Abstract
As the editors of this volume make clear in the introduction and conclusion, the search for theological authority in the decades after Luther’s break with Rome has been the subject of endless debate. Parish, Fulton, and Webster are well aware that the simplistic formula dictating Protestant adherence to Scripture alone and Catholic synthesis of Scripture and tradition has long been out-dated, and that ‘working intellectual accommodations had to be reached between Scripture and the whole set of patristic, ecclesial, conciliar, antique, and other authorities available in order to prove this or that position’ (p. 6). But they also note that while much work has been done to qualify this position, there have been few attempts to examine the interaction of these various sources when those authorities ‘compete under pressure’ (p. 7). So, this volume of nine essays covering theological disputes across Western Europe (but with a particular focus on England) addresses this very wide topic with a focused agenda.
Divided between two geographical areas, mainland Europe and England, the essays are chronologically organized. Adam S. Francisco’s contribution chronicles the contours and shifts of Luther’s apologetic concerning the ever-threatening Ottoman advance into Europe. He ably demonstrates that while Luther’s appeal to Scriptural authority alone was sufficient for intra-Christian debates, he engaged with the Quran in order to write against Islam in order to reveal its deceit—and even its unwitting substantiation of Christian truth claims. Jon Balserak’s essay persuasively argues that Calvin’s exegesis of the minor prophetic texts exposes Calvin’s attitude to the authority of the medieval church tradition, which the reformer readily employed alongside Scripture (though simultaneously articulating that the latter was absolute). Michael S. Springer mines John a Lasco’s Forma ac ratio (1555) to illustrate how this Polish reformer drew from Scripture ideas about ecclesiastical administration, the Eucharist, and excommunication which differed from those espoused by Lutheran and Reformed churches. Moving from Scriptural to historical authority, Alexandra Kess uncovers the aims of Johannes Sleidan’s Commentaries (1555): to demonstrate that the Reformation was the fulfillment of divine providence (and thus provide crucial legitimization for the movement) and to call the civic authorities of Strasbourg and beyond to become active and leading participants in the process of reform. Rounding out the essays on continental reform, Elaine Fulton examines the Post-Tridentine religio-political landscape of Vienna, where political leaders’ goals often meant accommodating Protestant nobility. She reveals that Catholic articulation of truth claims had to come from ‘an appropriate and therefore authoritative oracle’ (p. 97), but simultaneously had to be more flexible than Trent’s strictures dictated, an accommodation found in Georg Eder’s Das guldene Flüß (1579).
The remaining four essays analyze the search for authority in the English church, beginning with doctrinal disputes concerning the sacraments. Korey D. Maas elucidates the Eucharistic stances of Robert Barnes, John Frith, and Thomas More to illustrate the diversity of Henrician sacramental theologies, arguing that incompatible ideas about dogmatic authority spurred these theological differences. Helen Parish chronicles the various evangelical interpretations of Daniel 11:37, a verse that Parish deftly shows was used by John Frith, George Joye, and John Old who bound it in exegesis concerning the Antichrist to condemn clerical celibacy. Mary Morrissey’s contribution challenges modern scholars who see John Jewel’s famous ‘Challenge’ sermon as the articulation of a novel Reformed concept of authority, convincingly analyzing Jewel’s initial challenge sermon—rather than the excerpt printed in a version of the Paul’s Cross sermon or Jewel’s reply to his Catholic opponent Thomas Harding—to show that the Church of England clergyman, like all other humanists, sought to effectively prove his case by applying a historicized reading of the church Fathers to his argument. Finally, Peter Webster shows that, due to Scriptural ambiguity concerning the role of music in the church, reformers turned to the Fathers for guidance. Only, as Webster explains, the testimony of the church Fathers was as malleable as that of Scripture, and he demonstrates how opposing theological sides, the Laudians and the Puritans, harnessed the words of Augustine to bolster their arguments.
From a glance at the table of contents, readers will see that this volume is devoted to intellectual history, focused on the thoughts, works, and methods of major theologians (with the exception of Fulton’s essay, which examines a layman’s text); contributions about the way authority was translated to regular churchgoers, or how the laity negotiated these notions do not feature. These essays do implicitly raise a question about chronology. While two authors (Balserak and Parish) indicate that there were pre-Reformation concerns about authoritative sources, with the exception of Webster, no contributor looks further to see how these debates played out in the 17th century. This begs unanswered questions about what the editors and contributors consider the legacy of these debates to be, and whether or not they understand the search for authority to be an issue particular to first- and second-generation reformers.
Nevertheless, this volume, though covering well-trodden territory, does exactly what it sets out to do, revealing the high degree of interaction and overlap among various forms of authority, from Scripture to councils to history to the Fathers. Readers are left with the sense that this volume is more than the sum of its parts: The editors have done an admirable job of organizing the chapters so that the volume offers readers a clearer and more nuanced impression of how the pressures of unifying and defending nascent magisterial Protestantism required reformers to engage with forms of authority beyond Scripture. I say ‘magisterial Protestantism’ because, it must be said, this volume is largely devoted to these reformers. Fulton’s excellent contribution is a bit of an outlier, as the volume has no other discussion of Catholicism and radical reformers are scarcely mentioned. But this is a quibble, and the volume is a welcome addition to the literature evaluating the central concern of the Reformation.