Reformation Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Early Modern Period, The

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Dec 2003 by Frost, R N

The Reformation Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Early Modern Period. Edited by Carl Lindberg. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002, xiii + 396 pp., $36.95 paper.

The Reformation Theologians is the third piece of Blackwell Publishers' Great Theologians series, with each work presenting major figures of a particular era. This edition features twenty-five reformers-from Luther and Zwingli to Teresa of Avila and Menno Simons. The wide spectrum of selections reaches beyond "Protestant-only" and "male-only" conceptions of early sixteenth century Christian activism. It includes two humanists, seven Lutherans, eight Reformed scholars, four Roman Catholics, and four members of the Radical tradition. The approach is welcome, but it is a trade-off strategy that leaves some notable gaps of coverage, given what one might expect from the principal title. More will be said about this below.

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The contributors are mainly recognized specialists although a few less-well-known scholars are included in the mix. The articles all maintain a good balance between the main task of providing an essential introduction of the particular theologian while still engaging in some interpretive nuance. Each contribution offers endnotes and a brief bibliography that includes primary and secondary sources. The length of each entry is about 6000 words, thus allowing much greater coverage and depth than entries on the same figures in recently published resources such as the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation or the Dictionary of Historical Theology. In each article a regular use of headings helps to display the structure of presentation. Lindberg also offers introductory and concluding sections, a six-page glossary and a cumulative index for the full volume.

The essay selections invite some additional comments. The time-frame for all the selections overlap Luther's lifetime-thus, mainly the first half of the sixteenth century. Lindberg, in his acknowledgments, explains that two planned articles-on Martin Bucer and John Fisher-were omitted because contributors failed to meet the publication deadline. These omissions, as he notes, leave gaps of coverage for the Reformed and Roman Catholic traditions. There are other omissions as well. The broad scope of the volume, its size restrictions, and the editorial commitment to provide relatively expansive contributions, requires that many significant figures be left aside. Thus, while the inclusion of three women-Argula von Grumbach, Katharina Schutz Zell, and Teresa of Avila-offers a laudable reminder that the activists of this era included more than formally-educated men, only Teresa rises to the level of a widely-influential figure in her own day and beyond. While I cheer these selections for reaching across the gender divide, others might prefer more traditional selections measured strictly by social or ideological influence. Nor are all the other entries equal in substance to some who are overlooked. For instance, at least one of the Lutherans in the work, Urbanus Rhegius, was arguably more of a second-tier consolidator than a seminal figure. Another weightier Lutheran-I think of the controversial Andreas Osiander for one-would be more welcomed for educational purposes. Of course many readers will have their own favorites that "should have been included." I would also add John Knox of the Reformed camp and Johann Eck of the Roman Catholics to such a list.

The essays are, without exception, satisfying as competent introductions to the theologies of the figures under review. It must be underscored that it is their theology more than specific historical-biographical features of the subjects that are emphasized throughout the work. The reader who has at least a moderately mature awareness of sixteenth century history and religious controversies will be most rewarded by it. Some of the studies are more insightful than others. Oswald Bayer's piece on Luther, for one, is refreshingly effective in unfolding the Reformer's theology within a set of pastoral values (seeking to offer the Word of address that creates faith) and a more trinitarian and relational framework. Peter Newman Brooks also offers an alert and carefully measured presentation of Thomas Cranmer's development as England's first reformed archbishop. Yet-and this illustrates the emphasis on theology in the volume as a whole-such a basic biographical feature as Cranmer's execution under Mary Tudor's regime is not mentioned.

The contributors often reflect their close engagement with their subjects; this can be both a strength and a limitation. To the degree that scholars bring a personal or confessional advocacy to their presentation, the reader can be assured of a thorough exposure to the merits of their given concern. But alternative views may be washed out in the process. A comparison of Heinz Scheible's sympathetic portrayal of Philip Melanchthon's theology, and Oliver Olson's adjacent presentation of Melanchthon's theological opponent, Matthias Flacius, illustrates this tendency as the contributors each offer a nuanced advocacy of their subject's views-with a clear tension of viewpoints evident between the two pieces. A bit of bias is also evident in Richard Muller's article on Theodore Beza when Muller suggests that his subject's scholasticism is mainly a methodology. This is certainly true if Beza's procedures are allowed to be isolated. But for sixteenth-century Protestant students, the scholastic method was normally accompanied by extensive exposure to Aristotle's works, read within scholasticism's rather inclusive dialectical-synthetic methodology. It was just such a package-shaped by Aristotle's basic theological assumptions and terminology-that a few decades earlier led Luther to call for the philosopher's Metaphysics and Ethics, among other writings, to be dismissed from university studies. Perhaps the most striking example of a confessional bias is Gregory Miller's claim in his presentation of Huldrych Zwingli that "Anabaptists reverse the divinely instituted order by requiring faith before inclusion in the church" (p. 162).

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Reformation Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Early Modern Period, The

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Dec 2003 by Frost, R N

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