John of Marignolli and the Historiographical Project of Charles IV, "The First Decades of the Prague University: Transforming Intellectual Space in 14th-c. Central Europe", Centre of Medieval Studies of the Czech Academy of Science, Prague, November 6th-7th 2014 (original) (raw)
Church History and Religious Culture, 2007
Who was Cornelius Hoen? This is one of the main questions Bart Jan Spruyt intends to address in this book, a revised and expanded version of his Leiden doctoral dissertation of 1996. Yet his book aims to do more than tackle this mildly disturbing, existential question. As the subtitle suggests, it also seeks to enhance our understanding of the intellectual history of the Reformation and its medieval roots. It does so by examining the Epistola Christiana, one of the intriguing early sources of the symbolical interpretation of the Eucharist. It was written by Hoen (c. 1440-1524/25), a Dutch lawyer based in The Hague, and first published posthumously in 1525. The letter presents several arguments against the doctrine of transubstantiation, including the metonymical interpretation of the words "this is my body" to mean "this signifies my body." The treatise influenced the thought of Andreas Karlstadt and, more importantly, Huldrych Zwingli, who hailed it as "a great pearl" (p. xii). In a very brief introduction (pp. xi-xiii) that mainly describes the contents of the book, Spruyt presents his aims in the form of three questions: "Who was Hoen? What made him dissent from the current belief in transubstantiation? How influential has his treatise been?" (p. xi). The main body of the book is organised in four chapters, starting with a survey of "[t]he Hoen problem: Albert Hardenberg's Vita Wesseli Groningensis and Cornelius Henrici Hoen's fortuna critica" (p. 1). Somewhat confusingly, Spruyt does not explain precisely what "the Hoen problem" is, nor how the concept of "critical fortune" relates to the more familiar terminology of reception, appropriation or influence. After a description of the main early modern sources of information about Hoen, the chapter shows how scholars read and used the Epistola Christiana from various confessional perspectives until the arrival of "the modern era of detached and scholarly study of the history of Christianity," as Spruyt calls it in truly neo-Rankian style (p. 1). This survey of the "apologetic abuse" of Hoen in earlier scholarship is followed by a brief overview of modern "detached and critical studies" by Cornelis Augustijn, Alastair Duke, and Johannes Trapman (pp. 39-42). In the second chapter, Spruyt provides a biographical account, situating Hoen in the social, political, and intellectual contexts of his time. Erasmus' correspondence is adduced to illuminate Hoen's humanist credentials. Erasmus
Church History, 1999
Jahrbuch fuW r Antike und Christentum,-. Edited by Ernst Dassmann and others. Pp. incl. illsj pull-out plan and plates. Mu$ nster Westfalen : Aschendorff, . DM . ; The present volume of the Jahrbuch fuW r Antike und Christentum provides an insight into the recovery of the study of late antiquity and historical theology after the war as a combined discipline, and its continued vigour on the continent under the leadership of Ernst Dassmann at Bonn. Two chapters are devoted to the origins of the publication of the first volume of the Reallexikon fuW r Antike und Christentum in , overcoming appalling difficulties, and the lively correspondence between its first editor, Theodor Klauser, and Jan Waszink that preceded this event. Today their successors have amply justified their vision. On the historical side, Georg Scho$ llgen seeks to correct what he sees as neglect by scholars of the church constitutions of the second, third and fourth centuries, such as the DidacheT and the Apostolic Constitutions. Cannot these throw light on actual conditions prevailing in their Churches or regions of origin at least, on some of the problems that exercised them ? Klaus Rosen's lecture at the annual meeting of the Franz Do$ lger Institute traces the religious development of the Emperor Julian from childhood wonder at the brilliance of the sun's rays to devoted worshipper of King Helios. His second contribution, however, on the Acta of the martyr Crispina, executed at Theveste on December , adds little to Paul Monceaux's views in Histoire litteT raire de l'Afrique chreT tienne, iii. - (Paris ). The second part of the Acta are almost certainly a Donatist compilation, not surprisingly in view of the importance of Theveste and its great pilgrimage church in the life of that movement. Elsewhere, Ulrich Eigler examines evidence for stylistic borrowing in Sidonius Apollinaris's account of his journey to Rome from the poet Horace's report of a similar journey to the capital more than four centuries before. Karin Alt devotes a lengthy study to Hippolytus of Rome's first and sixth books of the Refutatio in which he blames, without due understanding, Plato and Pythagoras as the inspiration of all existing heresies. Archaeology is represented by Sebastian Ristow's detailed examination of the evidence for an early episcopal complex below Cologne cathedral. He concludes, however, that nothing of that nature can be established with certainty before the mid sixth century, though a baptismal church and associated Christian structures may have existed nearby. Detailed scholarly reviews, not least Winrich Lo$ hr's assessment of Gerd Lu$ demann's Ketzer : die andere Seite des fruW hen Christentums conclude a volume which, as usual, maintains the highest standards of production and illustration.
A Reevaluation of a Medieval Polemical Manuscript
AJS Review, 1976
Fragment A2 of MS Or. 53 of the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Rome, though only five folios in length, provides the student of medieval Jewish history with fresh insights into the development of Jewish anti-Christian polemics. The manuscript appears to have been written in response to heightened anti-Jewish propaganda that emerged in Northern France as a result of the visit to that area by Paul Christian in 1269. The work is a compilation of arguments against Christianity drawn from the polemical traditions of Northern France, Germany and Provence. It also contains excerpts from the so-called Vikkuaḥ ha-RaMBaN, the Hebrew account of the debate on the Talmud held in Barcelona in 1263. Analysis of the material indicates that the manuscript does not contain the record of a face-to-face disputation between Paul Christian and a Jew named Menaḥem, as has been suggested. Arguments assumed to be related to such a meeting can be traced back to extant literary sources that predate the 1260...
Religious Toleration and Literary Dialogues in the Bohemian Reformation (1436–1517)
Searching for Compromise?, 2022
Literary dialogues can be counted amongst one of the most important genres for the discourse of irenicism. In this essay, I focus on the writings of three authors of tolerant dialogues from the early period of the Bohemian Reformation (1436–1516): Dialogus by Jan of Rabštejn, the Bolognian Dispute by Václav Písecký, and two dialogues by Mikuláš Konáč of Hodíškov. Humanism has a major impact both on the irenicism and on the form and use of the dialogues in Bohemia. The degree of humanistic influence is very different among the three above-mentioned authors. Jan of Rabštejn shaped his Dialogus carefully according to the rules of Ciceronian sermo. However, Rabštejn sometimes consciously broke the rules of the genre to point out to two different interpretational levels—the level of practical politics and theoretical debate. Václav Písecký chose a different path. He decided to emulate a rarely used Socratic dialogue. He considered this form more suitable for defending the communion sub utraque. Irenicism is not the main theme of his work; he describes his attitude only in a short passage, but his tolerance is remarkable. Moreover, Řehoř Hrubý, translator of his work, tried to stress this tolerant passage by emphasizing the dialogue form, placing this short passage as the main message of the text in accompanying paratexts. The most complex treatment of the issue of religious coexistence is presented in dialogues by Mikuláš Konáč. In older, more “idealistic” Rozmluvanie, Konáč speaks strictly against the use of force in religious issues. His second dialogue is simpler and uses the domestic Hussite tradition to a greater extent, including some polemical strategies. However, his critical remarks concerning the Bohemian Brethren are, quite paradoxically, aimed to support the coexistence of Utraquists and Romans based on Basel Compacts. The main innovation of these authors was not in the ideas and arguments used in the texts but in the reshaping of the form and purpose of literary dialogues by applying them in the defense of tolerance and introduction of elements of the humanistic sermo. The dialogues present a wide range of motives, ideas, and influences. The abhorrence of forceful conversion is probably the most important element of the tolerant dialogues. But there are other common links between the authors, especially their endeavor for the common good (even though this term denoted different things for different authors), emphasis on the natural reason and law, and the notion of faith as the “free gift of God.”
Developments in Structuring of Reformed Theology: The Synopsis Purioris Theologiae (1625) as Example
Reformation und Rationalität, 2015
The Synopsis Purioris Theologiae (1625), an influential handbook of Reformed dogmatics, began as a cycle of disputations. A comparison of it with the cycles that were held previously in Leiden reveals some shifts in the structure of Reformed dogmatics. After introducing the Synopsis, this paper highlights the function of prolegomena, the place of predestination, and the relationship between the magistrate and eschatology. It concludes that the choices made in the Synopsis illustrate the tensions in Reformed theology. After the conflict with the Remonstrants it became urgent to carefully define the character of theology in the prolegomena, to relate predestination to the person and work of Christ, and to connect the task of the magistrate to the doctrine of the church. Ever since the publication of the several editions of John Calvin's Institutes, the truly edifying manner of presentation (recte ordo docendi) became important to the Reformed tradition Muller : 2000, 118 -139; Holder : 2009, 387). Other early structures which influenced Protestant dogmatics were the Loci Communes compiled by Phillip Melanchthon and Peter Martyr Vermigli. The structure of these three works, however, does not immediately flow from the practice of teaching. During the process of confessionalization, however, there were dogmatic textbooks that began as series of disputations that were held at the universities in Protestant countries. One of these textbooks, the Synmposis Purioris Theologiae, was published in the Netherlands shortly after the Synod of Dort, and the structure of this book reveals some of the tensions in Reformed theology, for instance, the debate on predestination and the church-state relationship. Before turning to the structure of the Synopsis, we shall first provide a short introduction of the work and four authors. 1 In 1625, six years after the Synod of Dort (1618 -19) the theological faculty of Leiden University published an important summary of reformed theology, titled Synopsis of Purer Theology. The Synopsis had its origins in a series of public disputations that were held at Leiden from 1620 -1624, and the arrangement of its chapters reflects he order of these disputations. Thus the structure of the Synopsis shows how the topics were arranged, not only systematically but also didactically. The preface of the Synopsis, from 28 December 1624, dedicates the work to the States-general of Holland and West-Friesland. The four authors hope that the book will be like the North Star for the students and claim that it shows the "total single-mindedness in what we believe and think, and that we share a consensus in all the headings of theology" (Te Velde: 2013, &). After the controversy between Jacobus Arminius and Franciscus Gomarus in Leiden, the faculty wanted to display theological unity. Johannes Polyander à Kerckhoven (1568 -1646) was the only one of the four authors who had served as professor before the Synod of Dort. Previously he had studied at Heidelberg and Geneva. In 1591 he was called to minister to the Walloon church in Dordrecht, and in 1611 he was appointed as professor of theology in Leiden, and he occupied the chair Gomarus had vacated. He was known as a peaceable man and irenic theologian. He had to accept the Remonstrant Simon Episcopius as a colleague, but both were free to teach according to their own insights. In 1619 the States of Holland and West-Friesland reformed the university by removing Epsicopius and appointing three new professors of theology. Antonius Walaeus (1573 -1639) of Middelburg was asked to teach dogmatics. Walaeus was born in Ghent and had studied in Leiden. He had been a delegate to the Synod of Dort on behalf of Zeeland. He taught in Leiden for twenty years and founded a special seminary to train pastors for the West-Indies, the Collegium Indicum. The second new professor, Antonius Thysius from Harderwijk, was appointed to teach Old Testament. He was born in Antwerp and had also studied Arts and Theology in Leiden. In 1601 he started as professor of Grammar and Logic in Harderwijk and he too had been a delegate to the Synod of Dort. In the fall of 1620 Andreas Rivetus (1572 -1651) was added to the faculty. Rivet had served as a pastor in France and was expected to attract French 1 For an extensive introduction, see Sinnema/van den Belt (2012). I thank Donald Sinnema for his permission to use this joint article as a basis for this short introduction. I thank Riemer Faber for some helpful comments and for proofreading my text.