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Philipp Melanchthon: Image and Substance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2009

Euan Cameron
Euan Cameron
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Newcastle, Armstrong Building, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE17 RU
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Abstract

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Type
Theologians Revisited
Information
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 48 , Issue 4 , October 1997 , pp. 705 - 722
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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References

1 See Melanchthon, Philipp, Commentary on Romans, trans. Kramer, Fred, St Louis 1992Google Scholar; Loci communes…1543, ed. and trans. Preus, J. A. O., St Louis 1992Google Scholar; earlier English translations include the 1521 Loci communes in Melanchthon and Bucer: Loci communes theologici, ed. Pauck, W., London 1969Google Scholar, and Manschreck, Loci.

2 Of Philippi Melanchthonis Opera quae supersunt omnia, ed. Bretschneider, C. G. and others (CR i–xxviii), vols xi–xiiGoogle Scholar are given over to Declamations and to the Cronica Carionis; xiii includes the works on the De anima, natural philosophy, rhetoric and dialectic; xvi contains his Ethics and annotations on Cicero; further works on classical literature and philology comprise most of vols xvii–xx.

3 See Hans Engelland's introduction to Manschreck, , Loci, p. xxviGoogle Scholar.

4 For the periods under discussion see, for example, my The European Reformation, Oxford 1991, 190, 342–5, 347 and refsGoogle Scholar.

5 MBW, nos 237 (T1, 492), 258 (T2, 57–8), 342 (T2, 178). See also Scheible, H., ‘Melanchthon, Philipp (1497–1560)’, in TRE xxii. 373Google Scholar. 23–6, and compare MBW, no. 432 (T2, 365. 1–9).

6 Kusukawa, , Transformation, 51–6Google Scholar.

7 MBW, no. 268 (T2, 57. 13–15).

8 Ibid. nos 268 (T2, 57. 15–16), 342 (T2, 178. 24–5).

9 Ibid. no. 369 (T2, 235. 9–12).

10 Ibid. no. 432 (T2, 365. 5–6), 348 (T2, 189. 39–47); see Scheible, , ‘Melanchthon’, 376. 1ffGoogle Scholar.

11 Hessus, Eobanus, Ecclesiae afflictae epistola ad Lutherum, Hagenau 1523Google Scholar; Melanchthon's response is in MBW, no. 273 (T2, 63–4) – the passage quoted is on lines 18–19; cf. also no. 330 (T2, 144–5). Luther's very similar reaction, written like Melanchthon's on 29 Mar. 1523, is quoted in Dickens, A. G., The German Nation and Martin Luther, London 1974, 63Google Scholar; see also p. 150.

12 Kusukawa, , Transformation, 36–49Google Scholar.

13 Ibid. 63ff.

14 Ibid. 49–51: for a summary of Kusukawa's theses see pp. 73–4.

15 MBW, no. 361 (T2, 218. 13–25).

16 Ibid. nos 298 (T2, 99. 4–7), 330 (T2, 145. 6).

17 Ibid. no. 365a (T2, 230. 29–34).

18 Kusukawa, , Transformation, 75–173Google Scholar.

19 For an introduction see Schmitt, Charles B., Skinner, Quentin and Kessler, Eckhard (eds) The Cambridge history of Renaissance philosophy, Cambridge 1988, 490–527 and refsCrossRefGoogle Scholar; Melanchthon's role in the subject is discussed ibid. 625ff.

20 MWA iii. 365–72, and discussion in Kusukawa, , Transformation, 98–9Google Scholar.

21 MWA iii. 307–11, and discussion in Kusukawa, , Transformation, 114ffGoogle Scholar.

22 MWA iii. 328–9, 335–7, 345–9.

23 Ibid. iii. 349–55.

24 Kusukawa, , Transformation, 107, 113–14Google Scholar.

25 MWA iii. 319–24, 349–51.

26 Zwingli is criticised by name for his determinism in the unpublished 1533 draft revision of the Loci communes, in CR xxi, col. 275; he does not appear to be mentioned in the De anima.

27 CR xiii, cols 185, 190–1, 345; cf. Kusukawa, , Transformation, 149ffGoogle Scholar.

28 CR xiii, col 292; cf. Engelland's introduction to Manschreck, , Loci, pp. xxvi–xxviiiGoogle Scholar. Melanchthon made the same point in his testimonial for Heinrich Bullinger the younger in MBW, no. 8212, in 8, 67, and CR ix cols 150–1; cf. also MBW, no. 8529.

29 CR xiii, cols 339–40.

30 Bk I occupies CR xiii, cols 179–292; bk II, cols 291–380; bk III, cols 381–412.

31 CR xiii, col. 182.

32 Ibid. col. 183.

33 Ibid. cols 324–5, 329, 340.

34 Ibid. cols 325–6, 345.

35 Ibid. cols 335ff. To see how unusual this attitude was for a theologian, contrast Gerson, J., Triologium astrologiae theologizatae, Lyon 1419Google Scholar, in Opera, ed. Pin, L. E. du, 2nd edn, The Hague 1728, i, cols 189–203Google Scholar, or Calvin, J., Avertissement contre l'astrologie judiciaire, in Joannis Calvini Opera quae supersunt omnia, ed. Baum, G., Cunitz, E. and Reuss, E. (CR xxix–lxxxvii), Braunschweig–Berlin 1853–1900, vii. 509–44Google Scholar.

36 Kusukawa, , Transformation, 124ffGoogle Scholar. See further Bellucci, D., ‘Mélanchthon et la défense de l'astrologie’, in Bibliothèque d'humanisme et renaissance l (1988), 587–622Google Scholar.

37 Letters to Johannes Mathesius and Joachim Camerarius, in MBW, nos 8288, 8297; CR ix, cols 189, 196.

38 For example, Kusukawa, , Transformation, 188–9Google Scholar.

39 For the catholic ‘scholasticism’ of the later sixteenth century see Cambridge history of Renaissance philosophy, 512ff, 606ff.

40 The contributions made by Melanchthon and his pupils to the formation of a Protestant church history are discussed in my ‘Protestant identities in the later Reformation in Germany’, in Grell, O. P. and Scribner, Bob (eds), Tolerance and intolerance in the European Reformation, Cambridge 1996, 116–17, 120–1CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Scherer, E. C., Geschichte und Kirchengeschichle an den deutschen Universitäten: ihre Anfänge im Zeitalter der Humanismus und ihre Ausbildung zu selbständigen Disziplinen, Freiburg im Breisgau 1927Google Scholar.

41 The significance of ‘humanism’ in the reformed context is further discussed in my ‘The late Renaissance and the unfolding Reformation in Europe’, in Kirk, J. (ed.), Humanism and reform: the Church in Europe, England and Scotland 1400–1643: essays in honour of James K. Cameron (Studies in Church History, Subsidia viii), Oxford 1991, 15–36Google Scholar.

42 MBW, no. 332 (T2, 148. 46–53).

43 Ibid. no. 343 (T2, 179. 4–8).

44 Ibid. no. 459 (T2, 417–18. 1–10). There is a typical Melanchthon pun here: σπς in Greek means a shield, as in the title of Erasmus' tract (the ‘Shield-bearer’); aspis in Latin means an asp.

45 MBW, nos 344 (T2, 181. 8ff), 474 (T2, 439. 40–2).

46 Ibid. nos 341 passim, 360.

47 Ibid. no. 503 (T2, 497. 7–11).

48 Ibid. no. 360 (T2, 211–12). Compare Erasmus writing to Justus Jonas in 1521: Erasmi epistolae, ed. Allen, P. S. and Allen, H. M., Oxford 1906–1958, iv. 487–93, no. 1202Google Scholar.

49 MBW, nos 347, 348, 349, 350, 357, 449, 452, 453, 457, 463, 493.

50 Oberman, Heiko A., The Reformation: roots and ramifications, trans. Gow, Andrew C., Edinburgh 1994, 27–40Google Scholar.

51 Oberman, , Reformation, 50Google Scholar: ‘For Melanchthon, the “amendment”…could turn into the “Reformation”, in the sense that has determined our use of the word ever since.’

52 For example in Strehle, Stephen, Calvinism, federalism and scholasticism: a study of the reformed doctrine of covenant, Bern 1988, 89–97, 391–2Google Scholar.

53 See Manschreck's, C. L. preface to Manschreck, Loci, p. xixGoogle Scholar, and Engelland's introduction ibid. p. xxxix. See also Scheible, , ‘Melanchthon’, 395. 29–35Google Scholar, and Hildebrandt, Franz, Melanchthon: alien or ally?, Cambridge 1946, 44–55Google Scholar. For a careful analysis and rebuttal of Karl Holl's interpretation see Althaus, P., The theology of Martin Luther, trans. Schultz, R. C., Philadelphia 1966, 241–2 and refsGoogle Scholar.

54 Lexutt, , Rechtfertigung, 50ff, 66ff, 69ff, 112Google Scholarff.

55 In Sehling, E. (ed.), Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des xvi. Jahrhunderls, Leipzig 1902–, i. 153Google Scholar, cf. 161–3.

56 The Loci of 1533 is found in CR xxi, cols 253–332; the Loci of 1535 in CR xxi, cols 331–560; the Variata in MWA vi. 12–79.

57 CR xxi, cols 274ff, 373ff; cf MWA vi. 34.

58 CR xxi, cols 420ff; MWA vi. 14–15, 27–30.

59 CR xxi, cols 308–13, 429, 436–7; MWA vi. 30–1.

60 CR xxi, cols 309ff, 313–30, 430–47; MWA vi. 32–3. On ‘good works’ see also Maxcey, Carl E., Bona opera: a study in the development of the doctrine in Philipp Melanchthon, Nieuwkoop 1980Google Scholar.

61 In the Initia doctrinae physicae, in CR xiii, cols 310–11.

62 For this text see Dickens, A. G. and Carr, D. (eds), The Reformation in England to the accession of Elizabeth I, London 1967, 74Google Scholar. See also MBW, no. 1714; Scheible, , ‘Melanchthon’, 379. 5–7Google Scholar.

63 Compare Dickens, A. G., The English Reformation, London 1964, 175–6Google Scholar; Haigh, Christopher, English Reformations: religion, politics, and society under the Tudors, Oxford 1993, 128–30Google Scholar.

64 Lexutt, , Rechtfertigung, 125–7, 176–7, 274Google Scholar; cf. Scheible, , ‘Melanchthon’, 391–2Google Scholar, and Engelland's introduction to Manschreck, , Loci, pp. xxxvii–xxxviiiGoogle Scholar.

65 MWA vi. 16–17, 19–21, 38–45.

66 For Melanchthon's discussions of predestination, compare the 1521 Loci, in MWA ii/i. 10–12, the 1533 and 1535 Loci in CR xxi, cols 330ff, 450ff, the 1555 Loci in Manschreck, , Loci 187ffGoogle Scholar, and the final version in CR xxi, cols 912ff, and MWA ii/ii. 592–602. His active hostility to the doctrine itself surfaced in the 1540s.

67 Barth, Karl, The Knowledge of God and the Service of God according to the teaching of the Reformation, London 1938, 108–9Google Scholar.

68 See Calvin's, criticism of Melanchthon's, stand (where his name is not mentioned), in Institutes, III. xxi. 3Google Scholar.

69 MBW, no. 370 (T2, 238. 9–12).

70 See ibid. nos 372, 477, 478, 483.

71 See ibid. nos 8226, 8227, 8494, 8498; CR ix, cols 156, 157, 409, 431.

72 For the strife over ‘ubiquity’ see, for example, Scultetus, A., Annalium evangelii passim per Europam…renovati decades duae, Heidelberg 1618–1620, i. 226–7Google Scholar; Nischan, B., ‘Confessionalism and absolutism: the case of Brandenburg’, in Pettegree, A., Duke, A. and Lewis, G. (eds), Calvinism in Europe, 1540–1620, Cambridge 1994, 195–7Google Scholar.

73 For Melanchthon's letters to Hardenberg see MBW, nos 8111, 8195, and Scheible, , ‘Melanchthon’, 379. 45Google Scholar; on Hardenberg see Janse, Wim, Albert Hardenberg als Theologe: Profil einer Bucer–Schuelers, Leiden 1994, 32–89Google Scholar.

74 MBW, no. 8271; CR ix, cols 179–80.

75 The standard editions of these texts are found in Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelischlutherischen Kirche, herausgegeben im Gedenkjahr des Augsburgischen Konfession 1930, Göttingen 1930Google Scholar; most recent edn 1986.

76 Lexutt, , Rechtfertigung, 45, 231Google Scholar.

77 Ibid. 30; cf. MWA vi. 16–17, 19–21. For Gropper's position see Braunisch, R., Die Theologie der Rechtfertigung im “Enchiridion” (1538) des Johannes Gropper: sein kritischer Dialog mit Philipp Melanchthon, Münster 1974Google Scholar.

78 For Luther's continued support see Scheible, , ‘Melanchthon’, 380–1Google Scholar; Manschreck's preface to Manschreck, , Loci, pp. xvi–xviiGoogle Scholar.

79 MBW, no. 382 (T2, 265. 1–16).

80 Ibid. no. 476 (T2, 440. 1–9).

81 Ibid. no. 408 (T2, 323–31). Scheible presents the original in Greek and Camerarius' paraphrase in its Latin translation. Side-by-side comparison between the original and Camerarius' reorganised text is provided in MWA vii. 238–44. See also Documents illustrative of the continental reformation, ed. Kidd, B. J., Oxford 1911, 179–80Google Scholar, for the crucial passage.

82 εὐχερής: this can mean either ‘reckless’ or ‘biddable’.

83 βωμολοχία: the Greek word referred to the vulgar sort of humour practised by those who hung around temple altars waiting for scraps.

84 MBW, no. 408 (T2, 327–9).