The intellectual origins of the European Reformation / Alister E. McGrath.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McGrath, Alister E., 1953-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Reformation.

Europe--Intellectual life.

Europe.

Intellectual life.

Theology, Doctrinal--History--Middle Ages, 600-1500.

Theology, Doctrinal.

History.

Theology, Doctrinal--Middle Ages.

Philosophy, Medieval.

Theology, Doctrinal--History--16th century.

Philosophy, Renaissance.

Humanism--History.

Humanism.

Physical Description:

ix, 289 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, UK ; Malden, MA : Blackwell Publishing, 2004.

Summary:

It is widely recognized that the sixteenth-century Reformation remains one of the most fascinating and exciting areas of scholarship. A central and important question, raised by intensive modern research on the Renaissance and late medieval scholasticism, concerns the intellectual origins of the Reformation.

This updated and expanded version of the original, highly acclaimed edition of 1987 explores the complex intellectual roots of the Reformation, offering a sustained engagement with the ideas of humanism and scholasticism. McGrath demonstrates how the intellectual origins of the Reformation were heterogeneous, and draws out the implications of this finding for our understanding of the Reformation as a whole. McGrath's reading of the Reformation against its complex intellectual background opens up new insights into this highly significant historical phenomenon. Yet this is more than a fascinating exploration in the history of ideas; it is also a defense of the entire enterprise of intellectual history in the face of social historical approaches, and a reaffirmation of the importance of ideas to the development of history.

Contents:

Part 1 The Intellectual Context 9

1 The Shape of Late Medieval Religious Thought 11

The Rise of Lay Religion 11

The Crisis of Authority Within the Church 15

The Development of Doctrinal Diversity 18

Forerunners of the Reformation 29

2 Humanism and the Reformation 34

Humanism: The Problem of Definition 34

Characteristic Features of Northern European Humanism 40

Humanism and the Origins of the Reformed Church 44

Humanism and the Origins of the Lutheran Church 58

3 Late Medieval Theology and the Reformation 67

Nominalism: The Problem of Definition 68

Via Moderna 73

Schola Augustiniana Moderna 82

Late Medieval Theology and the Origins of Reformed Theology 88

Late Medieval Theology and the Origins of Lutheran Theology 103

Part 2 Sources and Methods 117

4 Scripture: Translation, Text, and Tradition 119

The Medieval Consensus on the Theological Priority of Scripture 120

The Vulgate Translation of the Bible 121

The Humanist Return Ad Fontes 125

The Critique of the Vulgate 130

The Concept of Tradition 137

The Principle Sola Scriptura 144

5 The Interpretation of Scripture 148

Scholasticism: The Fourfold Sense of Scripture 148

Humanism: The Letter and the Spirit 150

Hermeneutics and the Origins of the Reformed Church 153

Hermeneutics and the Origins of the Lutheran Church 159

6 The Patristic Testimony 167

The Scholastic Reception of Augustine 168

The Humanist Reception of Augustine 173

The Patristic Testimony and the Origins of the Reformed Church 174

The Patristic Testimony and the Origins of the Lutheran Church 176

Conclusion: The Intellectual Heterogeneity of the Early Reformation 182.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [254]-272) and index.

ISBN:

063122940X

0631229396

OCLC:

51210665