Historical Method and Confessional Identity in the Era of the Reformation (1378-1615) / Irena Backus.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Backus, Irena, 1950- author.

Series:

Studies in medieval and Reformation traditions ; Volume 94.

Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions Series ; Volume 94

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Reformation.

Fathers of the church--Historiography.

Fathers of the church.

Church history--Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600--Historiography.

Church history.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Leiden, The Netherlands : Brill, [2003]

Summary:

This volume deals with the basic problem of how theologians of all confessions handled ancient, mainly Christian, history in the Reformation era. The author argues that far from being a mere tool of religious controversy, history was used throughout the 16th century to express profound religious and theological convictions and that historians and theologians of different confessions sought to define their religious identity by recourse to a particular historical method. By carefully comparing the types of historical documents produced by Calvinist, Lutheran and Roman Catholic circles, she throws a new light on patristic editions and manuals, the Centuries of Magdeburg , the Ecclesiastical Annals of Caesar Baronius and various collections of New Testament Apocrypha. Much of this material is examined here for the first time. The book substantially revises existing preconceptions about Reformation historiography and view of the past.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9789004476172

9004476172

OCLC:

1294387051

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004476172 DOI