Magisterial Reform

Challenging the widespread classification of evangelical theologian Balthasar Hubmaier (1480-1528) as a Schleitheim-adhering Anabaptist, this book argues that Hubmaier should instead be understood as a bridge between the Radical and Magisterial branches of the Reformation and provides for a deeper understanding of one of the 16th century's most creative and sophisticated thinkers.

This volume of essays explores the themes of radicalism and dissent within Protestantism. The comparisons highlight the contingent nature of particular settlements and narratives, and reveal the extent to which the definition of religious radicalism was dependent upon immediate context and show that radicalism and dissent were truly transnational phenomena. The historiography of the so-called radical reformation has been unduly shaped by the hostile categories imposed by mainstream or magisterial reformers during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This volume argues that scholars should adopt an open-ended understanding of evangelical reform, and recognize that the boundaries between radicalism and its opposite were not always firmly drawn. The distinction between the two is an inheritance of the Lutheran Reformation of the 1520s, which shaped not only the later course of the Reformation in the Holy Roman Empire but also attitudes towards and writings on religious dissent in the Netherlands and England. Radical critique is immanent within mainstream Protestantism, in a faith that emphasizes the power of the gospel with its unrelenting demands.

For more than forty years now there has been a steady stream of interest in Richard Hooker. This renaissance in Hooker Studies began with the publication of the Folger Library Edition of the Works of Richard Hooker. With this renaissance has come a growing recognition that it is anachronistic to classify Hooker simply as an Anglican thinker, but as yet, no generally agreed-upon alternative label, or context for his thought, has replaced this older conception; in particular, the question of Hooker's Reformed identity remains hotly contested. Given the relatively limited engagement of Hooker scholarship with other branches of Reformation and early modern scholarship to date, there is a growing recognition that Hooker must be evaluated not only against the context of English puritanism and conformism but also in light of his broad international Reformed context. At the same time, it has become clear that, if this is so, scholars of continental Reformed orthodoxy must take stock of Hooker's work as one of the landmark theological achievements of the era. This volume aims to facilitate this long-needed conversation, bringing together a wide range of scholars to consider Richard Hooker's theology within the full context of late 16th- and early 17th-century Reformed orthodoxy, both in England and on the Continent. The essays seek to bring Hooker into conversation not merely with contemporaries familiar to Hooker scholarship, such as William Perkins, but also with such contemporaries as Jerome Zanchi and Franciscus Junius, predecessors such as Heinrich Bullinger, and successors such as John Davenant, John Owen, and Hugo Grotius. In considering how these successors of Hooker identified themselves in relation to his theology, these essays will also shed light on how Hooker was perceived within 17th-century Reformed circles. The theological topics touched on in the course of these essays include such central issues as the doctrine of Scripture, predestination, Christology, soteriology, the sacraments, and law. It is hoped that these essays will continue to stimulate further research on these important questions among a wide community of scholars.

The legal and political scenario of Calvin's day involved upheavals deriving from the force of religion upon law. Whole cities, provinces, and states came under Reformation influence, ranging from quiet individual conversions to Protestantism to the hysteria of community iconoclasm. The transformation of these societies, however, was not moving away from a religious worldview; rather, the transformation was a movement of one religion to another. In Calvin's day, secularism, pluralism, and religious toleration were nonexistent. Europe was not in the thrall of the question "Should religion in public life be tolerated?" but rather "Which religion should be enforced, to the banning of all others?" Calvin was a driven man, but a valid question drove him: "What is the true religion?" And deriving from the central question were corollaries: "What law is right law?" and "What government is right government?" Calvin's trek would lead him to answers. Calvin concluded that, substantively, a correct political and legal system derives from the Bible, and procedurally, the system is applied by democratically elected officials, checking and balancing one another--and his views were consistent with a Reformation consensus.

Respected leaders point a way forward in the key debates within the Southern Baptist Convention, one of the largest denominations at more than 16 million members.

George Williams' monumental The Radical Reformation has been an essential reference work for historians of early modern Europe, narrating in rich, interpretative detail the interconnected stories of radical groups operating at the margins of the mainline Reformation. In its scope—spanning all of Europe from Spain to Poland, from Denmark to Italy—and its erudition, The Radical Reformation is without peer. Now in paperback format, Williams' magnum opus should be considered for any university-level course on the Reformation.

The religious turmoil of the sixteenth century constituted a turning point in the history of Western Christian art. The essays presented in this volume investigate the ways in which both Protestant and Catholic reform stimulated the production of religious images, drawing on examples from across Europe and beyond. Eight essays by leading scholars in the field Brings art historians and historians into productive dialogue Broad chronology, from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century Broad geographical coverage Richly illustrated