Customer Reviews

The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 4: Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700)

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Jaroslav Pelikan, whose works always are very thorough and show a genuinely diverse collection of thought, has produced an outstanding volume which guides the reader through the often dark and stormy seas of Reformation theology. Part of the brilliance of the presentation is that it is not a strictly chronological, historical account. The thought of various Reformation era theologians are systematically set forth according to the doctrines they explored. As a result, one can see a total picture of the theological issues at stake, and why various theologians found a particular matter of crucial importance.

Pelikan wisely begins with the fourteenth century developments, which seldom are treated in the context of the later Reformation but were highly influential. One example, that makes later developments quite clear, is how theologians debated many doctrinal points during the very century when one would think all that prevailed was Thomism. It also is intriguing, reading through the various chapters, how Augustinian ideas (including those mis-read) were key to both Protestant and Catholic points of view by the sixteenth century.

The only drawback to using this volume is that, though the research and collection of quotes from varied sources is impeccable, one must constantly check the margins, where the names of authors and documents are abbreviated, to know "who wrote what."

Pelikan's work is unique for its truly systematic presentation of all viewpoints in Reformation thought, integrated with an introduction to the earlier theology which would be influential, and the "re-affirmation" Catholic efforts of Trent. The result is a smooth, comprehensive, understandable, and enlightening whole.

Jaroslav Pelikan's fourth installment in "The Christian Tradition" deals with the period of Church history that most impacts the modern Western Christian: the Protestant Reformation. This volume covers the years 1300 A.D. - 1700 A.D. in the Western Church (Volume II covers Eastern Christianity during this time period). The central event of this time period, of course, was the revolution wrought by Martin Luther and the early Protestant Reformers in the early 1500's.

So often the history of the Reformation is too focused on the political issues behind the breakup of Western Christendom. And, to be sure, political considerations were an important factor in the development of the Protestant churches. However, the very real theological issues behind Luther's protest and those that followed him tend to be minimized or even misunderstood. If Luther and Calvin and Zwingli and others did not develop theological reasons for their protests, then Western Christendom would never have broken into pieces like it did; the desires of political princes to break from Rome's political orbit would never have been able to be justified to the common man. Pelikan is first and foremost a historian of Christian theology, and thus he is perfectly situated to dig into the details and complexities of the theological arguments behind both the Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Furthermore, by reading the whole Christian Tradition series in order, one can see how many of the issues of the 16th century had their foundations much earlier, and in much different contexts.

Pelikan, a Lutheran at the time of this volume's publication (he later converted to Eastern Orthodoxy), is, as always, excellent in maintaining an objective look at Christian history. If one did not know beforehand Pelikan's confessional status, one would be unable to determine it from this series of books; he is extremely fair in reporting all the details of a period's debates, regardless of how it might make a certain confession appear.

"Reformation of Church and Dogma" is another excellent volume in a truly noteworthy series.

Of all five volumes in this series Pelikan seems most at home in this one. This is probably the highest quality work in the series that sought to replace Adolph Von Harnack's "History of Dogma" and rightly won notable awards. Pelikan was a Lutheran at the time of writing, but one would never have known his confessional bias. In fact, he describes the seemingly novel doctrines of Lutheranism such as the ubiquity of Christ's physical body as well as Luther's particular understanding of Christ's presence in the eucharist (incorrectly termed "consubstantiation" by a later Reformed opponent) from a Roman Catholic and Reformed perspective. Overall a fair and balanced portrayal of the development of doctrine at a critical juncture in church history. Well worth reading, well written, well footnoted.

Pelikan continues his story of Western Christendom. As in volume 3, the events leading up to the Reformation can be seen as fractures in the Augustinian synthesis. While Warfield is incorrect to say that the Reformation was Augustine vs Augustine, there is some truth in it as both sides could claim Augustine as their champion.

While it is a truism in historical theology, it needs to be said that doctrine does not develop in a vacuum. It is naïve to claim that Luther opened the bible and, like anyone else, seeing "pure bible," refound the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Equally naïve is the view that the ancient church taught the Mass and Transubstantiation in the same way as the 4th Lateran Council (in fact, it's easily demonstrable to show that late Catholic practices of the Mass are obvious departures from the apostolic norm--and Catholics admit this as well!).

The student of history is then to ask, "If it is so obvious to my generation about doctrine _______, why did past generations see it differently?" Pelikan tells the narrative of early modernity in the West. He shows that philosophical and cultural pressures formed the context in which the doctrines of the Western Church, both Reform and Catholic.

Pelikan explains the pressures of medieval nominalism upon the Christian world. While he doesn't pin all of the world's evils on Scotus and Occam, they do force the Western narrative forward in ways that would prove...momentous. The cracks in the Augustinian synthesis appear when Wycliffe and Hus take part of Augustine's view of the church as the body of the predestined. This opens the seeds for Reform.

Pelikan gives a thorough explanation of the gospel as the treasure of the Church. At this time still being a Lutheran, Pelikan brings his intimate familiarity of Lutheranism to the discussion. And he is not blind to Luther's theological faults: Luther's denial of free will opened himself to the church of Manicheanism. Through linguistic gymnastics later Lutheran thinkers would soften this charge.

Calvin carried Luther forward with a few exceptions. While Luther denied free will and affirmed predestination (as did Augustine, so it seems), Calvin was the first major thinker to affirm double predestination. No, Augustine didn't teach that but it was consistent with his thought. I think Calvin is correct in this, but Pelikan doesn't expound upon it. If you agree with St Augustine on defining God as "absolute divine simplicity," which all Westerns--Protestant or Catholic--agree, and you place God's will within that absolute simple essence, then double predestination is the conclusion. And frankly, is there any real pastoral difference between predestination to life and passing over the reprobate versus predestinating both--since both go to hell? I think Calvin has read Augustine correctly on this point.

Roman Catholic Particularity
The Roman church, for all its opposition to Luther, admitted that the Reformation forced Rome to deal with sensitive problems from the conciliar movement in the previous century. Part of the dilemma of the Reformation was that the Reformers were not starting from a blank sheet. The 16th century inherited many unresolved problems. One could honestly admit the Reformers asked the right questions. As Pelikan notes, "What the Protestant Reformation had done with its doctrine of justification by faith alone, as the debates at the Council of Trent were to make clear, was to bring into the open some of the unresolved questions about justification in late medieval theology" (253). The Council of Trent was aware of this. They knew that while they would appeal to "antiquity," some had the suspicion that antiquity was a slippery eel. Pelikan notes, "Although that pluralism was voiced throughout the debates at Trent, the council fathers sought in their definition to respond to the Reformation without involving themselves in the disputes of several schools of theology within Roman Catholicism (280).

Ultimately, though, Trent could not answer all questions.

Both Trent and Geneva would have to deal with the horror of the Radical Reformation. The Protestants were particularly sensitive to this charge. Were not the chaotics (e.g., Anabaptists) also using sola scriptura, if more radically? What separates the Magisterials from the Radicals on this point, besides the formers' apparently arbitrary appeal to "tradition?" In response to this the Magisterials posited that Scripture "norms the lesser norms." A nice response, to be sure, but one effective only to those who like Latin phrases.

Both Rome and the Protestants would form their covenant theological systems, taking them in different directions. While the broad overview of Covenant theology was simple--and little difference between both camps--the specifics were tricky: problems Reformed are still facing. See the self-slaughter that is the response to the Federal Vision.

Rome, too, had its internal problems. Jansenism had raised other difficulties with Augustine and grace, the response to which created the famous "middle knowledge" of Molina and would later set the stage for Henri de Lubac.

Again I marvel at how Jaroslav Pelikan remains so impartial giving out all the information on developments, and allowing the reader to make their own decisions on the data. I would recommend this to any student or person trying to get a not biased approach to Christian Religion during this time peroid.