The Intellectual Origins of the European Reformation

by McGrath, Alister E.

• ISBN13: 9780631229391
• ISBN10: 0631229396
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-10-10
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The sixteenth-century Reformation remains a fascinating and exciting area of study. The revised edition of this distinguished volume explores the intellectual origins of the Reformation and examines the importance of ideas in the shaping of history. Provides an updated and expanded version of the original, highly-acclaimed edition. Explores the complex intellectual roots of the Reformation, offering a sustained engagement with the ideas of humanism and scholasticism. Demonstrates how the intellectual origins of the Reformation were heterogeneous, and examines the implications of this for our understanding of the Reformation as a whole. Offers a defence of the entire enterprise of intellectual history, and a reaffirmation of the importance of ideas to the development of history. Written by Alister E. McGrath, one of today's best-known Christian writers.

Author Biography

Alister E. McGrath isProfessor of Historical Theology at Oxford University, and Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He is the author of numerous bestselling books, including The Future of Christianity, Christian Theology: An Introduction, 3rd edition, and In The Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Abbreviations	x
Introduction	1	(8)
Part 1: The Intellectual Context	9	(108)
1 The Shape of Late Medieval Religious Thought	11	(23)
The Rise of Lay Religion	11	(4)
The Crisis of Authority Within the Church	15	(3)
The Development of Doctrinal Diversity	18	(11)
Forerunners of the Reformation	29	(5)
2 Humanism and the Reformation	34	(33)
Humanism: The Problem of Definition	34	(6)
Characteristic Features of Northern European Humanism	40	(4)
Humanism and the Origins of the Reformed Church	44	(14)
Humanism and the Origins of the Lutheran Church	58	(9)
3 Late Medieval Theology and the Reformation	67	(50)
Nominalism: The Problem of Definition	68	(5)
Via Moderna	73	(9)
Schola Augustiniana Moderna	82	(6)
Late Medieval Theology and the Origins of Reformed Theology	88	(15)
Late Medieval Theology and the Origins of Lutheran Theology	103	(14)
Part 2: Sources and Methods	117	(65)
4 Scripture: Translation, Text, and Tradition	119	(29)
The Medieval Consensus on the Theological Priority of Scripture	120	(1)
The Vulgate Translation of the Bible	121	(4)
The Humanist Return Ad Fontes	125	(5)
The Critique of the Vulgate	130	(7)
The Concept of Tradition	137	(7)
The Principle Sola Scripture	144	(4)
5 The Interpretation of Scripture	148	(19)
Scholasticism: The Fourfold Sense of Scripture	148	(2)
Humanism: The Letter and the Spirit	150	(3)
Hermeneutics and the Origins of the Reformed Church	153	(6)
Hermeneutics and the Origins of the Lutheran Church	159	(8)
6 The Patristic Testimony	167	(15)
The Scholastic Reception of Augustine	168	(5)
The Humanist Reception of Augustine	173	(1)
The Patristic Testimony and the Origins of the Reformed Church	174	(2)
The Patristic Testimony and the Origins of the Lathered Church	176	(6)
Conclusion: The Intellectual Heterogeneity of the Early Reformation	182	(8)
Notes	190	(64)
Select Bibliography	254	(19)
Index	273