Oliver K. Olson. Matthias Flacius and the survival of Luther's reform. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2002. 432 S. + 72 Abb. EUR 99.00, gebunden, ISBN 978-3-447-04404-2.
Reviewed by Nathan Rein
Published on H-German (July, 2003)
The German Reformation's South European ceeded in ftting comfortably into a party, institu‐ Hero tion or school of thought. He was a Croatian. And For the past two decades or so, interest in the according to Olson's account, the Protestant Ger‐ German Reformation has increasingly focused on mans among whom he worked--and who saw the the phenomenon known as "confessionalization," Reformation as their movement--never let him which began anywhere between 1530 and 1555. forget his origins. Moreover, his mastery of Ger‐ After the Wildwuchs of the 1520s, when the Refor‐ man was never perfect, and his manners were mation movement spread rapidly and uncontrol‐ Italian. He played a key role in the establishment lably, confessionalization represents the institu‐ of Lutheran orthodoxy, but usually seemed an tionalization and crystallization of the previous outsider--a thorn in the side of Lutheran divines decades' changes. Against the exuberance and in‐ and princes. He had a knack for antagonizing tensity of the early Reform movement, the later powerful people. In the last ffteen years of his developments suggest a diferent favor: consoli‐ life, he moved fve times. Melanchthon, who head‐ dation of authority, creation of an orthodox con‐ ed a long list of Flacius's detractors, almost cer‐ sensus, the "settling down" of the Reform. tainly had the Croat in mind when he lamented the rabies theologorum. Though he was a major Matthias Flacius Illyricus (1520-1575), born fgure during the period of Lutheran confessional‐ the same year that Martin Luther published his ization, scholars have tended not to know what to three great Reformation treatises, belongs to this do with Flacius. period. Illyricus has always been a troubling fg‐ ure in the landscape of the late Reformation. As a This is not so for Olson. For him, "Flacius" is professor at Wittenberg and Jena as well as a stag‐ confessional history-writing in the grand style, fo‐ geringly prolifc religious writer, he loomed over cusing--unabashedly--on the infuence of a single many of the doctrinal controversies that plagued Great Man. In Olson's view, Flacius' importance the confessionalization period. Yet he never suc‐ for the German Reformation cannot be overstat‐ H-Net Reviews ed: he was responsible for the "survival of collector of manuscripts and prints, and as a Luther's reform." While the author makes numer‐ project coordinator for the "Centuries." Thus Ol‐ ous subtler points along the way, this, his main son gives us, inter alia, chapters organized idea, is unmistakable and uncomplicated. He around Flacius' writings against the Augsburg In‐ wants to show that Flacius' stubborn and tireless terim and its successor documents in Saxony, his refusal to compromise on doctrine or practice role in the propaganda campaign during the siege saved the Reformation, virtually single-handedly. of Magdeburg (1550-51), the Catalogus and its in‐ He was a true Reformation hero, second only to fuence, the "Centuries," and the bitter pamphlet Luther. Little has been written in English on wars of the years leading up to the Formula of Flacius, and Olson's work is the frst book-length Concord (1577). treatment.[1] He has done a great service in writ‐ While we learn a great deal about his intellec‐ ing it. tual and religious life, other sides of Flacius re‐ The book is intended to be useful to scholars main obscure. We know, for example, that he was and accessible to pastors, students, and interested married and had several children, but we know non-specialists. Olson writes in an elegant, well- next to nothing about his emotional life outside crafted narrative style, with voluminous primary the context of the religious struggles that con‐ and secondary documentation. He gives his ac‐ sumed him. Olson rarely uses personal letters as count a straightforward chronological structure, sources. He does, however, ascribe great promi‐ opening with Flacius' "childhood in the sun" in the nence to the imprisonment, torture and eventual Venetian territory of Istria and following him as martyrdom, at the hands of the Roman Inquisi‐ far as the 1557 imperial religious colloquy in tion, of Flacius' Venetian relative Baldo Lupetino, Worms. (He plans a second volume to cover the "il piu gran Luterano del mondo" (p. 25). Lupetino, remaining eighteen years of Flacius's life.) The who had been one of Flacius' early religious men‐ book is divided into four unequal sections, corre‐ tors, was arrested in 1543 and not executed until sponding to the four major stations of Flacius' life thirteen years later; Olson weaves the continuing up to 1557--Venice, Wittenberg, Magdeburg and story of his plight into the biography as an ongo‐ Jena; the middle two take up about 80 percent of ing concern for Flacius. the text. Understandably in the case of a writer as Olson clearly identifes strongly with his sub‐ prolifc as Flacius, Olson organizes most of the ject, and this produces some of the book's more text around his subject's literary production. disconcerting peculiarities. Olson has a tendency Flacius emerged on the public scene at age twen‐ to act as Flacius' champion. Olson makes a point ty-six, around the time the Schmalkaldic War be‐ of exonerating Flacius from unfair accusations gan, and thereupon began to churn out tract after leveled against him in past centuries--charges of tract. Olson's bibliography lists 190 printed works. which most readers will probably be entirely un‐ Among these are the Catalogus Testium Veritatis aware. Is Flacius remembered as the author of vi‐ (Catalogue of Witnesses to the Truth), an account cious ad hominem attacks against his former Wit‐ of the Reformation's spiritual forebears over the tenberg colleagues? On the contrary: "Flacius course of church history; the Clavis Scripturae, a avoided personal polemics," while his opponents path-breaking investigation of biblical hermeneu‐ produced "scornful and abusive writings" (p. 182). tics; and the monumental Protestant church histo‐ What about the so-called "culter facianus," the fa‐ ry known as the "Magdeburg Centuries" (which bled knife with which he is supposed to have de‐ Flacius helped edit but did not write), as well as faced manuscripts during his search for historical innumerable pamphlets. He was active as a writer documentation? A fabrication "hatched at the and editor both alone and in collaboration, as a
2 H-Net Reviews court at Dresden to defame him" (p. 269). The fense of Lutheranism, it was justifed by Catholic book is all praise and no blame for its subject. The atrocities. closest Olson comes to criticism is when he admits Olson's theological certainty may alienate a Flacius' occasional misattribution of sources in his few readers. However, his skill in shedding light historical writing--but even here he is quick to on arcane doctrinal points is impressive, and his fend of the charge of sloppy research. insights are profound. He is especially good in Olson has no qualms about introducing a con‐ treating the implications of the Augsburg Interim, fessional bias into the work; at times he seems to and Flacius' opposition to it. Olson draws atten‐ carry sixteenth-century polemics into the present. tion to Flacius' alarm at attempts to re-Catholicize Flacius' version of the Reformation apparently Protestant liturgical life in the wake of the represents, for Olson, the single correct religion. Schmalkaldic War. To please the Emperor, more Accordingly the polemics and battles of the mid- compromise-ready Protestants were often willing sixteenth century should be understood as battles to make seemingly minor changes in practice, for the truth. Prominent throughout the work is providing that the core dogmas--especially justif‐ the irenic-minded Melanchthon, Flacius' foil and cation--were left in place. Flacius, on the other main opponent after 1548, and Olson repeatedly hand, recognized that the supposedly neutral area condemns him--as a compromiser of the move‐ of liturgy was precisely the Reform's most vulner‐ ment, a betrayer of his own conscience, and a able point and refused to concede anything. His toady to the princes. He has harsh words as well best-known dictum, Nihil est adiaphoron in casu for Kaspar Schwenkfeld and Andreas Osiander, confessionis et scandali (roughly, "there are no in‐ with whom Flacius clashed in the 1550s, and he diferent matters when it comes to confessing the makes a point of endorsing the use of Luther's pe‐ faith or giving ofense") became axiomatic for jorative term Schwärmer (enthusiast, fanatic) to those who resisted seemingly innocuous liturgical describe both men (p. 291). Even more striking compromises, for example, the use of Catholic- are the several references to Pope John Paul II's looking vestments for Protestant ministers.[2] As apologies for the "sins" of the Catholic Church. Ol‐ Olson puts it, "there is an intrinsic meaning in cer‐ son quotes papal addresses of 1982 and 1994 re‐ emonies" that prohibits their alteration willy-nilly ferring to "tensions, errors and excesses" of in response to political currents (p. 155). This dis‐ Catholic history and responds that "[i]n order to cussion, along with a similarly lucid account of deal with the current pope's appeals for forgive‐ the majoristic and synergistic controversies, will ness one must know for what forgiveness is being help readers who fnd the doctrinal struggles sought"--and he proceeds to seek the answer to leading up to 1577 too thorny and opaque to com‐ this very question. He thus uses the Pope's own prehend. words to justify a faintly muckracking, righteous This is a beautiful book, richly illustrated, tone that may disturb Catholic readers. Indeed, he sumptuously printed, and fortifed with a wealth continues, any assessment of Flacius that does not of documentation, though it sufers from far too squarely confront these Catholic "errors and ex‐ many typographical errors. This is classic confes‐ cesses" risks distortion. "The frequently-expressed sional biography. It will be useful and enjoyable opinion that he was mad or irrational is not ten‐ for anyone seeking to understand the religious able if one considers his context among the 'ex‐ thought of a Lutheran hard-liner of the mid-six‐ cesses' of the Counter-Reformation," particularly teenth century, provided one is willing to swallow Lupetino's execution (p. 18f.). By implication, if a small dose of confessional chauvinism. Flacius showed bitterness and harshness in de‐ Notes:
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[1]. The standard biography in German is still Willhelm Preger's Matthias Flacius Illyricus und seine Zeit. Erlangen: T. Blaessing, 1859-61; rpt. Hildesheim: G. Olms & Nieukoop, 1964. [2]. This same phrase would later be revived under National Socialism by Dietrich Bonhoefer and the Confessing Church. Copyright (c) 2003 by H-Net, all rights re‐ served. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonproft, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originat‐ ing list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For other uses contact the Reviews editori‐ al staf: [email protected].
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Citation: Nathan Rein. Review of Olson, Oliver K. Matthias Flacius and the survival of Luther's reform. H-German, H-Net Reviews. July, 2003.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=7802
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