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Religion
Review Essays of Academic, Professional & Technical Books in the Humanities & Sciences
Reformation
Jean Gerson And the Last Medieval Reformation by Brian Patrick McGuire (Hardcover) (Pennsylvania State University Press) One of the problems of dividing our history into epochs, such as ancient, medieval, Renaissance and Reformation; is that these great divisions of time cast a shadow on transitional people who belong to their place in history without the prescience of future history's flow. Jean Gerson, the major French religious reformer, educator, and theologian who lived between the 14th and 15th century is such a transitional figure. McGuire's intensive biography and study of Gerson, the first since 1929, provides a rich overview of the life and times of this visionary scholar by giving a summary account of his writings that were very influential on Luther and to a lesser extent, Calvin in the generation after Gerson’s death. Gerson played an important role in attempts to heal the Great Schism which culminated in the Council of Constance (1414 – 1418)
Born to a peasant father and mother in the
McGuire shows us the turning points in Gerson’s life, including his crisis of
faith after becoming chancellor of the
Gerson is a man perhaps easier to admire than to love: conscientious to a fault, at once a pragmatist and an idealist in church politics, a university intellectual who both fostered and distrusted the religious aspirations of the laity, a powerful prelate who moved among the great yet never forgot his peasant origins, a self-revealing yet intensely private man who yearned for intimacy almost as much as he feared it.
McGuire ably situates Gerson in the context of his age, an age replete with doctrinal controversies and the politics of papal schism on the eve of the Protestant Reformation. Gerson emerges as a proponent of dialogue and discussion, committed to reforming the church from within. His courageous effort to renew the unity of a unique civilization bears examination in our own time.
Gerson's philosophical position was different from that of any of the main
schools of his time. Although he had been brought up under the influence of
nominalism, he made liberal use of Platonist ideas derived from
Pseudo-Dionysius and Bonaventure, and he appears to have been sympathetic to
Thomism, which became popular again during his period as a reforming chancellor
at the university. He made use of nominalistic criticisms of Scotist
theologians, who employed an array of technical terminology in constructing
theories about the divine nature and whom Gerson held chiefly responsible for
the existing state of aridity in theology. Nevertheless, he was dissatisfied
with the divorce between revelation and metaphysical reasoning implied by
nominalism. Thus, his chief concern was to provide the framework for a theology
that would express personal piety and, at the same time, contain intellectual
checks upon that piety. Part of his originality was that he lectured at
In theology Gerson criticized Jan van Ruysbroeck for some of his language in the third part of The Spiritual Marriage, which seemed to imply that in the beatific state the soul becomes essentially united with the divine Being. Gerson regarded Ruysbroeck's way of expressing himself as dangerous and unorthodox, since the transcendence of God requires that no finite being can be identified with him. John of Schoonhoven, from Ruysbroeck's monastery at Groenendaal, replied that Ruysbroeck had been misinterpreted and that it was unsuitable to discuss mystical doctrines in the atmosphere of the schools. This led to a counterreply from Gerson, because Schoonhoven's position was opposed to the rationale of the very reforms which Gerson was trying to effect, according to which theology would be more than a merely academic discipline.
Not surprisingly, Gerson's most important writings—for example, "The Mountain of Contemplation" and "Mystical Theology"--are centrally concerned with bringing practical religion into the schools. According to Gerson, the highest aspects of the soul are the pure intelligence and the synderesis, or that which inclines the soul toward the good. The cognitive and affective aspects of the soul are closely related; thus, the knowledge of an object involves a feeling toward it, and feeling involves an element of intellectual knowledge. This psychology provided a rationale for Gerson's strictures upon merely theoretical theology. His account of mystical theology likewise incorporated the thesis that the intellect and the synderesis attain their respective perfections through mutual cooperation.
Mystical theology, for Gerson, was not so much the study of mysticism as it was the way of contemplation itself. In the highest stage the soul attains union with God, but this union is a union of love, in which the human will is in total conformity with the divine will. Gerson resisted those interpretations which implied that there was a substantial identity with God or that the love uniting the soul and God could be identified with the Holy Spirit. Thus, Gerson stated a view of mysticism that was sympathetic, practical, and orthodox; and for this reason he was widely influential in the fifteenth century. Moreover, his other main concern, the healing of the Great Schism, expressed the nature of the reforms he wished to promote. He held that on the one hand, the external and institutional aspects of religion must be in good order; but on the other hand, theology and religion must be liberated from formalism. Gerson had some influence on Luther.
Reformation Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Early Modern Period edited by Carter Lindberg (The Great Theologians: Blackwell) is the ideal introduction to the study of the sixteenth-century Reformations. It introduces the theological context, thought, and contributions of theologians from this period, offering students and scholars an essential resource and insight. This comprehensive and lively book discusses all the major strands of Reformation thought and explores the work of a range of influential figures, including theologians and non‑theologians, humanists, clergy and laity, men and women.
The contributors to this volume are leading scholars in the field of historical and systematic theology. Accessibly structured, it covers the Humanist, Lutheran, Reformed, Roman Catholic, and "Radical" Theologians. An introductory chapter explores the interpretations of the Reformation and a concluding chapter explains the influence of Reformation theologies on the modern period. The text also includes useful bibliographies and a glossary of theological terms.
Reformation Theologians will be an invaluable resource for students of church history, the history of Christianity, and Reformation studies in history and theology departments
Carter Lindberg is Professor of Church History in the School of Theology at
Boston University. His recent publications include The European Reformations
(1995) and accompanying European Reformations Sourcebook (1999), both published
by Blackwell.
Editor introduction: “It is through living, indeed through dying and being damned that one becomes a theologian, not through understanding, reading, or speculation.” -- Martin Luther.
The purpose of Reformation Theologians is to introduce the theologies of selected theologians of the sixteenthcentury Reformations to students of historical theology, church history, and the history of Christianity as well as to all persons interested in "how we got this way." In addition to this historical goal, there is also a contemporary interest. In the words of Bernd Moeller: "We need the spiritual and intellectual energies that the Reformation has to offer. Moreover, the Christian life, the church, and contemporary theology have so many ties to the Reformation that for our own self‑knowledge we should always be aware of this relationship, and should continually examine it and test its relevancy for today."
The selection provides as inclusive a range of theologians as possible within the limitations of a single book of reasonable length. The cast of characters includes professors of theology and persons without formal theological education, clergy and laity, men and women, and advocates of nearly all the reforming options of the "long" sixteenth century (1400‑1600). The "usual suspects," of course, are here. In the words of Heinz Schilling, "In the beginning were Luther, Loyola, and Calvin."'
BBut, of course, these Reformers were not "the beginning" in the sense of being sui generis. They and their contemporaries did not drop full‑blown from heaven but rather were nurtured in the context of late medieval theology and piety, and stimulated by the contributions of humanism. Space, however, precludes more than a bow in the direction of these influences by the inclusion of Lefevre and Erasmus.
Many others besides medieval theologians and humanists were regretfully excluded. Some of the "excluded" have at least cameo roles in the following essays; others remain in the wings. There will always be "Reformers in the wings," as David Steinmetz so aptly titled his effort to expand our horizon of reformers. Indeed, there were so many Reformation theologians that a series of studies devoted only to Reformation dissidents recently published its twentieth volume.' Much has been accomplished in recent years to provide a long overdue public stage for, or at least to shine more light upon, those "in the wings" who preached and wrote and legislated for reform, including women.
Yet even a cursory scan of the recently published Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation, let alone the magisterial German ncoloyische Realenzyklopddie, still in process, reveals the limitations of the present selection. Other Reformers ‑ lumped under the rubric of the "common man" ‑ who were clearly more than just a Greek chorus on the Reformation stage also remain beyond the scope of this text.'
The stage itself was also of great significance for both the roles of the Reformers and how they played them. Our focus is on the theologies of the Reformers, but we dare not forget, as Luther himself so vividly stated, that these theologies developed in the midst of life.
Very little in the Reformation was stable. Not only did the formulation of religious ideas take place amidst wars, persecution and plague, but the very language which the evangelical groups conscripted to their cause formed a brilliant prism, whose diverse colours transformed as it was manipulated. Terms such as church, authority, nation and even reformation itself were variously and often in contradictory ways used in the sixteenth century.'
The keen awareness that theologies cannot be abstracted from their historical contexts was already expressed by Bernd Moeller's 1965 warning that the Reformation is too important to be left to the systematic theologians. Without sensitivity to "the Reformation as history," Reformation theology itself may be oversimplified. "After all, this theology had such a great impact in history precisely because it was intricately interwoven into history." Richard A. Muller has more recently made the same point with regard to Calvin. "A clever theologian can accommodate Calvin to nearly any agenda; a faithful theologian ‑ and a good historian ‑ will seek to listen to Calvin, not to use him." The following chapters therefore should be read in conjunction with historical surveys and studies."/p>
Moeller's call for a historical view of the Reformation continues to find a receptive audience, especially among Englishspeaking scholarship where social history has been ascendant for nearly a generation now. The social historical approach to the Reformation emphasizes the centrality of communal, political, economic, and social goals that stimulated collective behavior. Thus a leading social historian of the Reformation, Thomas A. Brady, Jr., suggests that "perhaps the time has come for a new approach . . . the Reformation as an adaptation of Christianity to the social evolution of Europe." The proposals for this are legion: the Reformation as "urban event," "anticlerical event," "ritual event," "communal event," "confessional and social disciplining event," and even "pyschological event." Without gainsaying these and similar approaches, our motif is the Reformation as theological event. John O'Malley's comments about Francois de Sales, Filippo Neri, and Teresa of Avila may be applied to the Reformation theologians as a whole: "These individuals and phenomena can be studied from many perspectives, but is it not incumbent upon us to study them for what they head‑on purported to be about, the sacred?"
Thus it is time to affirm once again, with due appreciation for historical contexts, and not just driven by them. To think otherwise is an anachronistic "Alice in Wonderland" view of the Reformation in which theology is only the linguistic cloak for the Reformers' "real" motivations. Indeed, it was precisely theology that enabled the reform impulse effectively to cross social and political polarizations." As recently as 1989, Steven Ozment wrote: "The study of the Reformation still awaits a Moses who can lead it through the sea of contemporary polemics between social and intellectual historians and into a historiography both mindful and tolerant of all the forces that shape historical experience.
More words of caution are in order. Our title is not as straightforward as it seems. It should be clear by now that the definite article, "The," does not mean that only those in our volume are Reformation theologians. Also, recent scholarship raises questions about both "Reformation" and "theologians." "Reformation" ‑ how is this word defined and used? "Theologians" ‑ what criteria delineate a theologian? Let us begin with the last and work back to the first, at the same time being aware that these terms are also intimately related.