Things Old and New: Tradition and Innovation in Constructing Reformation Theology

In respect of the Reformation this study considers the interaction between the retrieval of ancient Christian texts, humanist methods and scholasticism in their various forms, citing illustrative examples. It argues that Reformation interpreters have traditionally tended to privilege the impact of the first two on the new religious developments. As a corrective to this common perception, the essay recalls and highlights the continuing and increasing positive influence of modified scholastic methodological norms and forms on evolving Reformation theology in order to meet both pedagogical and apologetical requirements. It is also pointed out that the specific humanist programme for the revamping of biblical study along linguistic and literary lines and facilitating access to the Church Fathers, accompanied with notions of tackling abuses in the Church, predated the Reformation.     

The Scottish Reformation was not Protestant

This article argues that the generally accepted term for the Protestant revolution of 1559–60 in Scotland, ‘The Scottish Reformation’, hides the remnant of a sectarian denominational historiography and should be abandoned. These events should be called ‘The Scottish Protestant Reformation’ while ‘The Scottish Reformation’ should be used for a ‘long reformation’ including Catholic and Protestant reform movements extending from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries. This terminological change represents a new way of understanding the Scottish Reformation as a long process in the Christian culture of Renaissance Scotland. It brings historical research in line with developments in other disciplines, which have uncovered a flourishing early Scottish Renaissance. Making Christianity the primary category in the religious history of this period, rather than the polemical binary ‘Catholic/Protestant’, enables a more balanced appraisal of the various religious and cultural movements in Scotland.     

The meaning and legacy of the Reformation in a global perspective

When reviewing the non‐European perspectives of Lutheran theology presented in the contributions of this issue of Dialog, it is easy to recognize a dominant, unifying theme and a common task in a confrontation with the new Pentecostal churches. It then makes sense to refer to the two central themes and tasks of Lutheran theology mentioned in this volume: the development of a Lutheran pneumatology in contrast to the Pentecostal/charismatic movements; and an interpretation of the Lutheran doctrine of justification that concentrates on how the pure grace and love of God can be witnessed in good works. As a future focal point of Lutheran theology, the contributions from non‐European Lutheran Christianity presented here show that the connection between the theology of the cross as a central element of the grammar of Lutheran Christianity and the dialectics of law and gospel for the interpretation of the salutary efficacy and experienceable nature of the Spirit requires further reflection.     

‘To Take the Sword is to Draw the Sword without the Authority of the Prince’: Obedience,Duty and Romans 13 During the 1549 Rebellions in England

ABSTRACT

The motivations behind the 1549 rebellions were born of socio-economic and religious concerns. However, some contemporary commentators identified another underlying factor: a failure to observe the precepts of Romans 13. The text demands that all subjects must obey the higher powers for fear of God’s wrath, and that rulers have a reciprocal duty to protect their subjects from evil. In their response to the rebellions, Thomas Cranmer, Robert Crowley, and Thomas Lever, amongst others, provided an exegesis of Romans 13 that refused to place the blame for the uprising at the door of the rebels alone. Instead, they recognized that the temporal and spiritual ministers were likewise guilty of failing to observe their divinely ordained duties. As a result, what these interpreters revealed was that all classes of society shared a responsibility for the rebellions of 1549 because all had equally failed to observe the commands of Romans 13.     

The Early Influence of Humanism on Balthasar Hubmaier (1485–1528) During His University Studies

ABSTRACT

Historians have long accepted the influence of humanism on Anabaptist origins. The emphasis on text-based support of early reforms and critiques of the Catholic Church characterize the brand of humanism in northern Europe and the Protestant Reformation. However, little attention has been given to the precise dynamics, networks, and mechanisms exposing early Anabaptists to humanism years before they even began to consider a more drastic reformation of the Church. As the martyred Balthasar Hubmaier was a central figure and the only university doctor of the early Radical Reformation, this article will study the personal, textual, and curricular components of his academic career at the universities of Freiburg-im-Breisgau and Ingolstadt; it is important for revealing a commitment to humanism that is deeper than was previously thought. It throws light on how the New Learning affected some Anabaptists, which humanists influenced their radical reforms, and which academic disciplines inspired their reforming methodologies.     

Renaissance Catholicism and Contemporary Liberalism

Contemporary (post‐1945) liberalism functions analogously to Roman Catholicism in the decades after 1443. Both ideologies, in their respective periods, represent the hegemonic ideology of Western civilization, despite the fact that both comprise a miscellany of competing belief systems. Both ideologies are dominated by a single hegemonic power—the United States and the Renaissance papacy, respectively—which strives for doctrinal stability. All who reject official “doctrine,” however, are rendered liable to violent suppression. In this, papal Catholicism and American liberalism display an ultra‐conservative outlook; but they also evince a powerfully millenarian streak, as evidenced by their dual proclamations of the “end of history” and their zealous missionary responses to macro‐historical events in the final decades of the fifteenth and twentieth centuries. For ideologues of both regimes, those events speak to an ultimate harmony of truth and value that only serves to entrench their own dogmatism. This, however, has dire consequences when it comes to war, as can be seen in the “crusading” character of contemporary liberal warfare. Ultimately, the Renaissance papacy proves unable to maintain its monopoly on Christian doctrine; and one has to wonder if a similar fate may befall America's perceived role as the champion of liberalism.