Gregory Graybill
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199589487
- eISBN:
- 9780191594588
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199589487.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
If one is saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ, then what is the origin of that faith? Is it a preordained gift of God to elect individuals, or is some measure of human free choice involved? ...
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If one is saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ, then what is the origin of that faith? Is it a preordained gift of God to elect individuals, or is some measure of human free choice involved? Initially, Philipp Melanchthon concurred with Martin Luther—that the human will is completely bound by sin, and that the choice of faith can flow only from God's unilateral grace. But if this is so, what about those whom God has not chosen? Is he not casting people into hell who never even had a chance? What are the pastoral implications for believers thinking about the nature of God and their own relationship to him? As a result of practical concerns such as these, aided by an intellectual aversion to paradox, Melanchthon came to believe that the human will does play a key role in the origins of a saving faith in Jesus Christ. This was not the Roman Catholic free will of Erasmus, however. It was a limited free will tied to justification by faith alone. It was an evangelical free will.Less
If one is saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ, then what is the origin of that faith? Is it a preordained gift of God to elect individuals, or is some measure of human free choice involved? Initially, Philipp Melanchthon concurred with Martin Luther—that the human will is completely bound by sin, and that the choice of faith can flow only from God's unilateral grace. But if this is so, what about those whom God has not chosen? Is he not casting people into hell who never even had a chance? What are the pastoral implications for believers thinking about the nature of God and their own relationship to him? As a result of practical concerns such as these, aided by an intellectual aversion to paradox, Melanchthon came to believe that the human will does play a key role in the origins of a saving faith in Jesus Christ. This was not the Roman Catholic free will of Erasmus, however. It was a limited free will tied to justification by faith alone. It was an evangelical free will.
Edward A. Siecienski
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195372045
- eISBN:
- 9780199777297
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195372045.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Although the Reformation split the Latin-speaking world into a host of competing churches and ecclesial communities, the filioque was not among those issued challenged by the Protestant critique and ...
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Although the Reformation split the Latin-speaking world into a host of competing churches and ecclesial communities, the filioque was not among those issued challenged by the Protestant critique and remained a central part of the reformers’ faith. Orthodox Confessions of the period continued to reject the filioque, just as Roman Catholic documents of the era made clear that acceptance of the Florentine decrees were a non-negotiable condition for future reconciliation. However a new period of rapprochement started in 1874 with the consultations at Bonn, when for the first time in centuries polemics were replaced by genuine dialogue. If not itself a period of great ecumenical achievement, the nineteenth century nevertheless paved the way for what was to come, and allowed the twentieth century to become a time of immense progress on the road to unity.Less
Although the Reformation split the Latin-speaking world into a host of competing churches and ecclesial communities, the filioque was not among those issued challenged by the Protestant critique and remained a central part of the reformers’ faith. Orthodox Confessions of the period continued to reject the filioque, just as Roman Catholic documents of the era made clear that acceptance of the Florentine decrees were a non-negotiable condition for future reconciliation. However a new period of rapprochement started in 1874 with the consultations at Bonn, when for the first time in centuries polemics were replaced by genuine dialogue. If not itself a period of great ecumenical achievement, the nineteenth century nevertheless paved the way for what was to come, and allowed the twentieth century to become a time of immense progress on the road to unity.
David C. Steinmetz
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195130485
- eISBN:
- 9780199869008
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195130480.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Amsdorf was one of Martin Luther's closest friends over many years and taught with Luther on the university faculty in Wittenberg. Although he served briefly as the bishop of Naumburg and played an ...
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Amsdorf was one of Martin Luther's closest friends over many years and taught with Luther on the university faculty in Wittenberg. Although he served briefly as the bishop of Naumburg and played an important role in the reform of the city of Goslar, he is remembered primarily as a leader of the Gnesio‐Lutherans, who opposed Melanchthon on the role of good works in justification and the usefulness of philosophy in theology. He also opposed the acceptance of the Leipzig Interim by the adiaphorists, Melanchthon and Bugenhagen.Less
Amsdorf was one of Martin Luther's closest friends over many years and taught with Luther on the university faculty in Wittenberg. Although he served briefly as the bishop of Naumburg and played an important role in the reform of the city of Goslar, he is remembered primarily as a leader of the Gnesio‐Lutherans, who opposed Melanchthon on the role of good works in justification and the usefulness of philosophy in theology. He also opposed the acceptance of the Leipzig Interim by the adiaphorists, Melanchthon and Bugenhagen.
Owen Chadwick
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198269021
- eISBN:
- 9780191600470
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198269021.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
Politics made it essential for Reformers to provide justifications for war and resistance in certain circumstances against the rulers of the state. The pacifism of Erasmus and Luther's early ...
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Politics made it essential for Reformers to provide justifications for war and resistance in certain circumstances against the rulers of the state. The pacifism of Erasmus and Luther's early condemnation of rebellion during the social unrest of the 1520s gradually gave way to a theory of a right of resistance, not by the people but by responsible magistrates. The War of the Schmalkand League forced both Luther and Melanchthon to rethink their ideas. Luther's death in 1546 and Melanchthon's in 1560 created posthumous images and reputation for the Reformers, and the first biographies of Luther created Protestant and Catholic images of him that were to last for centuries. At the same time, the appeal of both sides to history stimulated historical scholarship, including the collection and publication of ancient documents.Less
Politics made it essential for Reformers to provide justifications for war and resistance in certain circumstances against the rulers of the state. The pacifism of Erasmus and Luther's early condemnation of rebellion during the social unrest of the 1520s gradually gave way to a theory of a right of resistance, not by the people but by responsible magistrates. The War of the Schmalkand League forced both Luther and Melanchthon to rethink their ideas. Luther's death in 1546 and Melanchthon's in 1560 created posthumous images and reputation for the Reformers, and the first biographies of Luther created Protestant and Catholic images of him that were to last for centuries. At the same time, the appeal of both sides to history stimulated historical scholarship, including the collection and publication of ancient documents.
David C. Steinmetz
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195130485
- eISBN:
- 9780199869008
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195130480.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Andreas Osiander was one of the leading figures in the establishment of the Lutheran Reformation in the city of Nuremberg, though he left during the Leipzig Interim to move first to Breslau and ...
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Andreas Osiander was one of the leading figures in the establishment of the Lutheran Reformation in the city of Nuremberg, though he left during the Leipzig Interim to move first to Breslau and finally to Königsberg in East Prussia. He is best known for his attack on Melanchthon's understanding of forensic justification and his acceptance of a supralapsarian Christology. Justification rested in Osiander's view on union with Christ and the actual transformation of the believer that occurs through such a union.Less
Andreas Osiander was one of the leading figures in the establishment of the Lutheran Reformation in the city of Nuremberg, though he left during the Leipzig Interim to move first to Breslau and finally to Königsberg in East Prussia. He is best known for his attack on Melanchthon's understanding of forensic justification and his acceptance of a supralapsarian Christology. Justification rested in Osiander's view on union with Christ and the actual transformation of the believer that occurs through such a union.
Andrew Wallace
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199591244
- eISBN:
- 9780191595561
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199591244.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The introduction establishes the importance of the assertion by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (c.70–c.130 CE) that the freedman and grammarian Quintus Caecilius Epirota (first century BCE) had started ...
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The introduction establishes the importance of the assertion by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (c.70–c.130 CE) that the freedman and grammarian Quintus Caecilius Epirota (first century BCE) had started teaching Virgil's poetry at Rome in 26 BCE. If Suetonius is correct, Virgil would have spent the last years of his life knowing that he had written (and, in the Aeneid, was still writing) schoolbooks. Against the backdrop of this inaugural scene of Virgilian instruction, the introduction surveys late antique, medieval, and Renaissance interest in Virgil's own educational profile, arguing that this interest is in part generated by enigmatic moments in the poems themselves. However strange the forms the ascription will assume, the mixed voices of the Virgilian tradition are not wrong when they ascribe to Virgil canny, intense, and even theoretically adventurous meditations on instruction. Biographers, commentators, and schoolmasters perceive in Virgil's poems more than a simple aspiration to teach readers. They also locate in ‘the book of Maro’ a series of close studies of pedagogical diction (in the Eclogues), of the unfathomable currents that connect poetry to precept and action (in the Georgics), and of the counterintuitive relationship between mastery and forgetting (in the Aeneid).Less
The introduction establishes the importance of the assertion by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (c.70–c.130 CE) that the freedman and grammarian Quintus Caecilius Epirota (first century BCE) had started teaching Virgil's poetry at Rome in 26 BCE. If Suetonius is correct, Virgil would have spent the last years of his life knowing that he had written (and, in the Aeneid, was still writing) schoolbooks. Against the backdrop of this inaugural scene of Virgilian instruction, the introduction surveys late antique, medieval, and Renaissance interest in Virgil's own educational profile, arguing that this interest is in part generated by enigmatic moments in the poems themselves. However strange the forms the ascription will assume, the mixed voices of the Virgilian tradition are not wrong when they ascribe to Virgil canny, intense, and even theoretically adventurous meditations on instruction. Biographers, commentators, and schoolmasters perceive in Virgil's poems more than a simple aspiration to teach readers. They also locate in ‘the book of Maro’ a series of close studies of pedagogical diction (in the Eclogues), of the unfathomable currents that connect poetry to precept and action (in the Georgics), and of the counterintuitive relationship between mastery and forgetting (in the Aeneid).
David H. Price
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394214
- eISBN:
- 9780199894734
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394214.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Not the study of antiquity in isolation but the ideal of a seamless unity of classicism and Christianity is what made Johannes Reuchlin's humanist perspective compelling to the scholars and students ...
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Not the study of antiquity in isolation but the ideal of a seamless unity of classicism and Christianity is what made Johannes Reuchlin's humanist perspective compelling to the scholars and students of his time. Although well-known as the founder of Christian Hebrew studies, Reuchlin also emerges as a harbinger of the recovery of Greek language, literature, early Christian writings, and biblical philology. This chapter defines Renaissance humanism (the studia humanitatis) and traces Reuchlin's contributions to the movement, in particular, to the evolution of Christian humanism. His contributions to early printing and the career of Philipp Melanchthon are also assessed.Less
Not the study of antiquity in isolation but the ideal of a seamless unity of classicism and Christianity is what made Johannes Reuchlin's humanist perspective compelling to the scholars and students of his time. Although well-known as the founder of Christian Hebrew studies, Reuchlin also emerges as a harbinger of the recovery of Greek language, literature, early Christian writings, and biblical philology. This chapter defines Renaissance humanism (the studia humanitatis) and traces Reuchlin's contributions to the movement, in particular, to the evolution of Christian humanism. His contributions to early printing and the career of Philipp Melanchthon are also assessed.
Ann Moss
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159087
- eISBN:
- 9780191673474
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159087.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
The prescriptions for commonplace-books to be found in the works of Desiderius Erasmus, Philipp Melanchthon, and Juan Luis Vives were published together as excerpts in manuals De ratione studii. ...
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The prescriptions for commonplace-books to be found in the works of Desiderius Erasmus, Philipp Melanchthon, and Juan Luis Vives were published together as excerpts in manuals De ratione studii. Their presence there, together with other examples of good practice in the matter of education, points us to the schoolroom environment within which boys were conditioned to think in ways determined by the instrument they used to probe material they were set to study, store in their memory, and retrieve for reproduction, that is to say, by their commonplace-book. From now on, the history of the commonplace-book becomes an integral part of the history of Renaissance culture in general, because it is the history of its technical support system, and consequently of one of the most important factors contributing to its intellectual paradigms. From now on, also, the documentation of the history of the commonplace-book becomes enormous.Less
The prescriptions for commonplace-books to be found in the works of Desiderius Erasmus, Philipp Melanchthon, and Juan Luis Vives were published together as excerpts in manuals De ratione studii. Their presence there, together with other examples of good practice in the matter of education, points us to the schoolroom environment within which boys were conditioned to think in ways determined by the instrument they used to probe material they were set to study, store in their memory, and retrieve for reproduction, that is to say, by their commonplace-book. From now on, the history of the commonplace-book becomes an integral part of the history of Renaissance culture in general, because it is the history of its technical support system, and consequently of one of the most important factors contributing to its intellectual paradigms. From now on, also, the documentation of the history of the commonplace-book becomes enormous.
Ann Moss
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199249879
- eISBN:
- 9780191697838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199249879.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter discusses the concept of ‘common places’, which are also called loci communes and defined as general notions that are appropriate to the various disciplines of inquiry. One literary work ...
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This chapter discusses the concept of ‘common places’, which are also called loci communes and defined as general notions that are appropriate to the various disciplines of inquiry. One literary work that is included in the discussion in this chapter is Melanchthon's De rhetorica libri tres, his first book on the rhetoric of argument.Less
This chapter discusses the concept of ‘common places’, which are also called loci communes and defined as general notions that are appropriate to the various disciplines of inquiry. One literary work that is included in the discussion in this chapter is Melanchthon's De rhetorica libri tres, his first book on the rhetoric of argument.
Euan Cameron
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199594795
- eISBN:
- 9780191741494
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199594795.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Religion and Literature
In Continental Protestantism, the history of the Church acquired vital explanatory importance for the theological justification of the movement. Protestant thought argued that for 1,000 years before ...
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In Continental Protestantism, the history of the Church acquired vital explanatory importance for the theological justification of the movement. Protestant thought argued that for 1,000 years before the Reformation the Catholic Church had erred more and more seriously from correct belief and practice. However, the first experiments in writing ecclesiastical history were heavily influenced by northern Renaissance humanism. A tension developed between human, pragmatic explanations for religious behaviour and doctrinal or apocalyptic explanations of Church history. This chapter analyses that tension through the writings of humanist-educated Protestant historians such as Joachim Vadian, Heinrich Bullinger, Philipp Melanchthon, and Caspar Peucer. Over the sixteenth century, humanist influence dissipated, as even Renaissance-trained scholars adopted dogmatic arguments; however, it did not entirely disappear. The chapter concludes by comparing humanist-inspired Church histories with doctrinally based histories written within Lutheran orthodoxy, such as the Magdeburg Centuries and the Epitome of Lucas Osiander the Elder.Less
In Continental Protestantism, the history of the Church acquired vital explanatory importance for the theological justification of the movement. Protestant thought argued that for 1,000 years before the Reformation the Catholic Church had erred more and more seriously from correct belief and practice. However, the first experiments in writing ecclesiastical history were heavily influenced by northern Renaissance humanism. A tension developed between human, pragmatic explanations for religious behaviour and doctrinal or apocalyptic explanations of Church history. This chapter analyses that tension through the writings of humanist-educated Protestant historians such as Joachim Vadian, Heinrich Bullinger, Philipp Melanchthon, and Caspar Peucer. Over the sixteenth century, humanist influence dissipated, as even Renaissance-trained scholars adopted dogmatic arguments; however, it did not entirely disappear. The chapter concludes by comparing humanist-inspired Church histories with doctrinally based histories written within Lutheran orthodoxy, such as the Magdeburg Centuries and the Epitome of Lucas Osiander the Elder.
Robert S. Westman
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520254817
- eISBN:
- 9780520948167
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520254817.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Nicolaus Copernicus first formulated his new arrangement of the heavens amid the intellectual skepticism and political insecurity of the late fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century prognosticatory ...
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Nicolaus Copernicus first formulated his new arrangement of the heavens amid the intellectual skepticism and political insecurity of the late fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century prognosticatory culture of the northern Italian university towns. Both the Roman Catholic Church and the German Protestant reform movement were obsessed with world-historical biblical prophecies; but for the Lutherans there was a uniquely urgent sense of imminent crisis and belief in an apocalyptic end of the world. On the eve of the Council of Trent, Copernicus's hypotheses quickly became the occasion for discussion and engagement among students of the heavens at Lutheran Wittenberg. The question was no longer merely about whether prognostication of natural events could be accommodated to a Bible-governed narrative, but rather it was about what relevance the Bible had for conflicting hypotheses of celestial order in theoretical astronomy. This chapter explores astrology during the time of Copernicus, along with the concept of the end of the world, the views of Philipp Melanchthon, Georg Joachim Rheticus's Narratio Prima, Andreas Osiander's advice on the publication of De Revolutionibus, and the link between the Holy Scripture and celestial order.Less
Nicolaus Copernicus first formulated his new arrangement of the heavens amid the intellectual skepticism and political insecurity of the late fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century prognosticatory culture of the northern Italian university towns. Both the Roman Catholic Church and the German Protestant reform movement were obsessed with world-historical biblical prophecies; but for the Lutherans there was a uniquely urgent sense of imminent crisis and belief in an apocalyptic end of the world. On the eve of the Council of Trent, Copernicus's hypotheses quickly became the occasion for discussion and engagement among students of the heavens at Lutheran Wittenberg. The question was no longer merely about whether prognostication of natural events could be accommodated to a Bible-governed narrative, but rather it was about what relevance the Bible had for conflicting hypotheses of celestial order in theoretical astronomy. This chapter explores astrology during the time of Copernicus, along with the concept of the end of the world, the views of Philipp Melanchthon, Georg Joachim Rheticus's Narratio Prima, Andreas Osiander's advice on the publication of De Revolutionibus, and the link between the Holy Scripture and celestial order.
Robert S. Westman
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520254817
- eISBN:
- 9780520948167
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520254817.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Nicolaus Copernicus's reputation as a learned astronomer was established very quickly in the two decades after the appearance of the Narratio and De Revolutionibus. But De Revolutionibus was not the ...
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Nicolaus Copernicus's reputation as a learned astronomer was established very quickly in the two decades after the appearance of the Narratio and De Revolutionibus. But De Revolutionibus was not the only resource for disseminating Copernicus's views. After Erasmus Reinhold's Prutenic Tables appeared in 1551, Copernicus's renown within the literature of the heavens became firmly anchored to the domain of practical astronomy, even among constituencies unfamiliar directly with De Revolutionibus itself. From the perspective of the historical agents, there is a simple explanation for this state of affairs: the dominant preoccupation of those who possessed techniques of celestial investigation was the making of knowledge about the future. And in the mid-sixteenth century, those concerns and competences were most powerfully located in the circle of students and scholars gathered around Philipp Melanchthon at Wittenberg. The dominant figures in this Wittenberg movement were Reinhold, Caspar Peucer, and Georg Joachim Rheticus. One significant force shaping the political space of the Melanchthon group was the patronage of the territorial prince, Albrecht Hohenzollern, margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and duke of Prussia.Less
Nicolaus Copernicus's reputation as a learned astronomer was established very quickly in the two decades after the appearance of the Narratio and De Revolutionibus. But De Revolutionibus was not the only resource for disseminating Copernicus's views. After Erasmus Reinhold's Prutenic Tables appeared in 1551, Copernicus's renown within the literature of the heavens became firmly anchored to the domain of practical astronomy, even among constituencies unfamiliar directly with De Revolutionibus itself. From the perspective of the historical agents, there is a simple explanation for this state of affairs: the dominant preoccupation of those who possessed techniques of celestial investigation was the making of knowledge about the future. And in the mid-sixteenth century, those concerns and competences were most powerfully located in the circle of students and scholars gathered around Philipp Melanchthon at Wittenberg. The dominant figures in this Wittenberg movement were Reinhold, Caspar Peucer, and Georg Joachim Rheticus. One significant force shaping the political space of the Melanchthon group was the patronage of the territorial prince, Albrecht Hohenzollern, margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and duke of Prussia.
Robert S. Westman
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520254817
- eISBN:
- 9780520948167
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520254817.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Nicolaus Copernicus's name became associated with an optimistic and safe view of prognosticatory practice, especially through the Prutenic Tables. As a resource of astrological forecast, the ...
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Nicolaus Copernicus's name became associated with an optimistic and safe view of prognosticatory practice, especially through the Prutenic Tables. As a resource of astrological forecast, the Wittenberg articulation of Copernican-based tables and mechanisms marked the special confidence of the Melanchthonian wing of the Protestant movement in decoding the divine plan through its manifestations in nature. Philipp Melanchthon and his son-in-law Caspar Peucer allowed the greatest latitude for different kinds of divination; but Martin Luther was much more wary than Melanchthon about any sort of prophecy that was not exclusively based on the Bible and other sacred texts. This chapter explores the boundary between divine and demonic divination—the perilous divide on which hardy mid-century defenders of astrology's credibility balanced their goals. It also focuses on Giuliano Ristori of Prato (1492–1556) and his prognostication of the early death of Alessandro, illegitimate son of Lorenzo de'Medici the Younger, soon to become ruler of the Florentine Republic (1530); John Dee's contacts with Gemma Frisius and other Louvain mathematical practitioners of the 1540s; and Jofrancus Offusius's novel effort to contain the Piconian challenge.Less
Nicolaus Copernicus's name became associated with an optimistic and safe view of prognosticatory practice, especially through the Prutenic Tables. As a resource of astrological forecast, the Wittenberg articulation of Copernican-based tables and mechanisms marked the special confidence of the Melanchthonian wing of the Protestant movement in decoding the divine plan through its manifestations in nature. Philipp Melanchthon and his son-in-law Caspar Peucer allowed the greatest latitude for different kinds of divination; but Martin Luther was much more wary than Melanchthon about any sort of prophecy that was not exclusively based on the Bible and other sacred texts. This chapter explores the boundary between divine and demonic divination—the perilous divide on which hardy mid-century defenders of astrology's credibility balanced their goals. It also focuses on Giuliano Ristori of Prato (1492–1556) and his prognostication of the early death of Alessandro, illegitimate son of Lorenzo de'Medici the Younger, soon to become ruler of the Florentine Republic (1530); John Dee's contacts with Gemma Frisius and other Louvain mathematical practitioners of the 1540s; and Jofrancus Offusius's novel effort to contain the Piconian challenge.
Russ Leo
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- February 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198834212
- eISBN:
- 9780191874048
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198834212.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
Tragedy as Philosophy in the Reformation World examines how a series of influential poets, theologians, and humanist critics turned to tragedy to understand providence and agencies human and divine ...
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Tragedy as Philosophy in the Reformation World examines how a series of influential poets, theologians, and humanist critics turned to tragedy to understand providence and agencies human and divine across diverse Reformation milieux. Rejecting familiar assumptions about tragedy, crucial figures like Philipp Melanchthon, David Pareus, Lodovico Castelvetro, John Rainolds, and Daniel Heinsius developed distinctly philosophical ideas of tragedy, irreducible to drama or performance, inextricable from rhetoric, dialectic, and metaphysics. In its proximity to philosophy, tragedy afforded careful readers crucial insight into causality, probability, necessity, and the terms of human affect and action. With these resources at hand, Reformed theologians, poets, and critics produced daring and influential theses on tragedy between the 1550s and the 1630s, all directly related to pressing Reformation debates. And while some poets employed tragedy to render sacred history palpable with new energy and urgency, others marshalled a precise philosophical notion of tragedy directly against spectacle and stage-playing, endorsing anti-theatrical theses on tragedy inflected by Aristotle’s Poetics. Uncovering a tradition of Reformation poetics in which tragedy often opposes performance, the work also explores the impact of these scholarly debates on more familiar works of vernacular tragedy, illustrating how William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and John Milton’s 1671 poems take shape in conversation with philosophical and philological investigations of tragedy. Tragedy as Philosophy in the Reformation World demonstrates how Reformation took shape in poetic as well as theological and political terms while simultaneously exposing the importance of tragedy to the history of philosophy.Less
Tragedy as Philosophy in the Reformation World examines how a series of influential poets, theologians, and humanist critics turned to tragedy to understand providence and agencies human and divine across diverse Reformation milieux. Rejecting familiar assumptions about tragedy, crucial figures like Philipp Melanchthon, David Pareus, Lodovico Castelvetro, John Rainolds, and Daniel Heinsius developed distinctly philosophical ideas of tragedy, irreducible to drama or performance, inextricable from rhetoric, dialectic, and metaphysics. In its proximity to philosophy, tragedy afforded careful readers crucial insight into causality, probability, necessity, and the terms of human affect and action. With these resources at hand, Reformed theologians, poets, and critics produced daring and influential theses on tragedy between the 1550s and the 1630s, all directly related to pressing Reformation debates. And while some poets employed tragedy to render sacred history palpable with new energy and urgency, others marshalled a precise philosophical notion of tragedy directly against spectacle and stage-playing, endorsing anti-theatrical theses on tragedy inflected by Aristotle’s Poetics. Uncovering a tradition of Reformation poetics in which tragedy often opposes performance, the work also explores the impact of these scholarly debates on more familiar works of vernacular tragedy, illustrating how William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and John Milton’s 1671 poems take shape in conversation with philosophical and philological investigations of tragedy. Tragedy as Philosophy in the Reformation World demonstrates how Reformation took shape in poetic as well as theological and political terms while simultaneously exposing the importance of tragedy to the history of philosophy.
Anthony N. S. Lane
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- November 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190069421
- eISBN:
- 9780190069452
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190069421.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
In 1541 at the Regensburg Colloquy, three leading Protestant theologians (Melanchthon, Bucer, and Pistorius) and three leading Catholic theologians (Eck, Gropper, and Pflug) debated with the aim of ...
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In 1541 at the Regensburg Colloquy, three leading Protestant theologians (Melanchthon, Bucer, and Pistorius) and three leading Catholic theologians (Eck, Gropper, and Pflug) debated with the aim of producing a commonly agreed statement of belief. The colloquy eventually failed, but it had begun with a statement on justification by faith agreed by all the parties, “Article 5,” leading to an initial burst of optimism. But from the beginning, there were two contrasting reactions to Article 5. Some, like Calvin, maintained that it contained the substance of true doctrine; others, like Luther, called it an inconsistent patchwork. Both rival assessments have continued over the centuries. The aim of this book is to decide between them. It does so primarily by viewing the article in the light of the publications of the colloquy’s key participants and observers, and by comparing it with the Tridentine Decree on Justification. It also views it in the light of the four known earlier drafts of the article, all of which are included in an Appendix, together with translations of three of them. The book concludes that Article 5 is indeed consistent with a Protestant understanding of justification, though it does not always follow Protestant terminology. Agreement was possible because Gropper and Pflug, together with Cardinal Contarini, the papal legate, largely accepted the Protestant account of justification.Less
In 1541 at the Regensburg Colloquy, three leading Protestant theologians (Melanchthon, Bucer, and Pistorius) and three leading Catholic theologians (Eck, Gropper, and Pflug) debated with the aim of producing a commonly agreed statement of belief. The colloquy eventually failed, but it had begun with a statement on justification by faith agreed by all the parties, “Article 5,” leading to an initial burst of optimism. But from the beginning, there were two contrasting reactions to Article 5. Some, like Calvin, maintained that it contained the substance of true doctrine; others, like Luther, called it an inconsistent patchwork. Both rival assessments have continued over the centuries. The aim of this book is to decide between them. It does so primarily by viewing the article in the light of the publications of the colloquy’s key participants and observers, and by comparing it with the Tridentine Decree on Justification. It also views it in the light of the four known earlier drafts of the article, all of which are included in an Appendix, together with translations of three of them. The book concludes that Article 5 is indeed consistent with a Protestant understanding of justification, though it does not always follow Protestant terminology. Agreement was possible because Gropper and Pflug, together with Cardinal Contarini, the papal legate, largely accepted the Protestant account of justification.
Ralph Keen and Thomas D. Frazel
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719061042
- eISBN:
- 9781781700358
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719061042.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This book presents a contemporary, eyewitness account of the life of Martin Luther translated into English. Johannes Cochlaeus (1479–1552) was present in the great hall at the Diet of Worms on April ...
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This book presents a contemporary, eyewitness account of the life of Martin Luther translated into English. Johannes Cochlaeus (1479–1552) was present in the great hall at the Diet of Worms on April 18, 1521 when Luther made his famous declaration before Emperor Charles V: ‘Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen’. Afterward, Cochlaeus sought Luther out, met him at his inn, and privately debated with him. Luther wrote of Cochlaeus, ‘may God long preserve this most pious man, born to guard and teach the Gospel of His church, together with His word, Amen’. However, the confrontation left Cochlaeus convinced that Luther was an impious and malevolent man. Over the next twnety-five years, Cochlaeus barely escaped the Peasant's War with his life. He debated with Melanchthon and the reformers of Augsburg. It was Cochlaeus who conducted the authorities to the clandestine printing press in Cologne, where William Tyndale was preparing the first English translation of the New Testament (1525). For an eyewitness account of the Reformation—and the beginnings of the Catholic Counter-Reformation—no other historical document matches the first-hand experience of Cochlaeus. After Luther's death, it was rumoured that demons seized the reformer on his death-bed and dragged him off to Hell. In response to these rumours, Luther's friend and colleague Philip Melanchthon wrote and published a brief encomium of the reformer in 1548. Cochlaeus consequently completed and published his monumental life of Luther in 1549.Less
This book presents a contemporary, eyewitness account of the life of Martin Luther translated into English. Johannes Cochlaeus (1479–1552) was present in the great hall at the Diet of Worms on April 18, 1521 when Luther made his famous declaration before Emperor Charles V: ‘Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen’. Afterward, Cochlaeus sought Luther out, met him at his inn, and privately debated with him. Luther wrote of Cochlaeus, ‘may God long preserve this most pious man, born to guard and teach the Gospel of His church, together with His word, Amen’. However, the confrontation left Cochlaeus convinced that Luther was an impious and malevolent man. Over the next twnety-five years, Cochlaeus barely escaped the Peasant's War with his life. He debated with Melanchthon and the reformers of Augsburg. It was Cochlaeus who conducted the authorities to the clandestine printing press in Cologne, where William Tyndale was preparing the first English translation of the New Testament (1525). For an eyewitness account of the Reformation—and the beginnings of the Catholic Counter-Reformation—no other historical document matches the first-hand experience of Cochlaeus. After Luther's death, it was rumoured that demons seized the reformer on his death-bed and dragged him off to Hell. In response to these rumours, Luther's friend and colleague Philip Melanchthon wrote and published a brief encomium of the reformer in 1548. Cochlaeus consequently completed and published his monumental life of Luther in 1549.
Martin Luther, Elizabeth Vandiver, Ralph Keen, and Thomas D. Frazel
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719061042
- eISBN:
- 9781781700358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719061042.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
There are only two substantial eyewitness accounts of the life of Martin Luther. Best known is a 9,000-word Latin memoir by Philip Melanchthon published in Latin at Heidelberg in 1548, two years ...
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There are only two substantial eyewitness accounts of the life of Martin Luther. Best known is a 9,000-word Latin memoir by Philip Melanchthon published in Latin at Heidelberg in 1548, two years after the Reformer's death. But the other substantial vita of Luther—at 175,000 words by far the longest and most detailed eyewitness account of the Reformer—has never been published in English. Recorded contemporaneously over the first twenty-five years of the Reformation by Luther's lifelong antagonist Johannes Cochlaeus, the Commentaria de Actis et Scriptis Martini Lutheri was published in Latin at Mainz in 1549. This chapter introduces this confrontation between Melanchthon's vita and Cochlaeus's Commentary read against each other, the rival texts rekindle the colossal crossfire of faith-against-faith that animated and illuminated the Reformation.Less
There are only two substantial eyewitness accounts of the life of Martin Luther. Best known is a 9,000-word Latin memoir by Philip Melanchthon published in Latin at Heidelberg in 1548, two years after the Reformer's death. But the other substantial vita of Luther—at 175,000 words by far the longest and most detailed eyewitness account of the Reformer—has never been published in English. Recorded contemporaneously over the first twenty-five years of the Reformation by Luther's lifelong antagonist Johannes Cochlaeus, the Commentaria de Actis et Scriptis Martini Lutheri was published in Latin at Mainz in 1549. This chapter introduces this confrontation between Melanchthon's vita and Cochlaeus's Commentary read against each other, the rival texts rekindle the colossal crossfire of faith-against-faith that animated and illuminated the Reformation.
Ralph Keen
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719061042
- eISBN:
- 9781781700358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719061042.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
If Luther remains a figure of heroic proportions, it is due as much to the work of his admirers as to his own efforts. And Philip Melanchthon, Luther's closest colleague, was so successful in ...
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If Luther remains a figure of heroic proportions, it is due as much to the work of his admirers as to his own efforts. And Philip Melanchthon, Luther's closest colleague, was so successful in creating a legendary Luther that his own role in Reformation history has been regarded as less substantial and influential than it actually was. After being called to Wittenberg, Melanchton showed potential to make it a center for humanism. Later, the ninety-five issues that Martin Luther listed as debatable struck at the heart of Catholic practice. They also served as articles in an indictment of traditional ecclesiastical authority. Within a year Luther would become the pole around which Western Christendom would orientate itself. Within three years Luther himself would be condemned and excommunicated by the Roman church; and before his death the dividing lines that demarcate the Western confessions to this day would be firmly in place.Less
If Luther remains a figure of heroic proportions, it is due as much to the work of his admirers as to his own efforts. And Philip Melanchthon, Luther's closest colleague, was so successful in creating a legendary Luther that his own role in Reformation history has been regarded as less substantial and influential than it actually was. After being called to Wittenberg, Melanchton showed potential to make it a center for humanism. Later, the ninety-five issues that Martin Luther listed as debatable struck at the heart of Catholic practice. They also served as articles in an indictment of traditional ecclesiastical authority. Within a year Luther would become the pole around which Western Christendom would orientate itself. Within three years Luther himself would be condemned and excommunicated by the Roman church; and before his death the dividing lines that demarcate the Western confessions to this day would be firmly in place.
Thomas D. Frazel and Ralph Keen
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719061042
- eISBN:
- 9781781700358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719061042.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter presents Philip Melanchthon's life history of Dr Martin Luther. Here, Melanchthon paints his friend in a good light, nothing his contributions to faith and the Church. These were a few ...
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This chapter presents Philip Melanchthon's life history of Dr Martin Luther. Here, Melanchthon paints his friend in a good light, nothing his contributions to faith and the Church. These were a few controversies, such as when Luther was not certainly getting rid of indulgences themselves, but only urging moderation. Luther added to the explanation of the doctrines on penance, the remission of sins, faith and indulgences, also these topics: the difference between divine and human laws, the doctrine on the use of the Supper of the Lord and the other Sacraments, and concerning Prayers. The chapter notes that just as he entered upon this cause without desire for private gain, he only battled by teaching and avoided taking up arms, and he wisely distinguished the conflicting duties of a Bishop teaching the Church of God, and of Magistrates, who restrain the multitude by the sword.Less
This chapter presents Philip Melanchthon's life history of Dr Martin Luther. Here, Melanchthon paints his friend in a good light, nothing his contributions to faith and the Church. These were a few controversies, such as when Luther was not certainly getting rid of indulgences themselves, but only urging moderation. Luther added to the explanation of the doctrines on penance, the remission of sins, faith and indulgences, also these topics: the difference between divine and human laws, the doctrine on the use of the Supper of the Lord and the other Sacraments, and concerning Prayers. The chapter notes that just as he entered upon this cause without desire for private gain, he only battled by teaching and avoided taking up arms, and he wisely distinguished the conflicting duties of a Bishop teaching the Church of God, and of Magistrates, who restrain the multitude by the sword.
Elizabeth Van-diver and Ralph Keen
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719061042
- eISBN:
- 9781781700358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719061042.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter enumerates the life and works of Dr Martin Luther, from the perspective of his lifelong antagonist Johannes Cochlaeus. It notes some peculiarities during his stay with the Monastery of ...
More
This chapter enumerates the life and works of Dr Martin Luther, from the perspective of his lifelong antagonist Johannes Cochlaeus. It notes some peculiarities during his stay with the Monastery of the brothers of St Augustine, either from some secret commerce with a Demon, or from the disease of epilepsy; fraud after he was made Doctor in Theology; controversies in indulgences; and attacks he raised against the doctrine of the Roman church. It suggests that by his cunning, as he complained that he was unjustly pressed by his adversaries and driven into public, Luther gained the greatest favor for himself, not just among the simple people, but also among many grave, learned men, who believed in his words through genuine simplicity. Meanwhile, Cochlaeus, for the sake of asserting and confirming the truth of the Catholic faith against any heretics, also published several books in Latin, criticizing Luther and Phillip Melanchthon.Less
This chapter enumerates the life and works of Dr Martin Luther, from the perspective of his lifelong antagonist Johannes Cochlaeus. It notes some peculiarities during his stay with the Monastery of the brothers of St Augustine, either from some secret commerce with a Demon, or from the disease of epilepsy; fraud after he was made Doctor in Theology; controversies in indulgences; and attacks he raised against the doctrine of the Roman church. It suggests that by his cunning, as he complained that he was unjustly pressed by his adversaries and driven into public, Luther gained the greatest favor for himself, not just among the simple people, but also among many grave, learned men, who believed in his words through genuine simplicity. Meanwhile, Cochlaeus, for the sake of asserting and confirming the truth of the Catholic faith against any heretics, also published several books in Latin, criticizing Luther and Phillip Melanchthon.
