Synopses & Reviews
This collection of seminal articles written over the last twenty years by a distinguished scholar of medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation history places the Reformation movement in its medieval context, paying particular attention to the continuity between the later Middle Ages and Reformation Europe. Oberman's discerning perspective illuminates the modern reader in regard to the multifaceted historical-cultural context out of which the Reformation arose.
Synopsis
Throughout these essays there runs a common theme: the need to place the Reformation movement in its medieval context, and to bridge the ideological gaps between late medieval Renaissance, and Reformation studies.
The opening chapters consider late medieval thought and the emergence of the young Luther at the center of the Reformation movement. There follows a study of the impact upon Luther of the philological, spiritual, and philosophical traditions of sixteen-century Europe. These traditions are fully examined in order to discern what Luther and his followers silently ignored or rejected, and so to delineate what is new and original in early Reformation thought.
The remaining chapters move from Luther to the wider world of events marking the Reformation era: the Peasant War, the Copernican Revolution, the beginning of the Counter-reformation and the reformed initiated by the Council of Trent.
" Here is Oberman at his most provocative and creative, a scholar from whom one always learns something new. "
Professor Steven Ozment
"Harvard University"
" At last, a Protestant scholar, with immense learning, has landed on this dark side of the moon, with scholarly essays as enthralling as they are indispensable. "
Reverend Professor Gordon Rupp
"Emeritus Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University of Cambridge"
Synopsis
The opening chapters consider late medieval thought and the emergence of the young Luther at the center of the Reformation movement. There follows a study of the impact upon Luther of the philological, spiritual, and philosophical traditions of sixteenth-century Europe. These traditions are fully examined in order to discern what Luther...
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-298) and index.
Table of Contents
Fourteenth-century religious thought: a premature profile -- The shape of late medieval thought -- Headwaters of the Reformation -- Facientibus quod in se est Deus non denegat gratiam: Robert Holcot O.P. and the beginnings of Luther's theology -- "Iustitia Christi" and "iustitia Dei": Luther and the scholastic doctrines of justification -- Simul gemitus et raptus: Luther and mysticism -- The gospel of social unrest: 450 years after the so-called "German peasants' war" of 1525 -- Reformation and revolution: Copernicus' discovery in an era of change -- Duns Scotus, nominalism, and the Council of Trent -- The 'extra' dimension in the theology of Calvin -- Calvin's critique of Calvinism -- Quo vadis, Petre? Tradition from Irenaeus to Humani generis.