Why, Then, Does John Wyclif

Book Reviews Why, then, does John Wyclif (or, Wycliffe; or, twenty other spellings) live on as such a legendary “precursor of the Reformation” or “Morning Star of the Reformation?” Evans traces the reputation to Rudolf Buddensieg, the German scholar who edited Wyclif’s works in Latin and was the main force behind their publication in the 1880s on behalf of the Wyclif Society. Buddensieg, in turn, relied on John Bale and John Foxe, both of whom in the sixteenth century popularized Protestant martyrs, giving Wyclif a prominent place among them. For the previous 150 years, Wyclif was hardly noteworthy, although Evans does acknowledge that John Hus and his Prague associates lionized him for his acerbic attacks that were stir- ring official Catholic resentments prior to the Council of Constance, 1414– 1418. Once that gathering ordered his bones exhumed and burned (an order never carried out) and betrayed its promise of safe passage to Hus and burned him at the stake, the two were entwined in Protestant hagi- ography and polemics against “Romanism.” Her study raises the question of how much else—on either side of the Reformation divide—may have been historically distorted and may need reexamination. It implies that the Wycliffe Bible Translators’ board of directors might wish to consider an organizational name change! Evans makes a solid case for her revised assessment of Wyclif. The first 150 pages (three-fifths) of the book contain very little on John Wyclif. They consist of extended passages on the emergence and organiza- tion of European universities, detailed description of curricula, all monas- tic matters, English society and politics of the late medieval period, and the Vatican apparatus and issues of the time. Many of the significant theological titles of the twelfth through fourteenth centuries are reviewed and discussed, their authors contextualized. Passing reference is made to the “possible” or “likely” bearing this had on Wyclif. The author’s command of the era is impressive; her content informative. However, almost nothing can be documented of Wyclif’s background and life prior to his matricu- lation at Oxford, and little thereafter until his ordination and teaching career commences. The height of his career coincides with the infamous papal schism. What is especially valuable for those interested in Wyclif’s actual written works is the fairly complete review of them provided in the last part of the book. Evan’s book is a very significant study that merits serious attention. —James A. De Jong The Belgic Confession: Its History and Sources by Nicolaas H. Gootjes. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007. Pp. 229. $29.99 paperback. The author, professor of dogmatic theology at the Canadian Reformed Seminary in Hamilton, Ontario, states in the preface of this fine, wel- come study that “to date no comprehensive study on the background and 173 calvin theological journal history” of the Belgic Confession has appeared in English (9). This one is thorough, careful, at points technical to the point of distraction, and valuable for understanding the provenance of one of the most durable and enduring sixteenth-century Reformed confessions. Sifting through and analyzing the Dutch and French documentary and secondary sources on the topic, Gootjes concludes that four editions by at least two French printers in late 1561 and 1562 first surfaced in Doornik, located in present-day Belgium. Such heavy usage by a church under sub- stantial persecution by civil authorities abetted by the Roman Catholic establishment is even more remarkable in light of an additional four editions in Dutch by 1566. Gootjes endeavors, examining printer’s marks and technical discrepancies, to ascertain which basic text was the earliest. The second chapter addresses the authorship of the document using late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century sources. A much-discussed issue in this connection has been how much collaboration Guido de Brès, whom the writer acknowledges as primary author, had in writing the confession. De Brès was the Reformed minister in Doornik, where the confession first surfaced and where authorities confiscated a couple hundred copies of it from his library in the fall of 1561. Gootjes plausibly argues for an inter- pretation of an early citation claiming multiple authorship that it must be read to show that close associates of de Brès were given opportunity to comment on an early draft of the confession and to recommend improve- ments but that no proof exists that any of them did. A confirmation of de Brès’ recognized importance for Reformed religion in the Low Countries is, in Gootjes’ estimation, the insertion of his name and image on a mural in the city of Haarlem. The mural is based on an Italian copper engraving, dating from 1574, depicting major figures of early Protestantism being repressed by Catholic forces. De Brès is not on the engraving, but he is included on the Haarlem panel, which Gootjes suggests dates between the late 1570s and mid-1580s. This reviewer finds Gootjes’ discussion of the painting fascinating but would press it further than he does. Gootjes does not include the fact that by the mid-1580s Haarlem had a flourish- ing Huguenot congregation, its members driven there by the reversion of the southern provinces to Catholicism and by the French wars of religion. Further, that congregation was being served by Jean Taffin, whose influen- tial Reformed family in Doornik twenty years earlier had been generous patrons of the fledgling Reformed church and supporters of de Brès as its pastor. Taffin, who had served as one of William the Silent’s personal chaplains until the early 1580s, may well have instigated including de Brès’ image on the Haarlem wall panel. (Gootjes includes a plate of the Haarlem painting on pages 54–55.) Chapter 3 explores the dependence of the confession on Calvin, who had provided a preliminary draft of the Gallican Confession. Gootjes illustrates in detail that the French wording in various articles establishes 174 Book Reviews de Brès’ direct reliance on the earlier statement. The Gallican became “the pattern for the Belgic Confession” (64), he emphasizes. While the two reformers were in Frankfurt simultaneously for several weeks in 1556, and while de Brès spent months in Lausanne and Geneva subsequently, conversations between the two about an anticipated confession cannot be documented. What can be, however, is that the Genevan company of pastors vetted the Belgic Confession, as expressed in the communication likely drafted by Calvin. In an even longer, more detailed fourth chapter, Gootjes demonstrates article by article where and how the Belgic Confession is shaped substan- tively by a personal statement of faith drafted by Theodore Beza just prior to de Brès’ drafting of the Belgic. Gootjes stresses that the structure and flavor of the Belgic is closer to that of the Gallican, however. Next, the author addresses the issue of the confession’s authority. He concludes, from a survey of various Dutch Reformed assemblies from Antwerp in 1565 through Dort in 1618–19, that the Belgic Confession had binding authority on church office-bearers from the time it was first circu- lated among the “churches under the cross.” A brief chapter is devoted to modest changes made in 1566 that were not substantive. A longer one reviews the Synod of Dort’s deliberations on the confession’s substance in light of the Remonstrant controversy. A concluding chapter surveys various translations. It may overlook some that have been made into languages of emerging churches in Africa and Asia. It does wrongly assign the 1977 recommendation for new translation to the Christian Reformed Church’s liturgical committee rather than to its new translation committee (186). The appendix contains ten documents in French, Latin, and seventeenth-century Dutch to which the author appeals in developing his arguments. The ample bibliography and index are valuable resources con- tained in this study, which appears in Richard Muller’s fine seriesTexts and Studies in Reformation and Post-Reformation Thought. Anyone wishing or needing to explore the background of the Belgic Confession will be reliably served by this significant new study. —James A. De Jong The Christian World: A Global History by Martin Marty. New York: The Modern Library, 2007. Pp. 236 + 12. $25.00 hardcover. Author Martin Marty cautions his readers about his calling as a historian by reminding them, “The historian looks back and brings a perspec- tive not recognizable in daily life” (76). The caution is well taken, especially for us Anglo-Saxons who find it difficult to think about the history of the church and the Christian faith in terms other than American and European church history. Thus, The Great Awakening gets but two pages, 175.

Load more