Melanchthon And Calvin On Confession And Communion

Melanchthon and Calvin were late medieval people, stemming from a world of order and unity, and at the same time they fully lived in the early modern world, in which everything was changing. In this new world they committedly, enthusiastically, and restlessly sought to introduce some order, in theory as well as practice. The sixteenth-century church was governed by multiple coercive constructions and systems. Did the two Reformers really succeed in disconnecting themselves from them, and to what extent did they connect to, for example, the existing forms of eucharistic piety?The established church had come under serious criticism, and people were massively turning their backs on the less than attractive ecclesiastical practices—something connecting that era to ours. In these highly turbulent and suspenseful 1520s, when it was not yet clear whether the ten-year-old evangelical movement in Germany was still viable, Melanchthon tried to introduce at least some order into the chaos by means of a confession accompanied by a church order. As it turned out, the new doctrine on 'Christian freedom' and 'justification by faith alone' was easily interpreted in a one-sided manner. Through a careful analysis of the sources, Herman A. Speelman examines Melanchthon's church visitations in 1527 and Calvin's five attempts to shape the modernisation of ecclesiastical life. In addition to the gospel, also penance and the preaching of the law received a place in the Protestant liturgy and spirituality.Melanchthon's and Calvin's contributions were not only to have an enormous impact on the theological evolutions in the evangelical movement in Europe, but they also proved to be of eminent importance for the way in which the new doctrine was given meaning in practice. Their instructions continue to be highly influential in large parts of Europe today.

A commentary on the Belgic Confession with study questions after each article. Cross references to other reformed confessions provided as footnotes to each article. 130 pages paperback by Dr. Chuck Baynard

Elsie McKee, "Calvin and His Colleagues as Pastors: Some New Insights into the Collegial Ministry of Word and Sacraments"; Jeffrey R. Watt, "Childhood and Youth in the Geneva Consistory Minutes"; Christoph Strohm, "Methodology in Discussion of 'Calvin and Calvinism'"; Max Engammare, "D’une forme l’autre: Commentaires et sermons de Calvin sur la Genèse "; Cornelis Augustijn / Christoph Burger / Frans P. van Stam, "Calvin in the Light of the Early Letters" ; Christian Link, "Die Finalität des Menschen Zur Perspektive der Anthropologie Calvins"; Robert M. Kingdon, "Calvin’s last years"; Victor E. d’Assonville jr., "Dogma und Doctrina Bei Calvin in einer begrifflichen wechselwirkung: Ein Seminarbericht "; Wim Janse, "Calvin, a Lasco und Beza: Eine gemeinsame Abendmahlserklärung (Mai 1556)? Bericht eines Forschungsseminars mit offenem Ausgang"; A.N.S. Lane, "Calvin and Article 5 of the Regensburg Colloquy"; Jae Sung Kim, "Prayer in Calvin’s soteriology "; Barbara Pitkin: "Redefining Repentance: Calvin and Melanchthon"; Wilhelmus H.Th. Moehn, "Abraham – 'père de l’église de Dieu'. A Comparison of Calvin’s Commentary and Sermons on Acts 7:1-6 287"; Christian Grosse, "’En esprit et en vérité’? La part du rituel dans la culture religieuse réformée (Genève, XVIe siècle)"; Mihály Márkus, "Calvin und Polen. Gedankenfragmente in Verbindung mit einer Empfehlung"; Dr. E.A. de Boer, "Calvin and Colleagues. Propositions and Disputations in the Context of the Congrégations in Geneva"; Irena Backus, "Calvin’s knowledge of Greek language and philosophy"; Randall C. Zachman, "Crying To God on the Brink of Despair: The Assurance of Faith Revisited ".

Death and dying were not in the main focus of the denominational conflicts of the 16th century. However, pious literature covered these topics again and again, not only before the Reformation, but after it as well. Here, certain denominational differences are clearly visible. Partly, these differences consist in the use of genres: For example, funeral sermons are an often used genre among Lutherans, while they are much rarer in the Reformed tradition. Similar differences can be observed concerning epitaphs. In Roman Catholic areas, funeral sermons and epitaphs are common in the 16th century, too; but their religious function is often a different from the one in Lutheranism. Beyond such interdenominational differences, there are also interesting continuities and connections which the contributors of the volume analyze. For example, there is a certain continuity between 16th century Lutheran funeral sermons and the late medieval tradition of ars moriendi.The volume contains papers presented at the Second RefoRC Conference in Oslo in 2012, and is characterized by a multiconfessional and multidisciplinary approach, with contributions from Church History, Art History, Archaeology, History of Literature and Cultural History. Within a field of research dominated by specialized contributions (e.g. on ars moriendi traditions or on specific traditions of funeral monuments and funeral sermons), the broad approach of this volume may further stimulate to comparative and cross-confessional reflection.