Medieval Christianity: Early Reformation

The Reformation Era was, accordingly, one of upheaval in nearly every sphere of thought and action. The breakdown of medieval conceptions and institutions and the threat to the unity of western Christendom led thoughtful people to develop reform programs often in conflict with one another; far-reaching economic changes were accompanied by social maladjustments which frequently led to violence; the development of compact states by ambitious territorial rulers was opposed by various political elements which occasionally used religious dissatisfaction to further their political ends; and religious changes themselves were seldom made without disturbances and even bloodshed. Nevertheless, the chief Protestant reformers refused to become involved in the many non-religious schemes which accompanied every religious change. By reviving the evangelical character of the early church and applying it to the circumstances of their own day, they infused Christianity with dynamic qualities which made it a continuing influence in western civilization. By reviving the best features of medieval Christianity, the Catholic reformers promoted piety and learning, thereby restoring a good measure of the glory and prestige of Catholicism. As the Reformation Era neared its close, however, the religious movements, both Protestant and Catholic, lost much of their dynamic character, while the aggressive territorial rulers assumed the initiative in directing the thoughts and actions of the people. By the middle of the seventeenth century, most of the European states had become secularized, and religion, like other vital elements of society, was being used to further the interests of the state. The victory of the secularized territorial state was accompanied by the gradual secularization of European society and culture as a whole. Religious standards, by which economics, social, and political behavior had previously been measured, were to a large degree replaced by secular standards, ascertained primarily by the observation of man's social behavior. The relegation of religious authorities and faith to the background in European life marks the end of the Reformation Era and the beginning of the Era of the Enlightenment.

Forerunners of the Reformation is both an original contribution to intellectual history and a fundamental source book.Its purpose is to bring the discussion of late medieval Christian thought to a wider audience, not only in college and university seminars but among educated laymen who want to give their concern for Christian unity a deeper historical grounding. The key themes of the book are conciliarism, curialism, mysticism, various types of scholasticism, the spirituality of the "Devotio Moderna", and the impact of Renaissance humanism. Source material includes major selections from the works of Jan Hus, Pius II, John Brevicoxa, Gabriel Biel, Johann von Staupitz, Cardinal Cajetan, Cornelisz, Hoen, Jacobus Faber Stapulensis, and Desiderius Erasmus. "Forerunners of the Reformation" strengthens the growing tendency to move beyond a purely confessional reading of the past.

"The Reformation in Germany" provides with a strong narrative overview of the most recent work on this topic. It addresses the central concerns of Reformation historiography as well as providing a distinct interpretation of the movement. The book examines the spread and reception of the evangelical movement, the historical dynamic created by the fusion of religious ideas and the social context, the religious imagination of the common man and utopian visions of reform, and the relationship between political culture and religious change. The narrative goes on to consider the long -term legacy of the Reformation movement in Germany. The book provides readers with a fresh perspective on the movement, one which seeks to understand its rise and evolution as a historical process in constant dialogue with the cultural and political context of the age.

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 and his followers silently ignored or rejected, thus delineating 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 reforms initiated by the Council of Trent. - Cover.

The essays collected in this volume vigorously debate the nature of the contribution of the late Middle Ages to the Reformation and provide the reader with abundant bibliographical resources for further pursuit of the problems considered. In each of the major areas emphasized by Lortz, the essays mark the direction of modern research on the Reformation. This is done, at times, by disagreement with Lortz's particular assessment, and at times by amiable concurrence. To the extent, however, that these essays may be said to speak as one, they depict the late medieval critics of the Church and the commanding figures of the Reformation as speaking as much out of their medieval past as against it, opposing Scripture with Scripture, canon with canon, and tradition with tradition. The Reformation emerges as being as much the product of progressive reform as of gradual disintegration, the climax - intellectually and institutionally - of a broadly based late medieval quest for a new objectivity rather than a bald triumph of anticlerical subjectivism in the midst of establishmentarian corruption and confusion.

In this biography of the noted French philosopher and theologian Jean Gerson, the first since 1929, Brian Patrick Mcguire portrays Gerson as a voice of reason and Christian humanism during a time of great intellectual and social tumult in the Middle Ages. Born to a peasant father and mother in the country of Champagne, Gerson (1363-1429) was the first of twelve children. He overcame his modest beginnings to become a scholastic and vernacular theologian, a university intellectual, and a church reformer. McGuire shows us the turning points in Gerson's life, including his crisis of faith after becoming chancellor of the University of Paris in 1395. Through these key moments, we see the deeper undercurrents of his mystical writings. With their rich display of spiritual and emotional life, these writings were to earn Gerson the appellation "doctor christianissimus". In turn, they would influence many later thinkers,including Nicholas of Cusa, Ignatius of Loyola, Francis de Sales, and even Martin Luther.

"The Medieval Church: From the Dawn of the Middle Ages to the Eve of the Reformation addresses questions that demonstrate the pervasive influence of the past on modern piety, practice, and beliefs. For many years this period of church history has been ignored or denigrated as being the "dark ages," an attitude fostered by Enlightenment assumptions. Yet not only does this millennium provide a bridge to the early church, it created modern Europe, its nations, institutions, and the concept of Christendom as well. The Medieval Church, introduces the reader to the fascinating interplay of authority and dissent, the birth and development of doctrinal beliefs, the spirituality of the common person and the enduring allure of Christian mysticism. The period is filled with drama (comic and tragic), loves and hates, war and peace, brilliance and superstition heroes and villains, princes and peasants - all held together by common assumptions about Jesus Christ and the church."--Jacket.

"An anthology that includes writings by the magisterial reformers (Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, etc.) along with lesser-known names (Frith, Capito, Vermigli, etc.) to provide a unique insight into Protestant spirituality as it developed from the earliest days of the Reformation."--Jacket.