Reformation and Mutual Accountability: A Common Agenda for the Reformation and the Ecumenical Movement Today?

This article argues that commemorating the Reformation properly means doing so in a spirit of mutual accountability to others in God's world from whom we learn, through affirming the gifts we have received and shared, and through constructive critique. Mutual accountability involves dialogue about how we deal with the differences and divisions that have developed, and how we are stewards of this legacy.     

What Kind of Reformation?: The 500th Anniversary of the Reformation and Today

While Luther did not intend to start a Reformation with his 95 Theses, the increasingly sharp conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities led to a separation between Luther and his followers and the Catholic Church of the time. Nevertheless, while the focal point for the 500th anniversary commemorations is Germany, even in the 16th century the Reformation had more centres than Wittenberg, such as Zürich, where Zwingli was active, and particularly Geneva. From here the impulse of Calvin's Reformation together with Free Church traditions prepared the way for the development of the culture of modernity in its various social and political manifestations. In view of the contemporary cultural conflicts in the globalized world, the churches of historic Protestantism should use the anniversary celebrations as an occasion to reappropriate the Protestant principle as a dynamic force, to search for a transformed embodiment of grace in the contemporary situation of cultural conflict, and to contribute to the shaping of a new culture of life.     

Why a common commemoration of the Reformation?

This article provides information about the fact that today any commemoration of the Reformation can only be celebrated in ecumenical communion. In contrast to earlier Reformation jubilees, the commemoration of the Reformation in 2017 is taking place, for the first time, in an ecumenical era. The year 2017 refers back to the year 1517, that is, to a time when the break with the Catholic Church had not yet happened. Martin Luther himself did not intend the division of the Church, nor did he visualise the founding of a new church, but the renewal of all Christendom. This failed in his time. Therefore one should regard the ecumenical search for the restoration of unity as the – indeed very belated – success of the Reformation. The commemoration of ??a reformation is an ecumenical opportunity, if it is committed to living the triad of gratitude for the reformation’s positive aims, of repentance for the sins of division and subsequent confessional wars, and of hope for a greater unity between Lutherans and Catholics.     

Revisiting the Reformation—Shakespeare and Fletcher's King Henry VIII

Abstract

This paper looks afresh at William Shakespeare's and John Fletcher's Henry VIII. The piece, while obsessed with truth, makes no attempt to define the nature of that truth—and truth is closely related to the issue of the Reformation. Henry VIII's role is questioned. The terms ‘Lutheran’ and ‘heretic’ appear as by-words to describe the threat of up-and-coming new influences around the king. The opposition of the Catholic Wolsey and the Protestant Cranmer in the play is all-important. Wolsey emerges as somewhat reformed from his disgrace. Cranmer, like Wolsey, is demonized; however his prophecy at the end of the play is highly significant. Prophecy in Tudor England tended to be subversive and part of the implications of Cranmer's prophecy are that James should model himself on Elizabeth. However, Cranmer's prophecy also announces that Elizabeth, ever a virgin, will manage to engender her successor, King James. As the play is about to close, Cranmer's prophecy about the reign of Elizabeth I and that of James I cannot dispel the impression that Henry VIII's reformist intentions remain inconclusive. Shakespeare, it seems, never veered in his view that religious reformations are not ‘once and for all events'. Something has happened that has altered the world, but the full meaning of these events is denied.     

Marital Conflicts and the Reformation in Geneva, 1542–1555

This paper is based on research of the published records of Genevan Consistory cases from 1542 to 1555, a time of religious and social upheaval. The Consistory was a church and moral discipline body. This article highlights select marital conflict cases, demonstrating that many people used the Consistory as a forum in which to express their demands and complaints about their partners. In some instances, parties were successful in getting the Consistory to grant them divorces. Thus some Genevans fell short of the ideals of harmonious and permanent matrimony that their reformers proclaimed. The majority were told to remain in their problematic marital unions. This study sheds light on Reformation marriage theology and law, the successes and failures of the Genevan Consistory, the impact of the Protestant Reformation on the population, and gender relations in early-modern Europe.     

Jón Arason, ‘the last Icelander’ and the Coming of the Reformation to Iceland

Abstract

The subject of this study, Jón Arason, the last Catholic bishop of Iceland until the modern era, was executed with his two sons in 1550. His legacy is ambiguous; venerated in a Lutheran country as a nationalist hero, but also described by some commentators as illiterate, yet revered by others as the greatest poet of his age. The article will examine this legacy in light of contemporary evidence in order to demonstrate that Arason's life exemplifies much about an overlooked aspect of the Reformation on the fringes of Europe. In addition, because of Iceland's position as part of the Norwegian kingdom under Danish rule, Arason's career exemplifies much about the growth of the modern state. Although a bishop, he provides an interesting example of a medieval chieftain's struggle against the form of direct rule that was an inevitable feature of the developing modern empire.     

‘To Whom Say You Your Pater Noster?’: Prayer on the Eve of the Scottish Reformation

In 1551, a resident English Dominican, Richard Marshall, sparked a fierce controversy in St Andrews, Scotland, by arguing in a sermon that the Lord’s Prayer, the ‘Our Father’, should be prayed to God only and not to the saints. According to John Foxe, the dispute led to much cursing, a regional synod, and one Franciscan fleeing the city in disgrace. The St Andrews quarrel was one of many controversies about prayer in sixteenth-century Europe. Why was prayer such a contentious topic? Scottish prayer controversies revealed a fundamental struggle between traditional and reformist views over the value of ritual in relating to God. Protestants like George Wishart, Catholic reformers like Marshall and Archbishop John Hamilton, and more radical ‘devotional humanists’ like the poet, Sir David Lindsay, proclaimed new understandings of prayer that undermined the structures of traditional devotion by pitting the personal and vernacular aspect of prayer against priestly Latin ritual.     

A New Reformation for a 'Secularised' World? Retaining 'Tradition' while Accommodating 'Change': The Dialectics of the Ecumenical Movement in the Netherlands

Religion is an area of social life thought to be vulnerable to recent, rapid global change that may be encouraging individual independence from social institutions. It is seen as 'secularising', losing its authority, becoming differentiated; a 'market' of 'competing' religious 'truths'. Co-ordinating these 'truths' and encouraging their dialogue may be a way for religion to regain social influence. The paper explores these issues through analysing the Dutch ecumenical movement. Religion in the Netherlands has been diverse since the Reformation, with groups splitting to redefine belief. However, in recent years there has been greater interaction between Dutch churches, co-ordinated by the Raad van Kerken in Nederland (Dutch Council of Churches). Ecumenical dialogue is seen as a possible way for churches to accept and negotiate new developments while retaining the core of their beliefs, through providing a diversity of views, allowing a choice of 'solutions' to change which can then be negotiated 'in common'. The aim of the paper is to analyse whether (and if so, how) such revitalisation is possible and what possibilities or problems it might pose.     

Writing to Learn the Reformation: Or,Who Was Ulrich Zwingli And Why Should I Care?

This article describes the use of “Writing to Learn” assignments in a course on the Theology of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations. These short, informal assignments promote active learning by focusing on writing as a process for critical thinking and as a way to learn the content of the course. They help students creatively engage with the texts, thoughtfully reflect on them, and critically assess their significance. This article describes the theory behind these assignments, provides examples of different types of assignments as well as excerpts from student papers, and concludes with an evaluation of their effectiveness. The students in the course found the assignments helpful in learning the content of the course and their attitude toward writing in this course significantly improved.     

Church: A creature from which “word”? Reflecting on the meaning of the remembrance of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in Latin America

To answer the question, “From which word is the church supposed to be created,” I briefly delineate what I understand to be the reality and circumstances in which Latin American churches are situated. Then, I present a basic outline of main factors constituting the reality of these churches as churches. Particular attention is given to the Evangelical church at La Plata. Subsequently, I present essential perspectives from the theological tradition of the Reformation—particularly its Lutheran expression—that are most important and need to be regained, while taking into account complex “external” and “internal” realities that churches are facing in the current day and age.     

A Review of “The Reformation. A Brief History”

Scholars researching the varieties of Orthodox Judaism have different types of primary and secondary resources available to them electronically. Books and journals are available digitally. Web sites emanate from institutions, organizations, and individuals that have clear ideological and political preferences. There is increasing use of the Internet by Orthodox and Haredi Jews for a variety of religious, communal, personal, and educational purposes. Religious Jewish residents of the West Bank maintain community Web sites that provide historical, theological, institutional, and communal information. This article describes some of the Web-based resources and tools that reflect the wide range of Orthodox thought, activity, and practices.     

Evangelical ‘Enterluders’: Patronage and Playing in Reformation England

Abstract

This paper underscores the propagandist aspects of Protestant players by examining the broader patterns emerging from the University of Toronto's Records of Early English Drama project (REED). While previous scholarship has noted the wealth of anecdotal evidence pointing to drama as a mechanism for religious change, evidence emerging from the REED material suggests that the use of interludes by the evangelical establishment was more extensive and programmatic than previously thought. A survey of every patron of drama in the Reformation period indicates that those most active in promoting the evangelical cause also sponsored the most active theatre companies. The touring activities of evangelical companies mirrored the progress of the Reformation in England. During periods of Reformation advance, travelling players flourished; while payments to companies all but disappeared during Mary Tudor's reign. The content of drama remained largely religious for most of the period, and there is little reason to doubt the use of printed polemical plays by a whole host of Protestant players to propagate the new gospel.     

‘That is Best,Which Was First’: Christian Primitivism and the Reformation Church of England, 1548-1722

Abstract

This essay explores the Church of England's theologico-historical sense of self during the tumultuous period of the ‘long Reformation.’ By taking its claim to be ‘primitive Christianity restored’ seriously it is argued that Church of England polemical apology was guided by Christian primitivism, an ideology shaped by a belief in the theological primacy of the beginning of Christianity. This made it intellectually possible to conceive of a past true, pure Church that should and could be re-formed in the present. In a more speculative vein it is also argued that this primitivism was formative in the Church's self-defining apologetic recourse to Scripture, reason, and tradition.     

‘Il faut éviter le scandale’: Debating Community Standards in Reformation Geneva

Historical scholarship on consistories has overlooked the context of the theological and polemical debates regarding scandal in the sixteenth century, leaving us without a full understanding of the negotiations and debates in which Genevan inhabitants and consistory members engaged regarding the articulation of moral values and the supervision of their community. To address this lacuna, this article considers the failure of scholars to apply a useful, multivalent definition of scandal to practical questions of Reformed discipline. It then sets a deeper local context for Genevan connotations of scandal by examining examples from the Genevan city council, ducal, and other records before 1536 (the establishment of the Reformation there). Finally, it analyzes appearances of the word scandale in the consistory records of the 1540s and 1550s that reveal the variety of meanings of scandal and the ways in which laypeople used the word to negotiate the proper shape and limits of the Christian community of Geneva.     

‘Do to Me According to What Has Gone Out of Your Mouth’*: A Reformation Debate on the Tragedy of Jephthah and his Daughter

A challenging biblical passage is the narrative of Jephthah and his daughter in the Book of Judges. The consensus of the exegetical tradition is that in fulfillment of a rash vow, Jephthah sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering. Yet some early Reformation exegetes argued instead that she entered into a life of dedication to the Lord. They argued on the basis of the grammar of Jephthah’s vow, a point which they found in one strand of rabbinical tradition. However, there developed a counter-argument reaffirming the patristic and medieval consensus, and that appealed to an alternative rabbinical tradition. The present essay will examine the competing arguments found in Protestant commentaries published between c.1530 and c.1650. In the end, the patristic and medieval consensus prevailed, and the alternative reading was rejected; but both sides agreed that the one noble character in this tale was the nameless daughter of Jephthah.     

The English Reformation in Wittenberg: Luther and Melanchthon’s Engagement with Religious Change in England 1521–1560*

ABSTRACT

Exploring the reception in Wittenberg of the historiographically often puzzling English Reformation, this article examines Luther’s and Melanchthon’s reactions in their correspondence. Relationships between Henry VIII and the Wittenberg Reformers deepened with an English embassy, led by Edward Foxe, to the Schmalkaldic League. The delegation was based in Wittenberg 1537–38; German deputations were in England in 1538 and 1539 (the year of the conservative Act of Six Articles). The Reformers’ responses show good general knowledge of events in England. Although Wittenberg had hoped for English conversion, Henrician theological ambiguity impeded negotiations with the League. The executions of Thomas More, Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell caused the Wittenbergers to regard Henry with scepticism. Finally, Melanchthon's relationships to England after the deaths of Luther and Henry VIII are discussed. Developments under Edward VI made the English Reformation recognizable as part of the wider movement, and Melanchthon advised that English exiles in Germany should be treated as fellow-believers.     

To be at the tail of the lions or the head of the foxes?

Agents seeking an opportunity for profit often have to compete with others who pursue the same opportunity. When having to choose between a number of opportunities differing in their value and if individuals differ in their chances of outperforming others, the choice can be cognitively and emotionally demanding. We explore choice between opportunities using stylized Lions–Foxes games. In such a game, each of three players, with different odds of beating others, has to choose one of two contests that offer different rewards. After game theoretically analyzing the games, which we have experimentally employed, we report four experiments that vary in choice elicitation (repeated play or strategy method), in players' matching (random strangers or partners) and in rewards. Regarding contest choices, we found the choice of the higher value (and seemingly more prestigious) contest to be positively related to winning odds, contrary to what four out of the five (mixed, partially mixed, or pure) equilibria predict. Participants started out rather optimistic, with a large majority choosing the higher value option, but with experience, they approached the only viable of two pure strategy equilibria. Still, mixing continued via reacting to past play and outcome, apparently balancing dissatisfaction from choosing either contest.     

Seeing the world with the eyes of the outgroup — The impact of perspective taking on the prototypicality of the ingroup relative to the outgroup

The positive effect of perspective taking on favorable attitudes towards stigmatized individuals and outgroups is well established (Batson et al., 1997). We draw on the ingroup projection model (Mummendey & Wenzel, 1999) to better understand the processes underlying this effect. Based on their egocentric perspective, ingroup and outgroup members have different representations of the superordinate group (perspective divergence) so that the ingroup is perceived as more relatively prototypical of the superordinate group, leading to negative outgroup evaluation. We hypothesize that the positive effect of perspective taking on outgroup attitudes is due to a reduction of relative ingroup prototypicality. Across three studies with different manipulations of perspective taking, we found that participants who were taking the perspective of an outgroup member evaluated the outgroup more positively and were less inclined to perceive their ingroup as more relatively prototypical. The effect of perspective taking on outgroup attitudes was mediated by relative ingroup prototypicality.