A REFORMATION DEBATE This Page Intentionally Left Blank JOHN CALVIN G JACOPO SADOLETO A REFORMATION DEBATE Sadoleto's Letter to the Getleuam and Calvin's Reply with an Appendix on the Justification Corttroversy EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY JOHN C. OLIN FORDHAM UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK 2000 Copyright 0 1966, 2000 by JOHN C. OLIN All rights reserved. ISBN 0-8232-1990-9 (hardcover) ISBN 0-8232-1991-7 (paperback) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Calvin, Ja,1509-1564. A reformation debate: Sadoleto's letter to the Genevans andCalvin's reply / edited with an introduction, by John C. Olin : with an appendx on the Justification Controversy. p. cm. Onginally published: New York : Harper & Row, 1966. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8232-1 990-9 (hardcover) - ISBN 0-8232-1 991-7 (pbk.) 1. Reformation-Sources. 2. Church-Authority, 3. Justification. I. Sadoleto, Jacopo, 1477-1547, 11. Title. BR301 .C3 2000 230'.42'092-"dc21 00-0372 10 Printed in the United States of America ToXarian who also has patience This Page Intentionally Left Blank Contents Preface .............. ix Introduction ............ I Sadoleto’s Letter to the Genevans . , . , 23 Calvin’sReply toSadoleto ........ 43 Appendix: I Calvin on Justification . , . 89 11 The Council of Trent on Justification ....... 108 This Page Intentionally Left Blank Preface The Reformation of the sixteenth century was essentially a religious event. Other factors undoubtedlyplayed their part in its coming, course, and manifold consequences, but the event itself, if that term may be used to signify so extended a devel- opment, was first and foremost a revolution in the domain of religious faith and practice. It is important, therefore, in the study of the Reformation to give dose attention to the reli- gious issues involved, that is, to the doctrines and beliefs that were the subject of controversy and the chief concern of Re- formerand Catholic apologist alike. Such, in brief, is the thought underlying this volume. The documents it presents unfold these controversial doctrinalissues, particularly the very basic ones of the authority of Church and Scriptureand of the justification of man before God. As formulations of that time, they also give us some of the accent, spirit, and argu- ment in which these issues were discussed. And because of their sources they may be said to bear the mark of high au- thenticity. J. c.0. December 10, I 965 I wrote the above paragraph as the Preface for this volume when it was first published as a Harper Torchbook in 1966. It applies equally well €or this new edition which now appears under the imprint of Fordham University Press. It is a plea- sure for me, I might add, to have this volume join my other books on this period that the Press has published. It marks a long and happy association with that Press. I would also like to note that very recently the doctrinal issue of justification by faith alone, which may be said to have inaugurated the Protestant Reformation and become its basic ix A REFORMATION DEBATE theological tenet (see pages 16-18), has in large part been re- solved. At leastLutheran and Catholic authorities (that is, representatives of theLutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity) last Octo- ber reached agreement on the questionand issued a joint dec- laration acknowledging that justification comes through faith alone but that good works are an essential sign of faith. Our documents are especially interesting to readin the light of this resolution of that historic dispute. J. c. 0. January 10, 2000 X I In March, J 539, CardinalJacopo Sadoleto, bishop of Carpentras in southern France, addressed a letter to the magistrates and citizens of Geneva asking them to return to the Catholic faith. The following August, John Calvin replied to Sadoleto, defending the adoption of the Protestant reforms. Both letters are lucid and eloquent statements of their respec- tivepositions. The dialogue they embody is polemical, but withal their tone is elevated, and theirarguments are sub- stantial. Sadoleto’s letter and Calvin’s reply constitute one of the most interesting exchangesof Catholic-Protestant views during the Reformation era. Together they afford an excellent introduction to the great religious controversy of the sixteenth century. But these documents are not statements in vacuo of a Catholic and a Protestant position. They were drafted in the midst oE the religious conflict that was then dividing Europe. They had their more specific occasion, which in turn had its particular historical background. And they reflect too the temperaments and personal histories of the men who wrote them. Sadoleto’s letter has an irenic approach, an emphasis on the unity and peace o€ the Church highly characteristic of the Christian humanism he represented. Calvin’s reply is in part a personal defense, an apologia pro vita sua, that records his own religious experience.’ And its taut,comprehensive 1 Calvin’s two speeches before the judgment seat o€ God havebeen understood by his biographers as referring to his own experience and con- version. See John T. McNeill, The History and Character of CaZvilzism (New York, 1954)’ pp. I 16-r8; Williston Walker, John CaZvin (New York, rgob), pp. 73-75; and FranCois Wendel, Calvin, tr. Philip Mairet (New Yark, 1963), pp. 38-39. A REFORMATION DEBATE argument is characteristic of the disciplined and logical mind of the author of The Institutes of the Christian Religion. This introduction will attempt to provide settingand orientation for reading the two letters. Their intrinsic themes are clearly developed, but the external facts concerning their appearance require a few supplementary words. It may also be useful to point out the relevance of their arguments to the Reformation controversy as a whole. Our presentation then will serve as an introduction to the religious issues raised by the Reformation as well as an account of an important episode in its history. Since the doctrinal issues themselvesare historical in point of origin and impact, it is proper that we approachthem historically and seek to understand their articulation in the actual context of events. I1 When Jacopo Sadoleto wrote his letter to the Genevans in I 539, he was at the height of his long career and was one of the most eminent and respected members of the Sacred College of Cardinals. Born in Modena in 1477, he had attended the University of Ferrara, where his fatherwas a professor of law.' He came to Rome around 1499, continued his classical studies under the patronage of Cardinal Oliviero Caraffa, and rose to prominence in the Roman humanist circle. When Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici became Pope Leo X in I 5 13, he ap- pointed him a papal secretary, and with this ofice Sadoleto began his service inthe Church. He was madebishop of Carpentras in I 5 17, but he remained in the Roman Curia throughout the pontificate of Leo X and first visited his diocese in 1523 duringthe short reign of Adrian VI who did not continue his employ. He returned to Rome early in 1524 to 2 Richard M. Douglas, Jacopo Sadoleto, 1477-1547 (Cambridge, Mass., 1959) is a full-scale biography and study of Sadoleto. The present author is deeply indebted to this excellent work. 2 XNTRODUCTION serve the second Medici pope, Clement VII, as secretary, but he withdrew again to residein Carpentras just prior to the terrible sack of Rome by mutinous imperial troops in May, I527* Carpentras, located in the papal Corntat Venaissin near Avignon, became for Sadoleto a haven from the burdens of an active life and the cares and anxieties of a troubled world. In this tranquil corner of the Provence, he devoted himself to the needsbf his people and to the scholarly endeavors of a Christian humanist. Like Erasmus, whose Friend he was, he hoped to serve the hard-pressed cause of piety and peace through the learned contributions his retirement would per- mit him to makes3Conscious indeed of the ills and perils of his time, he “saw his role at Carpentras as the defense of good letters and Christian orthodoxy Sadoleto remained in Carpentras from I 527 to 1536, and during these years he composed some of his most notable works. A humanist dialogue on the education and training of youth, De libsris recte instituevrdzs, written in 1530, was the most famous and widely p~blished.~An extensive commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans was the most ambitious and controversial.‘ In this latter work Sadoleto grappled with the question of justification and sought to reconcile the action of divine grace and man’s own free will. His overemphasis on man’s freedom and his neglect of prevenient grace, however, provoked the censure of both the Sorbonne and Rome in 3 See Sadoleto’s letters to Erasmus of November 20, 1528, and February 12, 1530, in P. S. and H. M. Allen, eds., Opus epistolarum Erusmi (I 2 VOJS. Oxford, r 906-1958),VII, 534-37, and VIII, 359-61.See also Augustin Re- naudet, Erusme et Z’ltalie (Geneva, 1g54), p~.217-r 8, where Sadoleto is viewed as the model Erasmian Catholic and prelate. 4 Douglas, p. 73. 5 Translated by E. T. Campagnac and K. Forbes in Sadoleto on Educa- tion <Oxford, 1916). See also W. H. Woodward, Studies in Education during the Age of the Renaissance (Cambridge, 1924)~Ch. IX. The Latin text is in Sadoleto, Opera quae extant omnia (4 vols. Verona, 1737-1738), VOl. 111. 6 Douglas, pp. 80-93.The Latin text is in Sadoleto, Opera, Vol. IV. 3 A REFORMATION DEBATE I 535, althoughsubsequent clarifications by Sadoleto ap- parently satisfied his critics. At any rate the theological con- tretemps that arose did not seriously impair Sadoleto's standing atthe papalcourt.