The Aristotelian Tradition in Early Modern Protestantism


Book Description

Aristotle's moral and political thought formed the backbone of education in practical philosophy for centuries during the classical and medieval periods. It has often been presumed, however, that with the advent of the Protestant Reformation, this tradition was broken. Countering this widespread view, Manfred Svensson discusses dozens of commentaries on Aristotle's Ethics and Politics that emerged from Protestant universities and academies throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, showing that early modern Protestants never lost their connection to Aristotle. He offers a broad contextualization of these works and in-depth discussion of their key ethical and political concepts.




Church and School in Early Modern Protestantism


Book Description

A great deal of scholarship has too often juxtaposed scholasticism and piety, resulting in misunderstandings of the relationship between Protestant churches of the early modern era and the theology taught in their schools. But more recent scholarship, especially conducted by Richard A. Muller over the last number of decades, has remapped the lines of continuity and discontinuity in the relation of church and school. This research has produced a more methodologically nuanced and historically accurate representation of church and school in early modern Protestantism. Written by leading scholars of early modern Protestant theology and history and based on research using the most relevant original sources, this collection seeks to broaden our understanding of how and why clergy were educated to serve the church. Contributors include: Yuzo Adhinarta, Willem van Asselt, Irena Backus, Jordan J. Ballor, J. Mark Beach, Andreas Beck, Joel R. Beeke, Lyle D. Bierma, Raymond A. Blacketer, James E. Bradley, Dariusz M. Bryćko, Amy Nelson Burnett, Emidio Campi, Heber Carlos de Campos Jr, Kiven Choy, R. Scott Clark, Paul Fields, John V. Fesko, Paul Fields, W. Robert Godfrey, Alan Gomes, Albert Gootjes, Chad Gunnoe, Aza Goudriaan, Fred P. Hall, Byung-Soo (Paul) Han, Nathan A. Jacobs, Frank A. James III, Martin Klauber, Henry Knapp, Robert Kolb, Mark J. Larson, Brian J. Lee, Karin Maag, Benjamin T.G. Mayes, Andrew M. McGinnis, Paul Mpindi, Adriaan C. Neele, Godfried Quaedtvlieg, Sebastian Rehnman, Todd Rester, Gregory D. Schuringa, Herman Selderhuis, Donald Sinnema, Keith Stanglin, David Steinmetz, David Sytsma, Yudha Thianto, John L. Thompson, Carl Trueman, Theodore G. Van Raalte, Cornelis Venema, Timothy Wengert, Reita Yazawa, Jeongmo Yoo, and Jason Zuidema.




The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Early Modern England, c. 1530-1700


Book Description

The Bible was, by any measure, the most important book in early modern England. It preoccupied the scholarship of the era, and suffused the idioms of literature and speech. Political ideas rode on its interpretation and deployed its terms. It was intricately related to the project of natural philosophy. And it was central to daily life at all levels of society from parliamentarian to preacher, from the 'boy that driveth the plough', famously invoked by Tyndale, to women across the social scale. It circulated in texts ranging from elaborate folios to cheap catechisms; it was mediated in numerous forms, as pictures, songs, and embroideries, and as proverbs, commonplaces, and quotations. Bringing together leading scholars from a range of fields, The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Early Modern England, 1530-1700 explores how the scriptures served as a generative motor for ideas, and a resource for creative and political thought, as well as for domestic and devotional life. Sections tackle the knotty issues of translation, the rich range of early modern biblical scholarship, Bible dissemination and circulation, the changing political uses of the Bible, literary appropriations and responses, and the reception of the text across a range of contexts and media. Where existing scholarship focuses, typically, on Tyndale and the King James Bible of 1611, The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in England, 1530-1700 goes further, tracing the vibrant and shifting landscape of biblical culture in the two centuries following the Reformation.




Tudor Protestant Political Thought 1547-1603


Book Description

The Reformation of the sixteenth-century is commonly seen as the transitional period between the medieval and the modern worlds. This study examines the political thought of England during its period of religious reform from the reign of Edward VI to the death of Elizabeth I. The political thought of Tudor ecclesiastics was heavily informed by the institutional and intellectual upheavals in England and on the continent, producing tensions between traditional ways of conceptualising politics and new religious and political realities. This book offers a study of natural law, providentialism, cosmic order, political authority, and government by consent in Protestant political thought during a transitional period in English history. It shows how the Reformation was central to the birth of modern political thought.




Protestantism and Drama in Early Modern England


Book Description

Containing detailed readings of plays by Shakespeare, Marlowe and Middleton, as well as poetry and prose, this book provides a major historical and critical reassessment of the relationship between early modern Protestantism and drama. Examining the complex and painful shift from late medieval religious culture to a society dominated by the ideas of the Reformers, Adrian Streete presents a fresh understanding of Reformed theology and the representation of early modern subjectivity. Through close analysis of major thinkers such as Augustine, William of Ockham, Erasmus, Luther and Calvin, the book argues for the profoundly Christological focus of Reformed theology and explores how this manifests itself in early modern drama. Moving beyond questions of authorial 'belief', Streete assesses Elizabethan and Jacobean drama's engagement with the challenges of the Reformation.




Open Hearts, Closed Doors


Book Description

A history of mainline Protestant responses to immigrants and refugees during the twentieth century Open Hearts, Closed Doors uncovers the largely overlooked role that liberal Protestants played in fostering cultural diversity in America and pushing for new immigration laws during the forty years following the passage of the restrictive Immigration Act of 1924. These efforts resulted in the complete reshaping of the US cultural and religious landscape. During this period, mainline Protestants contributed to the national debate over immigration policy and joined the charge for immigration reform, advocating for a more diverse pool of newcomers. They were successful in their efforts, and in 1965 the quota system based on race and national origin was abolished. But their activism had unintended consequences, because the liberal immigration policies they supported helped to end over three centuries of white Protestant dominance in American society. Yet, Pruitt argues, in losing their cultural supremacy, mainline Protestants were able to reassess their mission. They rolled back more strident forms of xenophobia, substantively altering the face of mainline Protestantism and laying foundations for their responses to today’s immigration debates. More than just a historical portrait, this volume is a timely reminder of the power of religious influence in political matters.




Calvin and the Reformed Tradition


Book Description

Richard Muller, a world-class scholar of the Reformation era, examines the relationship of Calvin's theology to the Reformed tradition, indicating Calvin's place in the tradition as one of several significant second-generation formulators. Muller argues that the Reformed tradition is a diverse and variegated movement not suitably described either as founded solely on the thought of John Calvin or as a reaction to or deviation from Calvin, thereby setting aside the old "Calvin and the Calvinists" approach in favor of a more integral and representative perspective. Muller offers historical corrective and nuance on topics of current interest in Reformed theology, such as limited atonement/universalism, union with Christ, and the order of salvation.




Religious Currents and Cross-Currents: Essays on Early Modern Protestantism and the Protestant Enlightenment


Book Description

The religious history of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Protestantism was marked by a twofold movement. On the one hand there were attempts to consolidate and, if necessary, to reaffirm the heritage of the Reformation; on the other hand, we meet a growing critical evaluation of the legacy of mainstream orthodox thought, which could lead to a process of gradual renewal and reorientation, but also to forms of more radical and controversial criticism. Conservative as well as critical tendencies can be discerned in the religious landscape on both sides of the North Sea. In spite of differences in the historical framework and spiritual culture, the developments in Great-Britain and on the Continent often present remarkable parallels, and the water of the North Sea was not too deep for creative interaction. This volume contains a number of essays which deal with various aspects of English and Dutch church history and theology in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Special attention is given to the problems surrounding the Calvinist doctrine of predestination; to English Puritanism and its impact on the Netherlands; to Jewish-Christian relations and polemics in the seventeenth century; to seventeenth-century millenarianism, in particular in the circle of the Cambridge Platonists; to the attitute of Dutch Reformed theologians to the Church of England, to eighteenth-century English and Dutch orientalist studies and to the development of enlightened ideas in the circles of English and Dutch Protestantism.




Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes


Book Description

Early modern Protestant scholars closely engaged with Islamic thought in more ways than is usually recognized. Among Protestants, Lutheran scholars distinguished themselves as the most invested in the study of Islam and Muslim culture. Mehmet Karabela brings the neglected voices of post-Reformation theologians, primarily German Lutherans, into focus and reveals their rigorous engagement with Islamic thought. Inspired by a global history approach to religious thought, Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes offers new sources to broaden the conventional interpretation of the Reformation beyond a solely European Christian phenomenon. Based on previously unstudied dissertations, disputations, and academic works written in Latin in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Karabela analyzes three themes: Islam as theology and religion; Islamic philosophy and liberal arts; and Muslim sects (Sunni and Shi‘a). This book provides analyses and translations of the Latin texts as well as brief biographies of the authors. These texts offer insight into the Protestant perception of Islamic thought for scholars of religious studies and Islamic studies as well as for general readers. Examining the influence of Islamic thought on the construction of the Protestant identity after the Reformation helps us to understand the role of Islam in the evolution of Christianity.




Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences


Book Description

This Encyclopedia offers a fresh, integrated and creative perspective on the formation and foundations of philosophy and science in European modernity. Combining careful contextual reconstruction with arguments from traditional philosophy, the book examines methodological dimensions, breaks down traditional oppositions such as rationalism vs. empiricism, calls attention to gender issues, to ‘insiders and outsiders’, minor figures in philosophy, and underground movements, among many other topics. In addition, and in line with important recent transformations in the fields of history of science and early modern philosophy, the volume recognizes the specificity and significance of early modern science and discusses important developments including issues of historiography (such as historical epistemology), the interplay between the material culture and modes of knowledge, expert knowledge and craft knowledge. This book stands at the crossroads of different disciplines and combines their approaches – particularly the history of science, the history of philosophy, contemporary philosophy of science, and intellectual and cultural history. It brings together over 100 philosophers, historians of science, historians of mathematics, and medicine offering a comprehensive view of early modern philosophy and the sciences. It combines and discusses recent results from two very active fields: early modern philosophy and the history of (early modern) science. Editorial Board EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Dana Jalobeanu University of Bucharest, Romania Charles T. Wolfe Ghent University, Belgium ASSOCIATE EDITORS Delphine Bellis University Nijmegen, The Netherlands Zvi Biener University of Cincinnati, OH, USA Angus Gowland University College London, UK Ruth Hagengruber University of Paderborn, Germany Hiro Hirai Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands Martin Lenz University of Groningen, The Netherlands Gideon Manning CalTech, Pasadena, CA, USA Silvia Manzo University of La Plata, Argentina Enrico Pasini University of Turin, Italy Cesare Pastorino TU Berlin, Germany Lucian Petrescu Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium Justin E. H. Smith University de Paris Diderot, France Marius Stan Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA Koen Vermeir CNRS-SPHERE + Université de Paris, France Kirsten Walsh University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada