Greatness Limits Of Common Priesthood In 16th Century Reformation Theology

Luther affirmed, in the context of the 16th century, the radical equality of all believers by explicitly referring to the priesthood common to everyone. The priesthood of all believers became a fundamental principle and feature of the whole Protestant reformation movement. This study attempts to thoroughly grasp and re-think Luther's and Calvin's notions of common priesthood without the ministerial, to understand better and to shed light upon the necessary mutual relationship between both ministerial and common priesthoods as maintained in Roman Catholic doctrine.

Royal Priesthood in the English Reformation assesses the understandings of the Christian doctrine of royal priesthood, long considered one of the three major Reformation teachings, as held by an array of royal, clerical, and popular theologians during the English Reformation. Historians and theologians often present the doctrine according to more recent debates rather than the contextual understandings manifested by the historical figures under consideration. Beginning with a radical reevaluation of John Wyclif and an incisive survey of late medieval accounts, the book challenges the predominant presentation of the doctrine of royal priesthood as primarily individualistic and anticlerical, in the process clarifying these other concepts. It also demonstrates that the late medieval period located more religious authority within the monarchy than is typically appreciated. After the revolutionary use of the doctrine by Martin Luther in early modern Germany, it was wielded variously between and within diverse English royal, clerical, and lay factions under Henry VIII and Edward VI, yet the Old and New Testament passages behind the doctrine were definitely construed in a monarchical direction. With Thomas Cranmer, the English evangelical presentation of the universal priesthood largely received its enduring official shape, but challenges came from within the English magisterium as well as from both radical and conservative religious thinkers. Under the sacred Tudor queens, who subtly and successfully maintained their own sacred authority, the various doctrinal positions hardened into a range of early modern forms with surprising permutations.

This book proposes an interdisciplinary methodology for developing an intercultural use of law so as to include cultural differences and their protection within legal discourse; this is based on an analysis of the sensory grammar tacitly included in categorizations. This is achieved by combining the theoretical insights provided by legal theory, anthropology and semiotics with a reading of human rights as translational interfaces among the different cultural spaces in which people live. To support this use of human rights’ semantic and normative potential, a specific cultural-geographic view dubbed ‘legal chorology’ is employed. Its primary purpose is to show the extant continuity between categories and spaces of experience, and more specifically between legal meanings and the spatial dimensions of people’s lives. Through the lens of legal chorology and the intercultural, translational use of human rights, the book provides a methodology that shows how to make space and law reciprocally transformative so as to create an inclusive legal grammar that is equidistant from social cultural differences. The analysis includes: a critical view on opportunities for intercultural secularization; the possibility of construing a legal grammar of quotidian life that leads to an inclusive equidistance from differences rather than an unachievable neutrality or an all-encompassing universal legal ontology; an interdisciplinary methodology for legal intercultural translation; a chorological reading of the relationships between human rights protection and lived spaces; and an intercultural and geo-semiotic examination of a series of legal cases and current issues such as indigenous peoples’ rights and the international protection of sacred places.

Problems of Authority in the Reformation Debates shows that in the early sixteenth century much was seen to be wrong with both the doctrine and the practice of authority in the Western Church. A great deal of scholarly effort was devoted at the time to trying to understand the nature of the problem, but this, as the author points out, was largely a piecemeal endeavour. No one succeeded in providing a comprehensive account of the complex 'authority' questions which were being raised about absolute divine sovereignty, the centrality of Christ, the primacy of scripture, the necessity of grace, and so on. Dr Evans aims here to piece together underlying connections in the theology of the Reformation period, as a contribution to ecumenical dialogue. She shows how, as theologians struggle today about words and meanings, the detailed texture of semantic debate similarly underlies many of the Reformation controversies.

The doctrine of the Priesthood of all Believers underlies all the great and far-reaching religious movements of the last five hundred years. Apart from that doctrine it is impossible either to understand or appreciate the cause of the Reformation, the impetus of the Puritan Movement, or the widespread influence of the Evangelical Revival. Yet nowhere can the student find a thorough examination of its meaning, for no such systematic statement exists. Here is an attempt to fill this gap. An examination of Reformation Theology shows that this doctrine is the basis of three dominant concepts which Luther stressed--Faith, Word, and Congregation--and that Luther's seven marks of the true Church arise from it. A study of Calvin leads to the conclusion that the doctrine of vocation is the necessary counterpart of the Priesthood of all Believers, that election is always related to consecration, service, and mission; it is an election to priesthood. An investigation of Wesley shows that he took this doctrine seriously and provided opportunities for the People of God to exercise their priestly privileges in the service of the Word, of the Church, and of the World. From all this comes the inescapable conclusion that in Reformation Theology the spiritual priesthood of justified believers consists in their proclamation of God's justifying love to the world. This book is an attempt to present a clear and constructive statement of a doctrine which lies at the very heart of Protestantism and is closely connected with three important issues in current theological discussion--the union of the Churches, the doctrine of vocation, and the liturgical revival.

The Catholic Church's claims to spiritual and temporal authority rest on Jesus' promise in the gospels to give Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven. In the sixteenth century, leaders of the German Reformation sought a fundamental transformation of this "power of the keys" as part of their efforts to rid Church and society of alleged clerical abuses. Central to this transformation was a thoroughgoing reform of private confession. Unlike other Protestants, Lutherans chose not to abolish private confession but to change it to suit their theological convictions and social needs. In a fascinating examination of this new religious practice, Ronald Rittgers traces the development of Lutheran private confession, demonstrating how it consistently balanced competing concerns for spiritual freedom and moral discipline. The reformation of private confession was part of a much larger reformation of the power of the keys that had profound implications for the use of religious authority in sixteenth-century Germany. As the first full-length study of the role of Lutheran private confession in the German Reformation, this book is a welcome contribution to early modern European and religious history. Table of Contents: List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Allegiance to the Regnum 2. Between Hope and Fear 3. The Assault on the Keys 4. Tentative Beginnings 5. An Evangelical Dilemma 6. The New Rite 7. Resisting the Old Jurisdiction 8. Confession Established 9. Propaganda and Practice Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index Figures Map of the Holy Roman Empire Late medieval Nuernberg The 1539 Schembartlauf hell-float The storming of the hell-float Woodcut from Andreas Osiander's children's sermon on the keys In an exceptionally fair-minded and scrupulous book, Ronald Rittgers charts a route through theological and social complexities with great clarity and subtlety. Lutherans experienced strong and conflicting emotions about confession, and Nuremberg makes a fine case study of their divergent reactions. This is an original and important addition to scholarship. --Andrew Pettegree, University of St. Andrews A finely detailed survey of the disputes and controversies surrounding the introduction of an evangelical form of confession in sixteenth-century Nuremberg. There is, to my knowledge, no comparable treatment of the subject. Rittgers's study is deeply researched. His writing is fluent, the argument easy to follow. Useful for Reformation scholars, this book also holds much for the general reader with a serious interest in the history of the Reformation. --Gerald Strauss, Emeritus, Indiana University

Most contemporary theologies of Holy Orders consider priesthood mainly in its diocesan context and most contemporary theologies of religious life do not consider how ordained ministry functions when it is internal rather than external to religious life. Understanding the Religious Priesthood provides a history and theology of religious priesthood that contributes to our understanding of this vocation’s identity and mission. It uncovers what religious priesthood shares with diocesan priesthood and non-ordained religious life and what makes it different from both those other vocations. Christian Raab begins by tracing the history of religious priesthood from its origins in the early Church to the eve of the Second Vatican Council. He demonstrates that religious priests often faced questions about how to reconcile their two callings, but that they also provided answers in their theologies and spiritualities of priesthood and religious life. Meanwhile, they made key contributions to the Church’s life and mission. Raab then investigates the teachings of the Second Vatican Council on priesthood and religious life. Observing that the Council presented priesthood according to a diocesan typology and presented religious life without sacerdotal associations, he argues that the lack of imagery of religious priesthood contributed to a post-conciliar vocational identity crisis among religious priests. He then seeks to remedy this lacuna by appealing to the biblical images for religious priesthood Hans Urs von Balthasar offered in his theology of vocations. Raab argues that Balthasar’s imagery is a promising way forward for understanding the identity and mission of religious priesthood. In a final part, Raab provides a substantial theological articulation of religious priesthood which illuminates its liturgical signification, ecclesial mediation and mission, and ministerial identity. Here he draws not only from Balthasar but also from Pope John Paul II, Yves Congar, Jean-Marie Tillard, Brian Daley, and Guy Mansini to construct his profile.

The Encyclopedia of Martin Luther and the Reformation is a comprehensive global study of the life and work of Martin Luther and the movements that followed him—in history and through today. Organized by a stellar advisory board of Luther and Reformation scholars, the encyclopedia features nearly five hundred entries that examine Luther’s life and impact worldwide. The two-volume set provides overviews of basics such as the 95 Theses as well as more complex topics such as reformational distinctions. Entries explore Luther’s contributions to theology, sacraments, his influence on the church and contemporaries, his character, and more. The work also discusses Luther’s controversies and topics such as gender, sexuality, and race. Publishing at the five hundredth anniversary of the Reformation, this is an essential reference work for understanding the Reformation and its legacy today.