DOCSLIB.ORG

Calvin Reformed Tradition

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Calvin Reformed Tradition CALVIN and the REFORMED TRADITION On the Work of Christ and the Order of Salvation Richard A. Muller K Richard A. Muller, Calvin and the Reformed Tradition Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2012. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) MMuller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indduller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indd 1 88/27/12/27/12 33:43:43 PMPM © 2012 by Richard A. Muller Published by Baker Academic a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516–6287 www.bakeracademic.com Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Muller, Richard A. (Richard Alfred), 1948– Calvin and the Reformed Tradition : on the work of Christ and the order of salvation / Richard A. Muller p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8010-4870-8 (pbk.) 1. Reformed Church—Doctrines—History. 2. Jesus Christ—History of doctrines. 3. Jesus Christ—Person and offices. 4. Salvation—Christianity—History of doctrines. 5. Calvin, Jean, 1509–1564. 6. Calvinism. 7. Protestant Scholasticism. I. Title. BX9422.3.M845 2012 232—dc23 2012028060 The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Richard A. Muller, Calvin and the Reformed Tradition Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2012. Used by permission. MMuller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indduller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indd 2 88/27/12/27/12 33:43:43 PMPM To David C. Steinmetz Teacher, Mentor, Colleague, Friend with Gratitude Richard A. Muller, Calvin and the Reformed Tradition Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2012. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) MMuller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indduller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indd 3 88/27/12/27/12 33:43:43 PMPM Richard A. Muller, Calvin and the Reformed Tradition Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2012. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) MMuller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indduller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indd 4 88/27/12/27/12 33:43:43 PMPM Contents Preface ...............................................................9 1. From Reformation to Orthodoxy: The Reformed Tradition in the Early Modern Era ........................13 Approaching Reformation and Orthodoxy Deconstructing the Master Narratives Method and Content—Once Again Toward a Contextualized Intellectual History of Reformed Protestantism An Overview of the Study 2. Was Calvin a Calvinist? ..............................................51 Defining the Question: Varied Understandings of “Calvinism” “Calvinism” as Calvin’s own position “Calvinism” as the approach of Calvin’s “followers” “Calvinism” as a name for the Reformed tradition Theological Considerations: Calvin in Relation to the Later Reformed The problem of TULIP The problem of predestination, christocentrism, and central dogmas The humanist-scholastic dichotomies Calvin, Calvinism, and covenant theology Conclusions 3. Calvin on Christ’s Satisfaction and Its Efficacy: The Issue of “Limited Atonement” ....................................70 “Atonement” and “Limited Atonement”: A Problem of Terminology Universality of Offer and Limitation of Salvation: The Exegetical Issue Calvin and the Traditional Scholastic Distinction: Infinite Sufficiency and Limited Efficiency Manducatio indignorum and the Limitation of Sacramental Efficacy Limited Salvific Intention, Limited Intercession, and Limited Union: Correlative Aspects of Christ’s Priestly Office Conclusions 4. A Tale of Two Wills? Calvin, Amyraut, and Du Moulin on Ezekiel 18:23 ....107 Amyraut, Calvin, and Exegesis: The Issue of Ezekiel 18:23 Reading Calvin’s Exegesis: Amyraut on the Interpretation of Ezekiel 18:23 Calvin’s Interpretation of Ezekiel 18:23 5 Richard A. Muller, Calvin and the Reformed Tradition Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2012. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) MMuller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indduller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indd 5 88/27/12/27/12 33:43:43 PMPM 6 Contents Response to Amyraut: Du Moulin on Citation of Calvin and the Interpretation of Ezekiel 18 Conclusions 5. Davenant and Du Moulin: Variant Approaches to Hypothetical Universalism .......................126 John Davenant and the Gallican Controversy over Hypothetical Universalism Davenant, Dort, and dating the debate Davenant, the British delegation, and the Synod of Dort Davenant’s response to the Gallican controversy Pierre Du Moulin on the Extent and Efficacy of Christ’s Satisfaction Du Moulin and the debate over hypothetical universalism Du Moulin against the Arminians From Arminius to Cameron to Amyraut: Du Moulin’s perceptions in 1637 The efficacy of Christ’s death and universal grace: Du Moulin against Amyraut Conclusions 6. The “Golden Chain” and the Causality of Salvation: Beginnings of the Reformed Ordo Salutis ..............................161 Ordo Salutis: The Term and Its Origins Reformation-Era Backgrounds and Foundations Reformation-era exegesisexegesis ofof thethe “golden“golden chain.” chain” Reformers on the causality of salvation Zacharias Ursinus on the Causality of Salvation Faith and its causes in the theology of Zacharias Ursinus Ursinus on the causality of justification and conversion Predestination, Christ, and the order of salvation Early Orthodox Developments Reformed commentators of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Formalizing the chain: Rennecherus, Perkins, Bucanus, and Maxey on the sequence of causes of salvation Conclusions 7. Union with Christ and the Ordo Salutis: Reflections on Developments in Early Modern Reformed Thought ..................................202 Foundational Formulations of the Unio cum Christo Calvin on union with Christ and the application of salvation Other influences on the early orthodox Reformed development: Viret, Vermigli, and Musculus Unio cum Christo in Developments Leading to Early Reformed Orthodoxy Zanchi on union with Christ Theodore Beza and the unio Caspar Olevianus—exegesis and the unio cum Christo Reformed Orthodoxy and Unio cum Christo: From Exegesis to Doctrinal Formulation Union with Christ in early orthodox exegesis of Romans 8 Richard A. Muller, Calvin and the Reformed Tradition Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2012. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) MMuller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indduller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indd 6 88/27/12/27/12 33:43:43 PMPM Contents 7 Perkins, Polanus, and Ames—the application of salvation and union with Christ in early orthodoxy After Perkins, Polanus, and Ames—union with Christ in later Reformed orthodoxy Conclusions 8. Calvin, Beza, and the Later Reformed on Assurance of Salvation and the “Practical Syllogism” .................244 The Problem of the Practical Syllogism The practical syllogism and the early modern quest for certainty Calvin and the syllogismus practicus in contemporary scholarship Some definition: what is a “practical syllogism”? Calvin and the problem of assurance Assurance and the Practical Syllogism after Calvin Theodore Beza and the syllogismus practicus After Beza: the syllogism in some later Reformed writers Conclusions 9. Conclusions ......................................................277 Index . .285 Richard A. Muller, Calvin and the Reformed Tradition Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2012. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) MMuller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indduller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indd 7 88/27/12/27/12 33:43:43 PMPM Richard A. Muller, Calvin and the Reformed Tradition Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2012. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) MMuller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indduller_CalvinRefTradit_BKB_djm.indd 8 88/27/12/27/12 33:43:43 PMPM Preface The essays in the present volume belong to the work of several decades and represent a series of related studies in the development of the Reformed tradition from the time of Calvin into the era of orthodoxy. At its most general level and approach, the book continues the basic argument posed in my other studies of the era, albeit in relation to different topics—namely, that the Reformed tradition is a diverse and variegated movement not suitably described as founded solely on the thought of John Calvin or as either a derivation or a deviation from Calvin (as if his theology were the norm for the whole tradition). The present essays press the methodological point further by raising foundational issues concerning the nature of a tradition and the problems inherent in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century master-narratives concerning the changes that took place in the early modern era. As is also the case with my previous studies of Reformation and orthodox-era Reformed thought, this work is an exercise in intellectual
Load more

Recommended publications
  • On the Historical Origins of the Heidelberg Catechism
    Acta Theologica 2014 Suppl 20: 16-34 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/actat.v20i1.2S ISSN 1015-8758 © UV/UFS <http://www.ufs.ac.za/ActaTheologica> C. Strohm ON THE HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM ABSTRACT Reflection on the origins of the Heidelberg Catechism reveals it to be a document of understanding between Calvinistic-Reformed, Zwinglian and Lutheran-Philippistic tendencies within Protestantism. One important reason for the success of the Heidelberg Catechism was the fact that each one of these groups appreciated the Catechism. At the same time it clearly distances itself from Tridentine Catholicism and from the Gnesio-Lutheran variant of Lutheranism. This occurs mainly in the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. The repudiation of the mass as “condemnable idolatry” is a result of the orientation to the Reformation of John Calvin. Here papal religion was seen as superstition and a fundamental violation of the true worship of God as well as an infringement of God’s honour. The experience of persecution by the Papal church in France and the Netherlands aggravated the criticism. The most famous and influential part of the Heidelberg Catechism is its first question and answer: Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death? A. That I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
    [Show full text]
  • Hidden Lives: Asceticism and Interiority in the Late Reformation, 1650-1745
    Hidden Lives: Asceticism and Interiority in the Late Reformation, 1650-1745 By Timothy Cotton Wright A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Jonathan Sheehan, chair Professor Ethan Shagan Professor Niklaus Largier Summer 2018 Abstract Hidden Lives: Asceticism and Interiority in the Late Reformation, 1650-1745 By Timothy Cotton Wright Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor Jonathan Sheehan, Chair This dissertation explores a unique religious awakening among early modern Protestants whose primary feature was a revival of ascetic, monastic practices a century after the early Reformers condemned such practices. By the early seventeenth-century, a widespread dissatisfaction can be discerned among many awakened Protestants at the suppression of the monastic life and a new interest in reintroducing ascetic practices like celibacy, poverty, and solitary withdrawal to Protestant devotion. The introduction and chapter one explain how the absence of monasticism as an institutionally sanctioned means to express intensified holiness posed a problem to many Protestants. Large numbers of dissenters fled the mainstream Protestant religions—along with what they viewed as an increasingly materialistic, urbanized world—to seek new ways to experience God through lives of seclusion and ascetic self-deprival. In the following chapters, I show how this ascetic impulse drove the formation of new religious communities, transatlantic migration, and gave birth to new attitudes and practices toward sexuality and gender among Protestants. The study consists of four case studies, each examining a different non-conformist community that experimented with ascetic ritual and monasticism.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding Calvinism: B
    Introduction A. Special Terminology I. The Persons Understanding Calvinism: B. Distinctive Traits A. John Calvin 1. Governance Formative Years in France: 1509-1533 An Overview Study 2. Doctrine Ministry Years in Switzerland: 1533-1564 by 3. Worship and Sacraments Calvin’s Legacy III. Psycology and Sociology of the Movement Lorin L Cranford IV. Biblical Assessment B. Influencial Interpreters of Calvin Publication of C&L Publications. II. The Ideology All rights reserved. © Conclusion INTRODUCTION1 Understanding the movement and the ideology la- belled Calvinism is a rather challenging topic. But none- theless it is an important topic to tackle. As important as any part of such an endeavour is deciding on a “plan of attack” in getting into the topic. The movement covered by this label “Calvinism” has spread out its tentacles all over the place and in many different, sometimes in conflicting directions. The logical starting place is with the person whose name has been attached to the label, although I’m quite sure he would be most uncomfortable with most of the content bearing his name.2 After exploring the history of John Calvin, we will take a look at a few of the more influential interpreters of Calvin over the subsequent centuries into the present day. This will open the door to attempt to explain the ideology of Calvinism with some of the distinctive terms and concepts associated exclusively with it. I. The Persons From the digging into the history of Calvinism, I have discovered one clear fact: Calvinism is a religious thinking in the 1500s of Switzerland when he lived and movement that goes well beyond John Calvin, in some worked.
    [Show full text]
  • Girolamo Zanchi on Union with Christ and the Final Judgment
    Perichoresis Volume 18.1 (2020): 41–56 DOI: 10.2478/perc-2020-0003 GIROLAMO ZANCHI ON UNION WITH CHRIST AND THE FINAL JUDGMENT J.V. FESKO* Reformed Theological Seminary ABSTRACT. Union with Christ was a key doctrine for second-generation Reformed theologian Girolamo Zanchi. As a Thomist, Zanchi shared similar elements with Thomas Aquinas in his understanding of salvation as participatio, but his understanding of union with Christ differed with regard to the difference between infused and imputed righteousness. Unlike Aquinas’s doctrine of infused righteousness, Zanchi argued for imputed righteousness, which was both the foundation for one’s justification in this life as well as appearing before the divine bar at the final judgment. Zanchi’s doctrine of union with Christ has the utmost significance for personal eschatology and the judgment believers undergo at the great assize, insights that are worth retrieving for a clear understanding of the relationship between justification and the final judgement. KEYWORDS: Union with Christ, participation (participatio), insitio Christi, imputed righteous- ness, infused righteousness, Aquinas, Zanchi, final judgment Introduction The doctrine of participatio or union with Christ has been a prominent theme in historical and doctrinal literature. Some have claimed that union with Christ is a panacea for healing the doctrinal rift between the Western and Eastern churches (Braaten and Jenson 1998: vii-ix). Others have claimed that union is the great insight of John Calvin (1509-64) and that later Reformed theologians ignored or abandoned his doctrine (Partee 2008: 13-35). Calvin’s successors traded their doctrinal inheritance for a bowl of scholastic lentils when they supposedly moved away from union and embraced the ordo salutis (Evans 2008: 40, 264-67).
    [Show full text]
  • Jerome Zanchi (1516–90) and the Analysis of Reformed Scholastic Christology
    Stefan Lindholm, Jerome Zanchi (1516–90) and the Analysis of Reformed Scholastic Christology © 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525551042 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647551043 Stefan Lindholm, Jerome Zanchi (1516–90) and the Analysis of Reformed Scholastic Christology Reformed Historical Theology Edited by Herman J. Selderhuis in Co-operation with Emidio Campi, Irene Dingel, Elsie Anne McKee, RichardMuller,Risto Saarinen, and Carl Trueman Volume 37 © 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525551042 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647551043 Stefan Lindholm, Jerome Zanchi (1516–90) and the Analysis of Reformed Scholastic Christology Stefan Lindholm Jerome Zanchi (1516–90) and the Analysis of Reformed Scholastic Christology Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht © 2016, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783525551042 — ISBN E-Book: 9783647551043 Stefan Lindholm, Jerome Zanchi (1516–90) and the Analysis of Reformed Scholastic Christology Bibliographic informationpublishedbythe Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliotheklists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data available online:http://dnb.d-nb.de. ISSN 2198-8226 ISBN 978-3-525-55104-2 Yo ucan find alternative editions of this book and additionalmaterial on ourWebsite:www.v-r.de 2016, Vandenhoeck & RuprechtGmbH & Co.KG, Theaterstraße13, D-37073 Göttingen/ Vandenhoeck & RuprechtLLC,Bristol, CT,U.S.A. www.v-r.de All rightsreserved. No partofthis work maybereproduced or utilized in anyform or by anymeans, electronicormechanical, including photocopying, recording,orany information storage and retrieval system, withoutprior written permissionfrom the publisher. Printed in Germany. Typesetting by Konrad Triltsch GmbH, Ochsenfurt Printed and bound by Hubert & Co GmbH & Co.KG, Robert-Bosch-Breite 6, D-37079 Göttingen Printed on aging-resistantpaper.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Pietistic and Mystical Thought Among the Anglican Elite in the Eighteenth Century Lowcountry South
    "Through the Eye of a Needle": The Role of Pietistic and Mystical Thought Among the Anglican Elite in the Eighteenth Century Lowcountry South by Samuel Clayton Smith Bachelor of Arts Bob Jones University, 1981 Master of Arts Bob Jones University, 1984 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History University of South Carolina 1999 Committee Member Dean of the Graduate School © Copyright by Samuel C. Smith, 1999 AIl Rights Reserved. ii For Becky, Kendra, Logan, and Kayla iii Acknowledgements Of all the lessons learned during the writing of a dissertation, possibly the greatest is how dependent you are upon others. I am particularly grateful to Dr. Jessica Kross who directed the dissertation. For the past two years she has listened to me ramble hours­ on-end about the importance of pietistic and mystical religion to the thought of certain eighteenth century lowcountry elites. Her comments and suggestions throughout the research and writing stages were invaluable to the success of the project. Every carefully marked-up chapter she returned to me for revision demonstrated the dedication she has for historical accuracy and relevance. Her kind patience, scholarly guidance, and unfailing encouragement will always be appreciated. Dr. Robert Weir has been a great help to me as a seminar professor, academic advisor, and committee member. His excellent and thought provoking works on the eighteenth century South were largely responsible for my decision to follow that field of concentration. Dr. Kevin Lewis kindly allowed me to do two independent studies with him, giving me the opportunity to delve into an array of religious works that would later prove cogent to the dissertation.
    [Show full text]
  • HIDDEN HISTORIES in the UNITED CHURCH of CHRIST 2 Edited By
    HIDDEN HISTORIES IN THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST 2 edited by Barbara Brown Zikmund UNITED CHURCH PRESS New York 4 Copyright © 1987 United Church Press All rights reserved No part of this publication muy be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (brief quotations used in magazine or news- paper reviews excepted), without the prior permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data (Revised for added volumel Hidden histories in the United Church of Christ. Includes bibliographies and indexes. 1. United Church of Christ-History. 2. United churches-United States-History. I. Zikmund, Barbara Brown. BX9884.H53 1987 285.8’34 84-152 ISBN 0-8298-0753-5 (pbk.: v. 2) United Church Press, 132 West 31 Street, New York, NY 10001 4 For my father Henry Daniels Brown 1910-1970 who taught me to love history and to look beyond the obvious 4 Contents Introduction Unity and Diversity Barbara Brown Zikmund Part One UNITY Chapter 1 The Union Church: A Case of Lutheran and Reformed Cooperation Horace S. Sills Chapter 2 The German Evangelical Protestants Curtis Beach Chapter 3 Origins of the Christian Denomination in New England Elizabeth C. Nordbeck Chapter 4 Evangelical Pietism and Biblical Criticism: The Story of Karl Emil Otto Lowell H. Zuck 66 Chapter 5 Women’s Mission Structures and the American Board Priscilla Stuckey-Kauffman Chapter 6 Religious Journalism: A Legacy from the Christian Church 4 J. Martin Bailey Part Two DIVERSITY Chapter 7 Philip William Otterbein and the United Brethren Thomas E.
    [Show full text]
  • From the Strange Death to the Odd Afterlife of Lutheran England
    The Historical Journal From the Strange Death to the Odd Afterlife of Lutheran England Journal: The Historical Journal Manuscript ID: HJ-2013-033.R1 Manuscript Type: Article Period: 1500-99, 1600-99 Historiographical, International Relations, Religious, Political, Thematic: Administrative & Legal Geographic: Britain, Europe, Continental Cambridge University Press Page 1 of 35 The Historical Journal FROM THE STRANGE DEATH TO THE ODD AFTERLIFE OF LUTHERAN ENGLAND∗ DAVID SCOTT GEHRING Durham University Research on the relationship between England and Protestant Germany during the sixteenth century has recently experienced a revival. A significant area of concentration for confessional interests among Lutherans a century ago, Anglo- German relations took a backseat in Reformation historiography during the twentieth century, but during the last decade or so a host of scholars in the UK, Germany, and USA have once again turned their attention to the topic. This review article surveys trends in scholarship on Reformation studies in both England and Germany before turning specifically to works considering instances of interaction, cooperation, and adaptation across the confessional and geographic divides. Gathering a considerable array of secondary materials, the article offers an overview of the merits and criticisms of previous analyses and concludes by pointing out a few areas for future inquiry. Alec Ryrie’s ‘strange death of Lutheran England’ is with good reason one of the most recognized arguments addressing the English Reformation and its relationship with Lutheranism.1 After noting similarities between early Henrician developments and Lutheran ideas, Ryrie argues that Reformed notions came to predominate during the 1540s and thus set the stage for the Reformation under Edward VI.
    [Show full text]
  • Immortality and Method in Ursinus' Theological Ambiance John Donnelly Marquette University, [email protected]
    Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette History Faculty Research and Publications History, Department of 1-1-1986 Immortality and Method in Ursinus' Theological Ambiance John Donnelly Marquette University, [email protected] Post-print. "Immortality and Method in Ursinus's Theological Ambiance," in Controversy and Conciliation: The Reformation and the Palatinate 1559-1583. Ed. Derk Visser. Allison Park, PA: Pickwick Publications, 1986: 183-195. © 1986 Wipf and Stock Publisher. Used with permission. Immortality and Method in Ursinus's Theological Ambiance John Patrick Donnelly, S. J. The main theological and religious positions of mainstream Pro­ testantism in Europe and America were staked out by the first genera­ tion of Martin Luther and the second generation of John Calvin. Most reformation research has rightly concentrated on the first two genera­ tions, but recently American scholarship has started to examine the role of the third generation represented by Zacharias Ursinus and his con­ temporaries, the Shapers of Religious Traditions. This conference brings together many of the scholars who have contributed to that thrust-I was tempted to say younger scholars, but as I look around I n()te that most of us have acquired gray hair in the decade since we started publishing in this area. It has always seemed to me that a major contribution of the third generation of reformers was their shift of theological method away from the strongly biblical theologies of Luther and Calvin toward the neoscholasticism of the Age of Protestant Orthodoxy, a period which stretched from the late sixteenth century well into the eighteenth cen­ tury, and in places remained important even in the nineteenth century, for instance the Calvinism of the American Princeton School.
    [Show full text]
  • Peter Martyr Vermigli and Thomas Aquinas on Predestination
    CONFLUENCE AND INFLUENCE: PETER MARTYR VERMIGLI AND THOMAS AQUINAS ON PREDESTINATION Frank A. James III Introduction In his Paradiso, Dante Alighieri describes predestination as a mystery whose “root lies hidden from the intellect.”1 By its very inscrutability, the idea of predestination has fascinated theologians from Augustine to Pannenberg.2 It also has been a central dogma, as it were, for Richard A. Muller’s ground-breaking research. When he published his doctoral dis- sertation over twenty-five years ago, Christ and the Decree, few could have anticipated that his approach to the development of post-Reformational theology would have lasting value. His was after all a rather obscure area of research, which hitherto had been largely the domain of dead-white- European-males with hard to pronounce names. From the outset of his career, Muller recognized the historiographical significance of Peter Martyr Vermigli and the doctrine of predestination. In Christ and the Decree, Muller made what many considered a rather star- tling academic judgment: We must divide the laurels between Calvin and Vermigli in judging the influence of their respective doctrines of predestination. Whereas Calvin’s basic structure and definition, which designates election and reprobation as almost coordinate halves of the decree, had more impact…[it was Vermigli’s conception of predestination that] would eventually be enunciated as the confessional norm of Reformed theology.3 1 Divine Comedy, Paradisio, Canto XX: “O Predestination! How remote and dim, Thy root lies hidden from the intellect which only glimpses the First Cause Supreme! And you, ye mortals, keep your judgment checked, since we, who see God, have not therefore skill To know yet all the number of the elect, And such defective sight is sweet for us, Because our good is refined by this good, That which God wills we also will.” 2 Wolfhart Pannenberg’s dissertation: Die prädestinationslehre des Duns Skotus in Zusammenhang der scholastischen Lehrntwicklung (Göttingen: V&R, 1954).
    [Show full text]
  • Jerome Zanchi, the Application of Theology, PATRICK J
    Jerome Zanchi, the Application of Theology, PATRICK J. and the Rise of the English O’BANION Practical Divinity Tradition* Cet article s’inscrit dans le débat récemment relancé sur la relation entre les théologiens scolastiques de la Réforme et les premiers réformateurs, mais propose également de l’amener dans une nouvelle direction. On y ana- lyse d’abord la doctrine de Dieu, telle que développée par Jerome Zanchi (1516–1590), en mettant en relief comment il passe de conclusions de théo- logie systématique à des implications de théologie pratique, en particulier, à travers son usage de la convention dite de l’usus doctrinae. L’article cherche ensuite à estimer l’impact de cette convention en dehors des milieux érudits en explorant la relation entre le discours de Zanchi et la tradition anglaise pratique de la divinité. On y met donc en lumière comment les pasteurs et les théologiens populaires ont emprunté à Zanchi dans le cadre de leur charge d’âmes et de réforme de la nation anglaise. wo early modern likenesses of the Italian exile and Reformed theolo- Tgian Jerome Zanchi (1516–1590) exist.1 The first, the work of Hendrik Hondius, was published in his Icones virorum nostra patrumque memoria illustrium (1599). The second, probably engraved by Theodore de Bry, was included in Jean-Jacques Boissard’s Bibliotheca chalcographica (1669). Beneath each engraving, the artists added a few lines of Latin verse celebrat- ing Zanchi’s life. Although there are differences between the verses in the two works, both agree that Zanchi was nulli pietate secundus: second to none in piety.
    [Show full text]
  • EVANGELICAL PIETISM and BIBLICAL CRITICISM: the STORY of KARL EMIL OTTO Lowell H
    Chapter 4 EVANGELICAL PIETISM AND BIBLICAL CRITICISM: THE STORY OF KARL EMIL OTTO Lowell H. Zuck Lowell H. Zuck is Professor of Church History at Eden Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. THE EVANGELICAL ROOTS of the United Church of Christ represent a unionist-pietist lib- eral approach to Christianity. Among most nineteenth-century immigrants on the Midwestern frontier, German Evangelicals stood in stark contrast to the doctrinal rigorism that was popular among Missouri Lutherans, Christian Reformed, and, to a lesser extent, Presbyterian, Congrega- tional, Baptist, and Methodist revivalists.(1) German Evangelicals in Missouri, Illinois, and other Midwestern states traced their roots unof- ficially to the Prussian Union Church, founded in 1817. On arrival in the United States, in 1840, they organized themselves into a church association (Evangelische Kirchenverein des Westens), making use of German confessions from both Lutheran and Reformed traditions. They also dis- played a pietistic ability to pray, sing, form congregations, and train ministers, following the ecumenically open but conservative Lutheran-Reformed tradition. They started a church journal (the Friedensbote)and reshaped a new catechism (Evangelical Catechism). But the most impor- tant institution for developing a new German Evangelical consciousness in America was a seminary, begun in 1850 at Marthasville, Missouri, and later moved to Webster Groves and re- named Eden Theological Seminary.(2) The fourth president of this Evangelical seminary served from 1872 to 1879. His name was Karl Emil Otto (1837—1916).(3) The story of this immigrant clergyman, who was educated at the German university of Halle, illustrates how an immigrant church, loyal to German traditions, was able to maintain faith commitments in the face of rationalist intellectualism.
    [Show full text]