger events of that year within the sixteenth century. Mark Greengrass’ The European Reformation also has a large number of chronological charts that can help establish a framework for your time period. As you work through the historical context, also pay some atten- tion to geography. In many ways, Martin Luther was able to survive and thrive despite the pope’s attempts to excommunicate him and have him arrested because he lived in the Holy Roman Empire (HRE). The HRE had a diverse and divided governing structure. In Saxony, Frederick the Wise (Luther’s prince) had far more power and authority than did Emperor Charles V. This was not the case in places like England or France where even great lords (i.e., dukes and earls) were subjects and under-lords of the king and therefore had little independent authority. Had Luther been a subject of either the king of

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France or the king of England rather than the duke of Saxony, he would not have fared nearly as well.

Life of the Theologian In April of 1525, Martin Luther published a public letter to the nobility and peasants of southern Germany that he hoped would provide a framework for a possible resolution to the increasing strife in the area. He published his Admonition to Peace sometime (we are unsure of the exact date) in late April. At the same time, he also set out on a journey to the small town of Eisleben to help open a new school. During the journey to and from Eisleben he encoun- tered the effects of the increasingly violent peasants’ rebellion. On May 1, 1525, while he was trying to preach, the audience became aggressive and some peo- ple tried to disturb the service. As he walked home, he heard more and more reports of murder, rape, and destruction by rebelling peasants. The Peasants’ War had truly begun. He arrived home in Wittenberg on May 6 and almost immediately began writing one of his most controversial works, Against the Murdering Hordes of the Other Peasants . It is a vociferous and blistering attack against the rioting peasants. It urges that these rioting peasants be stopped by any and all means. On May 12, nobles and professional soldiers slaughtered rebelling peasants at the Battle of Frankenhausen. Four days later, Luther’s Against the Murdering Hordes was published. It looked like an after-the-fact justifi cation of the slaughter when, in fact, Luther was horrifi ed by the events of Frankenhausen.

The speed with which the tense situation changed during the events of 1525 was certainly not the norm either in the life of Luther or the sixteenth century, but it does highlight for us the importance of asking what might have been happening in a particular person’s life at the time surrounding the theologi- cal work that you are investigating. John Calvin, for example, expanded and revised the Institutes for the fi rst time after he had tried using it for its stated purpose—religious instruction. Clearly, that experience taught him that he needed to clarify some points and expand others. Understanding a theolo- gian’s context also helps protect us from viewing their theology as monolithic and unchanged over time.

Audience Especially in an era of fi erce debate, it is essential to consider the intended audience of a piece. Let us take just one document and consider the very differ- ent understandings of that document that arise depending upon the audience. In late October 1517, to whom was Martin Luther writing when he penned his Ninety-Five Theses ? If one argues that he wrote them to be widely published (as they subsequently were) and addressed the German people, the Church, and fellow clergy, then the image of an ardent “Reformer” is immediately called to

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mind. This is the image of the defi ant Luther ringing out righteous judgment with every fall of the hammerhead as he nailed the Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church. But, what if his audience was instead his students and the door of the church was the university bulletin board? Then, Luther is simply one in a long list of college professors who wrote or said something that was unwittingly provocative and thus backed into a tempest rather more by accident than intention. The introductions to many primary sources will provide some information about the intended audience of the piece you are examining. Many treatises were also written with an intended audience and were simultaneously dedicated to a specifi c person. Most of the time, the person to whom a work was dedicated can also tell us something about the author’s intentions. To fi nd out more about a specifi c person, one should consult Hans Hillerbrand’s The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation or Peter Bietenholz’s Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation . As you consider audience, it is important to keep in mind their social location (e.g., were they rich or poor; city elites or country peasants; edu- cated or uneducated; noble or common?) and religious background. A treatise meant to encourage people to join a particular side of the Reformation should be read differently than one written to those already committed.

Setting the Internal Context Genre

In examining a theological writing (or any writing for that matter) the fi rst question that ought to be asked and answered is what type of writing is it? A poem, a treatise, even a biblical commentary can all be written to encour- age one type of belief or behavior and discourage another, but the manner in which an author chooses to communicate that hope is important. Across the Reformation era, we have many, many different types of written and oral communication and not all of them can be regarded equally. A sermon, for example, is meant to be heard and is often written in a very short time frame. We have, for example, more than 1,500 sermons from John Calvin’s lifetime of preaching. A sermon can tell us a great deal. For example, it can tell us how a theologian approached a wide and often less literate audience. What one should not do, however, is assess it on an equal standing with a learned treatise that someone worked months or even years on. In Martin Luther’s collected works, one can fi nd six volumes of what are now called Tischreden or Table Talks. These are Luther’s musings and discussions at the community dinner table in his home. Students jotted down every word from the esteemed professor. As ought to be clear, we should look at these with great skepticism. First, because they do not come from his hand but from another’s notes. Did the students capture Luther’s utterances word for word or merely try to cap- ture the fl avor of the moment? We cannot be sure. Second, even if we were

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sure of their exact correspondence to his statements, they would still require careful consideration because we all say things we later regret, we phrase things awkwardly at times, and frankly we all have moments of bad judg- ment. All of these come through in Luther’s Tischreden , but few of us would ever wish to be judged on our every utterance. As with the Tischreden , martyr- ologies from the sixteenth century ought to be read with some circumspection. Martyrologies were not written as objective news reports. They were meant to persuade. They ought to be read in that light. Similarly, cheap paper pam- phlets poured off of presses across Europe during the sixteenth century. Many of these were written in a provocative voice because they were designed to be sold and, then as now, the scandalous and infl ammatory sold well.

Purpose When people write editorials in the New York Times they do so for a reason. Often it is easy for us to discern that reason because we are fully immersed in the same context as the writer of the editorial. For example, we know when a paper endorses a particular candidate for president of the United States in late October that they are hoping to sway people to vote for that particular can- didate on the fi rst Tuesday in November. Discerning the reasons why some- one wrote a treatise or theological work 500 years ago is more diffi cult, but is essential to understanding what a treatise meant then and what meaning it might still have today.

Often the author will tell you directly why he or she is writing. Here it is always good to be a bit skeptical. From the information that you have gleaned from examining the social and historical context of a work and the events happening within the person’s life at the time of writing, you might see differ- ent reasons than the author saw. Or, the author could simply be hiding his or her intent under more palatable reasons. This does not necessarily make the author wrong; many of us write for a whole host of reasons some of which we recognize immediately, some we see only with hindsight, and of some we might remain forever ignorant. A thorough investigation of a theological work takes into consideration that something more might have motivated the theologian than the stated purpose of the work.

Theological Sources Sixteenth-century theologians, regardless of confessional background, believed that they were presenting the true Christian faith and doctrine. Since the early Church, the so-called Vincentian Canons had helped theologians and churchmen discern what was truly Christian theology versus supersti- tious speculation. According to Vincent of Lerins, the Christian faith is that “which has been believed everywhere, always and by all.” Innovation was not a thing prized by Reformation-era theologians. In order to demonstrate,

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therefore, the accuracy of their claims, they often appealed to earlier Christian writers and scriptural authority. Augustine, in particular, played an enor- mous role in many sixteenth-century theological debates. It is helpful when examining the authorities quoted by your author to go to the citation your- self. Do you think that Augustine, or Bernard of Clairvaux, or St Ambrose actually supports the position that Luther, or Calvin, or Zwingli says that he does?

As with Reformation theologians, nearly all of the major medieval and patristic theologians of the Church have had their works collected and pub- lished in English. 8 The most widely available collection of patristic theology remains the three-fold collection from the nineteenth century: The Ante- Nicene Fathers (10 vols) and the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (which has two series in it, both of which have 14 volumes). These collections are in most college libraries and can be used for free at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. More recently, the Fathers of the Church: A New Translation has nearly 200 volumes already published and includes all the major patristic theolo- gians and intends to continue the translation project into the medieval era. Included in this collection already are many works by Augustine, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Cyprian, Gregory the Great, and Tertullian. Other sources to consider include the collected works of Bernard of Clairvaux. 9 Bernard was an immensely important medieval exegete and theologian and he remained popular throughout the Reformation. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae has been completely translated and exhaustively commentated upon in the so-called Blackfriars’ Edition. 10 Though many Reformation theologians ulti- mately rejected much of Thomas’ theological outlook and his presupposi- tions, many of them were also educated using Thomas and so he remains an important source for examining theology in the Reformation era. Peter Lombard’s Sentences is now available in an excellent new edition translated by Guilo Silano. 11 Finally, if you wish to focus specifi cally on the ways in which Reformation theologians used, built upon, or rejected patristic and medieval theologians you ought to begin that journey by carefully reading Irena Backus’ The Reception of the Fathers in the West .

Biblical Sources Scripture was centrally important to almost all sixteenth-century theolo- gians—on both sides of the Catholic/Protestant divide. Most theological treatises, sermons, and even personal correspondence will be fi lled with scrip- tural allusions. These brief allusions are a testament to the age’s close associa- tion with the Bible as a normative and illustrative guide for life, but are less important to the work of examining the treatise. What are important are the scriptural references that are lifted up by the author as evidence supporting his or her position. These references ought to be examined closely. Go to the

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Bible itself and read the section referenced in context. Ask the question—what greater issue did the theologian raise by explicitly citing this text? If possible, go to the original language and look there as well. If that is not a possibility, the next best thing to do will be to look at one or more of the English versions published in the sixteenth century. The most signifi cant editions of the English Bible in the Reformation era were the 1539 The Byble in Englyshe (or the Great Bible), the 1560 The Bible and Holy Scriptures (or the Geneva Bible), the 1609 The Holy Bible Faithfully Translated (or the Rheims-Douai Bible), and the 1611 Holy Bible (or the King James Version). The Great Bible was translated by Miles Coverdale at the behest of King Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell. It was translated from Greek and Hebrew and is one of the fi nest early vernacular Bibles of the sixteenth century. The Geneva Bible has a decided Reformed per- spective throughout and its annotations are often very helpful guides to the opinion of Reformed theologians on a particular text. The Rheims-Douai Bible was produced by Roman Catholics from the Latin Vulgate and attempts to be as literal a translation as possible. The King James Version has exercised an immense—even immeasurable—effect on the English language. As with the Great Bible and Geneva, it was translated from the Greek and Latin. Looking at how these different versions translate a text upon which your theologian places some authority will help determine a wider theological assessment of that text. Make sure to note any translation differences between the Bibles. Also, be sure to note any textual helps, such as marginal comments or chapter introductions.

Once you have a sense of the text itself, the next step is to look at how your author viewed the text in other places. If he, like Calvin, wrote a commentary on that text your search will be short and often fruitful. If he did not, your task is more complex but not impossible. Many collected works contain indexes that list out major scriptural references and these ought to be consulted. The search need not be exhaustive to be profi table. By looking at a few other places where he or she uses the same scripture, one can quickly get a sense of what the main themes and perspectives on that scriptural reference was. If you wish to move more deeply into this type of research, often called reception history, you might also look at how others in the sixteenth century looked at the same text. A more diffi cult but also very fruitful work for a longer project would be to look at how the text in question was understood in the medieval era. Here the task is greatly complicated because many of the great medieval exegetical works—such as Nicholas of Lyra, the Glossa Ordinaria , and Peter Comestor’s Historia Scholastica are not available in English translation and often not in even a critical edition.

Assessing the argument and its impact Once you have completed your research on the external and internal aspects of your theological treatise you should begin to create an overall assessment

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of the work. To do this it is most helpful to create an outline of the author’s argument. How does the author construct his or her argument? What are the major points of the treatise? What key motifs are repeated and utilized? What seems to be most important to the author? What is least important? Has the author made any preconceived judgments that ought to be examined?

Once this is done, it is time to actually begin assessing the argument’s per- suasiveness and its impact. To do this it is helpful to take a few last steps. First, taking a look at other works on similar subjects by your author will help signal the degree to which your identifi ed themes were important to your theologian over time. Looking at how his or her contemporaries reacted to his work can also provide very illuminating perspectives. Sometimes it is one’s adversaries who see one most clearly, rather than one’s supporters and so looking not just at followers but antagonists can be very helpful. To determine a theologian’s impact, it is also important to ask about his or her legacy. Are there aspects of your theologian’s work that remained important in theologi- cal debates and discussions a century later? You may even fi nd some that are still consulted today.

Finally, depending upon your context and the class for which you are writ- ing, offering an assessment of your theologian’s utility for theology or the church today can be an entirely appropriate discussion with which to con- clude a paper. In this section, you ought to be careful to explain why and how you believe your theologian or theme remain important while simultaneously remaining cognizant of the vast differences in time, social location, and cul- tural background that lie between those of the sixteenth century and the life of the church today.

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