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Theology in Church and University: the Post-Reformation Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Robert Scharlemann
Robert Scharlemann
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
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Extract

In the post-Reformation period one of the most significant developments concerns the understanding of the nature of theology and its relation to church and university. This development, which was related to a dual definition of theology and to a new distinction between the realms of reason and faith, began with Luther and Melanchthon and attained a preliminary crystallization with John Gerhard of the University of Jena, who was one of the chief representatives of seventeenth-century Protestant scholasticism. In this paper I wish to trace that development, which has failed to receive its due attention in accounts of Protestant theological history.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , March 1964 , pp. 23 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1964

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References

1. John Gerhard (1582–1637) serves as a point of convergence for the several theological themes of the Reformation and post-Reformation. The standard biography is that of Fischer, Erdmann, Vita Ioannis Gerhardi (Leipzig, 1723)Google Scholar. Basic studies of the post-Reformation and seventeenth century, which constitute the background of the present paper, are, in alphabetical order: Althaus, Paul, Die Prinzipien der deutschen reformierten Dogmatik im Zeitalter der aristotelischen Scholastik (Leipzig, 1914)Google Scholar; Dorner, J. A., History of Protestant Theology, tr. by Robson, George (Vol. I) and Taylor, Sophia (Vol. II) (Edinburgh, 1871)Google Scholar; Lewalter, Ernst, Spanisch-jesuitische und deutsch-lu-therische Metaphysik des 17. Jahrhunderts, Ibero-amerikanische Studien 4 (Hamburg, 1935)Google Scholar; Petersen, Peter, Geschichte der aristolelischen Philosophie im protestantischen Deutschland (Leipzig, 1921)Google Scholar; Troeltsch, Ernst, Vernunft und Offenbarung bei Johann Gerhard und Melanchthon (Göttingen, 1891)Google Scholar; Weber, Emil, Die analytische Methode der luth. Orthodoxie (Naumburg, 1907)Google Scholar, Der Einfluss der prot. Schulphilosophie auf die orthodox-lutherische Dogmatik (Lepzig, 1908)Google Scholar, and Die philosophische Scholastik des deutschen Protestantismus im Zeitalter der Orthodoxie (Leipzig, 1907)Google Scholar; and Wundt, Max, Die deutsche Schulmetaphysik des 17. Jahrhunderts, Heidelberger Abhandlungen zur Philosophie und ihrer Geschichte 22 (Tübingen, 1939).Google Scholar

2. The term “acoustic” seems more artificial than “auditory” but I use it because it is an exact parallel to “theoretic.”

3. W. A. 39 I. 45.31 and 39 1.46.3. Quoted by Hägglund, Bengt, Theologie und Philosophie bei Luther und in der occamistischen Tradition (Lund, 1955), pp. 58 and 59, n. 9.Google Scholar

4. See Schwarzenau, Paul, Der Wandel im Theologischen Ansatz bei Melanchthon von 1525–1535 (Gütersloh, 1956).Google Scholar

5. Quoted by Schwarzenau, op. cit., p. 17.

6. op. cit., p. 39.

7. Procem. 31.

8. Quoted by Hägglund, op. cit., pp. 68 f.

9. References to theLoci Theologici (Leipzig, 1885)Google Scholar given in parentheses are by Locus and paragraph.

10. It is worthy of note that “principle of Scripture” is always in the singular. Scripture is not viewed as containing principles but as being the principle, the one source from which faith draws its knowledge. Thus, theological statements are always “conclusions,” never “principles.”

11. adeo ut quicquid illis adversatur, autex iis, quae eisdem eontraria sunt, concluditur, nihil eo fallacius omnibus recte judicantibus appareat, et vicisim quicquid illis congruit, certum et firmum esse omnes statuant (Proæm. 20).

12. L. Th. XVI. A detailed analysis of this subject can be found in my forthcoming volume, Thomas Aquinas and John Gerhard (Yale University Press).

13. The acoustic character of knowledte is prominent in Heidegger (cf. e.g.: “Obedient to the voice of Being, thought seeks the word through which the truth of being may be expressed;” alike in their care of the word¨Dot; The thinker utters being. The poet names what is holy”) and Jaspers. It is fundamental also in the theology of R.Bultmann, who maintains the view that Jesus can be known as the Christ only through proclamation and not through historical research.