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Lutheran catholicity, 2001

Concordia Theological Quarterly, 2004

Concordia Theological Quarterly, 2008

According to Melanchthon in the Apology, the eighth article of the Augustana was added to allay a... more According to Melanchthon in the Apology, the eighth article of the Augustana was added to allay any fear on the part of the Romanists that the Lutherans were sixteenth century Donatists. 1 The Roman Confutation had rejected Augustana 7 because the definition of the church as the "assembly of saints" appeared to suggest that the true church was so abstracted from the visible, sacramental church that one could not speak of evil persons or hypocrites as in any way associated with the church. As the Confutation makes clear, the Romanists had especially in mind the doctrine of the church enunciated by John Hus a century earlier. Hus had taught that the church, as the body of those predestined by God, was essentially invisible and had no head on earth, its head being Christ in heaven. The Council of Constance (1414-1418) had condemned this view as heretical, and now the Romanists smelled the odor of the same view in Augustana 7. No doubt Luther's early insistence on the spiritual and inward character of the church in opposition to the papal, institutional definition of the church fueled Rome's suspicions in this regard. It was, therefore, with regard to Rome's sensitivities to "Donatist" notions that Melanchthon added Augustana 8. However, practical considerations also raised the question of "Donatist" exclusivism for the Lutherans. The "evil men and hypocrites" which Augustana 8 had in mind were not just any sinful minister. They were the Roman bishops and especially the pope who, in areas unprotected by evangelical civil authorities, were not allowing the free preaching of the gospel of justification and who were in fact persecuting those who did. The question raised then by many was: "Are we allowed to partake of the sacraments administered by these bishops and their subordinate priests." Augustana 8 in effect answers: "Yes, you may with clear conscience partake at the tables where Roman priests and bishops preside, and you may with complete faith believe that there the true sacraments are being administered. For not the personal quality of the administrant, but the command and ordinance of Christ constitute and make efficacious the sacraments." 268 CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY I. The Thinking of the Early Church A. General Considerations The historical context which makes sense of the inclusion of Article Eight in the Augustana informs us that Donatisrn is not an abstract posture but takes shape ever anew as new contingencies arise and raise anew the question of Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life" (John 6:68). Indeed, in the history of the church the answer to Peter's question-"Where can the truth be found?"-has often been as important as the question, "What is the truth?" In fact, to locate the truth goes a long way toward defining the truth. It was not accidental, therefore, that struggles in the early church against the over-spiritualization of the Gnostics resulted in definitions of the truth that were intimately and also inseparably bound to institutional formation, whether that be the canonical shape of the Scriptures, the shape of the creed, or the office of bishop. Indeed, in their application the words of Peter do not distinguish between Jesus, who has the words of eternal life, and someone else to whom the disciples might go. Rather, the question is this: "To whom might we go in order that there we may hear the words of eternal life which are none other than the words of Jesus?" To whom shall we go in order that the words of Jesus ("who hears you, hears Me," Luke 10:16) may be recognized and heard. Where is Jesus-and with Him the Holy Spirit-to be located?

The Catholic Historical Review, 2001

Deux mille ans d'histoire de l'eT glise. Bilan et perspectives historiographiques. Edited by J. P... more Deux mille ans d'histoire de l'eT glise. Bilan et perspectives historiographiques. Edited by J. Pirotte and E. Louchez. Pp. . (Revue d'histoire eccle! siastique, , .) (). Louvain-la-Neuve : Louvain University Press.   JEH ()  ; DOI : .\S The centenary of a great learned journal, a notable event both for individual readers and for libraries, is proper matter for a deep salute to the twin universities of Leuven\Louvain. This special volume celebrating the RHE contains thirtynine papers on selected problems in the two millennia of past Christian history. A discernible emphasis lies on the sense of tension between traditional conservative catholic theology and the assumptions of modernity. Some good essays on hagiography include an admirable stress on the scholarly achievements of the Bollandists, especially (but not only) Hippolyte Delehaye, who broke new ground by applying strict historical method to texts which, even when far from being sober and dry records, could often contain social history of high value. Mathlijs Lamberigts contributes a major paper on the modern rehabilitation of Pelagius, whose ' ism ' was largely a construct of his opponents and who found considerable sympathy in the Greek Churches. W. Frijhoff comments on rationalist histories of sorcery and demon possession. Two sections discuss the delicate topic of church authority, including a sympathetic piece by Bruno Neveu on the treatment of Jansenism, the problems of recruiting clergy and religious in western Europe, and the rise of an audible voice on the part of women and Catholic laity. Ecumenism, particularly Catholic-Orthodox dialogue, is handled perhaps more nervously but has developed a convincing method and offers a good process of education for those Catholics and Protestants to whom ecumenism is a polite term for treachery. J. A. Komonchak has here a candid piece on religious freedom and the confessional state. Emile Poulat, expert on Loisy and Modernism, reconsiders some of the lasting problems. Finally, the grand master Roger Aubert concludes the collection, analysing the distinct assumptions of those who think church history no branch of theology but only of history. The point is perhaps worth making here that theology has not only had but retains a decisive role in the formation of the central narrative.

The New Testament Age. Essays in Honor of Bo Reicke. Volume I, 1984

The New Testament Age. Essays in Honor of Bo Reicke. Volume II, 1984

The Jewish Quarterly Review, 1980

... Macon GA 31207 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America All books publishe... more ... Macon GA 31207 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America All books published by Mercer University Press are produced on acid-free paper that exceeds the minimum standards set by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. ... Bo Ivar. ...

Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2002

Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2000

Church History, 2005

When I was a student at Basel, Oscar Cullmann once told me that New Testament studies were incomp... more When I was a student at Basel, Oscar Cullmann once told me that New Testament studies were incomplete without a corresponding appreciation of early church history. If Professor Cullmann's remark is correct, much New Testament study seems very incomplete indeed! One could not, however, make that claim of Larry Hurtado. In this history of devotion (by which Hurtado means "the beliefs and related religious actions that constituted the expressions of religious reverence of early Christians" [3]) to Jesus in earliest Christianity (ca. 30-170 C.E.), the breadth of the material discussed is truly monumental and impressive, ranging from the earliest Christian sources (Paul) to Justin Martyr, from the canonical Gospels to Secret Mark, the Infancy Gospels, and the Nag Hammadi texts. However, Cullmann's remark also signified a belief that the relation between the New Testament texts and the later (central/orthodox) tradition of the early church was primarily one of continuity, not one of discontinuity. Perhaps the most important historical contribution of this massive work by Hurtado is that the claim for continuity has here received a substantive and very broad-based justification. Hurtado concludes: "I contend that... earliest Christianity (ca. 30-170 C.E.) provided the major convictions, and the parameters of belief and devotional practice as well, that shaped the subsequent developments in Christian tradition, which in turn came to be dominant and which form our picture of classical Christian faith" (649). Of course, such a view has many and significant detractors, which provide the scholarly context for the importance of this book. Still influential, although with multiple modifications of it in later studies, is the comprehensive work of Wilhelm Bousset, Kyrios Christos: A History of the Belief in Christ from the Beginnings of Christianity to Irenaeus (German: 1913, 1921; Nashville: Abingdon, 1970). A major figure of the History of Religions School, Bousset claimed a fundamental discontinuity between an earliest "primitive community" of Palestinian Jewish Christians and a later (although still first-century) Hellenistic Gentile Christianity in which Jesus was worshipped as a divine Lord by way of syncretistic influences from the surrounding pagan environment. Paul was converted into this Gentile Christianity, and the later, yet still early, Christian figures such as Ignatius, Justin, and Irenaeus more fully developed this Gentile pattern of Christian faith as it developed into the classic, patristic faith of dogma and institution. While fully respectful of Bousset's work and the prodigious scholarship it both reflected and spawned, Hurtado intentionally seeks to replace Bousset's book as the standard account of the history of early Christian belief and devotional practice. After a brief, but fair, summary of Bousset's argument, Hurtado makes the judgment that Bousset made serious errors in his portrayal of the first Jewish Christian community and in his description of the devotion of Paul and of his churches: "These alone are major reasons to set aside Kyrios Christos as an account of the development of Christ-devotion" (5-26, quotation 23).

Vigiliae Christianae, 1983

... Spirit and martyrdom: A study of the work of the Holy Spirit in contexts of persecution and m... more ... Spirit and martyrdom: A study of the work of the Holy Spirit in contexts of persecution and martyrdom in the New Testament and early Christian literature. ... SUBJECT(S): Martyrdom (Christianity); Persecution; Holy Spirit; History; History of doctrines; Early church, ca. 30-600. ...