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This essay explores humanist responses to the style and rhetoric of biblical prophecy, focusing on the perceived differences between Isaiah, whose style was generally praised as urbane and forceful, and the other prophets, whose styles were seen as simple and rustic by comparison. Scholars have recognized Isaiah's elevated place among the writing Hebrew prophets in the history of Christian theology, worship, and art, but they have not considered the stylistic and rhetorical dimensions of Isaian exceptionalism, nor have they considered its implications for Reformation era theology and sacred rhetoric. I argue that, for early modern Protestants and Catholics, Isaiah was a central figure in the process of defining and evaluating prophetic style, and in turn the style and rhetoric of the Bible generally, because of the exceptional quality of his style, which allowed them to defend the stylistic quality and power of biblical writing against its detractors (real and perceived) by appealing to Isaiah, whom they presented as more eloquent and powerful than classical rhetoricians like Demosthenes and Cicero. I also argue that, for early Protestants, Isaiah was not only a central but also a complicating figure in this process, because his exceptional style often led them into disagreements over the character and quality of biblical style generally, as well as the implications of biblical style for the study and application of rhetoric in preaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dāsarapada-s are compositions of Haridāsa-s of Karnataka. The Haridāsa-s were mainly followers of Shri Madhwacharya, who considered themselves as servants of their Supreme Lord – Hari. They composed various compositions on subjects like devotion. Their teachings covered a wide spectrum of philosophy, religion, ritual, theology, social reformation, ethical conduct etc. The purpose of these songs was to teach the common man about devotion and philosophy. They are mainly composed in simple Kannada language and few in Sanskrit. Music was used as the medium to make these ideas reach people. These were set to music and people learnt it as songs. This paper attempts to study the adaptation of a Dāsarapada in Karnataka classical music and Sugama Saṅgīta version, and to examine the musical elements of the song in both these versions. This is a case study of the Dāsarapada “Nānēke baḍavanu, nānēke paradēśi”, which has two popular versions – the Karnataka classical music, sung by M. S. Subbulakshmi and Sugama Saṅgīta version, tuned by Mysore Anantaswamy and sung by Pushpa Jagadish which was released as part of MSIL geethegalu by Lahari Bhavageethegalu & Folk – T-Series. The scope of this paper is restricted to the study of the above-mentioned two versions and the other musical adaptations of this song are not considered for this study. Data for this study comprises of recordings of the two versions of this song. Analysis has been carried out based on the following parameters – structure, melodic features, rhythmic features, instruments, synchronization of music and meaning in Karnataka classical music and Sugama Saṅgīta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On occasion of the celebrations for the fifth centenary of Guy de Brès' birth, as well as the publication of the first volume of the critical edition of his theological works, this article aims at analysing the epistle-like preface and Catalogue des Docteurs et Conciles included in de Brès' first theological/polemical treatise, entitled Le baston de la foy chrestienne (first published in 1555). The preface is placed within the context of anti-Anabaptist polemics and in continuity with previous Reformed efforts to convince civil authorities across Europe that the Reformed church did not harbour seditious troublemakers or detested heretics; the Catalogue of doctors and councils, alongside the preface, constitutes a summary of the apologetical and polemical reply Le baston expressed against a Roman Catholic work by Nicole Grenier entitled Le bouclier de la foy and directed against Reformed believers and their doctrine. While the patristic and canonical sources used by de Brès for the writing of Le baston remain to be fleshed out more precisely, the critical edition of Le baston will shed new light on this and other matters, representing a further step towards the understanding of the life and theology of a key protagonist of the European Reformation of the mid sixteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers the activities of the prominent Lutheran reformer Johannes Bugenhagen (1485–1556) in the period from the 1530s to 1550s. The principal approaches to the reformer’s legacy in the historiography of the 19th to early 21st centuries are summarized. The main directions of Bugenhagen’s pursuits in the ecclesiastical, theological, political, and organizational spheres are analyzed. The article shows that Bugenhagen played a key role in the drafting and promulgation of a number of evangelical church statutes. It is noted that the church statute model developed by Bugenhagen for Brunswick, Hamburg, and Lübeck was widely adopted across many evangelical territories in Germany and abroad; in particular, attention is given to Bugenhagen’s reform work in Denmark. It is argued that Bugenhagen’s revision of church law along Reformation principles was associated with changes in other branches of law. It is emphasized that after the Schmalkaldic War of 1546– 1547 Bugenhagen remained one of the leaders of the evangelical forces and continued his reform work in the church and the University of Wittenberg. In the 1550s, he actively collaborated with such representatives of the ‘second generation’ of Lutheran supporters as Paul Eber, Martin Chemnitz, Andreas Wolf, and David Hitrois, as shown in his correspondence. The article analyzes Bugenhagen’s approach to theological problems, which was determined by the desire to affirm the ideas of Lutheranism in all aspects of church life; in particular, the reformer’s work in the last years of his life is considered. The author concludes that Johannes Bugenhagen achieved marked success in a number of spheres, combining theory and practice in dealing with the most important theological, political, and organizational issues of the day. The reformer’s principal achievements in the period from the 1530s to 1550s were the creation of a number of evangelical statutes, further development of the Lutheran dogma, and participation in the overhaul of university education. His active and varied pursuits strengthened Wittenberg’s connections with other centers of the evangelical movement, thus facilitating the spread of Lutheran confessionalization in Germany and other countries.

The article focuses on Thomas Müntzer's interpretation of justification amidst the backdrop of Luther's dominance in the Reformation's theological discourse. It examines Müntzer's critique of Luther's justification doctrine, his evolving relationship with Luther and other reformers, and Müntzer's perspective on the process of salvation, emphasizing the critical differences between his views and Luther's theological stance and his divergence from Luther's views on the nature of justification.

The article focuses on the interplay between French humanists and the emerging religious complexities during the early sixteenth century, exploring how they navigated confessional choices amidst the Reformation's outbreak. It analyzes their use of skeptical argumentation, humanistic collatio, and Nicodemism to evade confessional pressures while examining their evolving relationship with the Reformation and the French crown's shifting theological positions.

The genre of the epitome, a digest or summary of a larger work or body of information, served all late medieval and early modern academic disciplines as a form for conveying material in a form easier to learn, master, and put to use. Epitomes served the Wittenberg Reformation in this way. This essay examines different types of this genre. Martin Luther's Small Catechism, the Epitome of the Formula of Concord, and the index of Johann Aurifaber's printed edition of Luther's Tischreden , designed as other indices of the time to guide readers to the proper use of the document, can serve as examples of how the authors of these three documents strove to provide a basic guide to proper biblical teaching for application in the life of the church. Epitomes were thus not mere summaries, but had a theological and at the same time didactic purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines a section of the Roman Catholic rite of the Mass, the offertory, investigating the relationship between theological ideas and the latest reform of liturgical practice (1969). How did the dogmatic theology, developed from the Middle Ages until the age of the Protestant Reformation, influence the liturgical reform under Paul VI? This is taken as a case to thematise the interplay between theological datum (lex credendi) and practical datum (lex orandi). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Notes Muzyczny is the property of Akademia Muzyczna im. Grazyny i Kiejstuta Bacewiczow w Lodzi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

One could argue that a mass dedicated to the Virgin of Loreto is an unusual choice for Erasmus. His Liturgy of the Virgin Mother Venerated at Loreto (Virginis Matris apud Lauretum cultae liturgia , 1523, 1525, 1529) would prove such an argument wrong, as this overlooked text reveals much of Erasmus' theory of accommodatio , his approach to liturgy and the cult of Mary, and his vision of the church and his spiritual exegesis, even in the midst of the Reformation's turmoil. This article proposes a close reading of the 1525 edition, which will contextualize Erasmus' portrait of Mary in her moral values and in the de-eroticization and purification of the medieval, Catholic model, which he re-affirms in the same years in which his controversy with Luther unfolded. Moreover, the sermon presents a rarefied and intellectual variant of the feminine imagery of the bride, which I will analyze as being systematically integrated into Erasmus' theology of progress and ecclesiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In these lines we study Luther’s theology of work through his main works, as well as the recent contributions in this confessional field based on the Reformer’s doctrine. On the one hand, work is presented by these authors as a continuation of creation, with hardly any reference to the work of Jesus, except for the allusions to the theology of the cross. Moreover, the question of whether work is a divine punishment, a consequence of original sin, or something related to the Christian’s own vocation is latent. This understanding evolved over time in recent Lutheran authors. Finally, the question of whether this conception of work is more of a social-spiritual order, or whether it also has a theological foundation, is addressed here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The controversy over the New Apostolic Reformation (see previous article) can overshadow a different, more biblically grounded approach to mobilizing 'apostles' and 'prophets' strategically in church planting in mission. These excerpts from apostolic leader Joseph Mattera's recent book present the biblical basis and positive potential of this approach, along with insightful distinctions between true and false apostles and challenges facing the church in Latin America, Africa and the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The New Apostolic Reformation, among the latest in a long series of theological and practical controversies among independent charismatics, has significant impact on evangelicals globally, especially through the music produced by Bethel Church in California. Along with conducting extensive research using primary sources, the author of this article has personally experienced the NAR's impact in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common motif in late medieval and early modern Northern European art is the "pillar-biter." Usually, the pillar-biter is depicted as a man who clings to a column while biting into it, but there are also representations of men and women who embrace or kiss columns. In the iconographic literature, the motif is usually linked to religious hypocrisy and the dissimulation of piety. But why did premodern Europeans associate columns and pillars with religious hypocrisy? To answer this question, the essay explores the pillar-biter motif in four different contexts: visual and linguistic traditions; ecclesiastical discourses and theology; popular piety and material religion; and, lastly, the sea change brought about by the Reformation. The column may seem a mere architectural element to the modern eye, but premodern viewers associated it with a host of religious practices and controversies that have fallen into oblivion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protestantism is usually thought of as rejecting the figure of Mary as a collaborator in Christ's redemption. In Luther's commentary on the Magnificat (1521), we can see that this doctrine would continue to evolve throughout his life, and would not always be free of apparent ambiguities. Luther extolled the figure of Mary, but at the same time he could not avoid reinterpreting her according to the presuppositions of the doctrine of justification and his theology of the Cross, and he understands the figure of Mary as a Mater dolorosa, as one who participates in a special way in the sorrow of her Son. Her union with the Saviour means she shares his pain. In these lines, we intend to look at the main points proposed by the German reformer in his new perspective on Mariology, and the possible influence of this change in spirituality on painting, for example, in The Crucifixion (1532) by Luther's personal friend Lucas Cranach the Elder, and we propose a comparison with The Lamentation of Christ (1502), painted before the Reformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trust is understood as a practical attitude; that is inwardly accepted opinion expressed through an action and approached preferably as relational phenomenon. One of the possible ways to explore trust is exploring relationships where trust is manifested or which due to its violation face a crisis. The study shortly examines the theme of trust in Scripture, then explain the dispute about relation between trust and faith during the Reformation era, continues with the question about relation between an act of faith and a content of faith covered by the fundamental theology, and concludes presenting the theology of trust as it has been developing in the latest decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium Graecae et Latinae is the property of Adam Mickiewicz University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This essay explores Robert Elsmere (1888) by Mary Augusta Ward (Mrs. Humphry Ward) in the context of twenty-first-century challenges to the secularization thesis. It claims that Ward's vision of a messianic "New Reformation," and her conception of a modern, progressive form of faith, are entangled with regressive nineteenth-century ideas about race. It argues that in its articulation of Protestant liberal theology, which is grounded in the German Higher Criticism, the novel not only endorses a racialized, anti-Judaic supersessionism that is enacted in both plot and character-structure, but also embraces a Teutonic supremacy that anticipates aspects of contemporary Christian nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article draws a new profile of one of the main representatives of the first phase of the Italian Radical Reformation, Camillo Renato. It argues that humanist philological criticism, the ‚border' culture of the Valtellina, and even Venetian urban life contributed to the highly original character of his constantly evolving theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the surprisingly positive attitude towards pilgrimage and saints that developed within mainstream Lutheran faith during the Seventeenth Century. To acknowledge this strand in the theology of the 1600s in some ways runs contrary to what is often stated about the period, the heyday of Lutheran Orthodoxy, and to a certain extent incompatible with what is generally perceived as 'Lutheran'. I aim to show the 1600s as a period with a great curiosity towards the development of new devotional practice, and a time when the search for devotional tools which could help the individual to come closer to Christ led theologians to explore texts and ideas that at least superficially could be seen as belonging to the Catholic side of the confessional divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reporting on the 14th International Congress for Luther Research, "Word and World: Luther across Borders," held in Thousand Oaks, California, on August 14–19, 2022, with brief reflections on the history, rationale, and organization of the Congress, as well as on future opportunities for Luther scholarship to engage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the seventeenth-century discussion among representatives of the so-called Second Dutch Reformation about the two covenants God established with human beings, the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. This teaching was originally developed by Gisbertus Voetius and Johannes Cocceius, two great proponents of Federal Theology. More specifically, the author discusses how two disciples of Voetius, Herman Vitsius and Wilhelmus à Brakel, dealt with the covenant of works and its progressive abrogation as proposed by Cocceius. Initially the article demonstrates how these theologians defended the existence and necessity of the covenant of works. Then it presents the way in which Witsius and à Brakel argued about a key element in the covenant of works, God's law, both in its natural and symbolic aspects. Finally, it shows how the Dutch theologians considered the abrogation of the covenant of works. On one hand, such covenant is still valid, since man remains bound to the obligations of God's law; on the other hand, the possibility of achieving the promise of eternal life through human works of justice was abolished, making it necessary that a Mediator obtain such promise on behalf of the elect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hugh Latimer's 1548 "Sermon of the Plough" is well-known as an example of early English evangelical rhetoric. However, the sermon has often been considered as an effect of, rather than a participant in, evangelical theology. This article reads Latimer's rhetoric, especially his creation of a persona, as fully theological, using Melanchthon's valorization of rhetoric over logic as a model. Latimer's sermon produces an authority that is not limited to Latimer himself, but serves as a reformation of Catholic notions of the authoritative role of the Church, a role based upon the rhetorically effective presentation of the Bible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on advent postil and Christmas Postil of 1522 and preaching gained great theological importance in the Reformation. It mentions preaching was demanded by and was designed to appeal to the increasingly educated and curious urban dwellers. It also mentions Luther to concentrate on the exposition of the epistle and gospel texts designated for Sundays and festivals.

To speal of transformation is a new approach in ecumenical theology. it is related to a new tendency in reformation history research to interpret the reformation as a complex transformation pmcess in the transitional period from the Middle Ages to the modem era rather tharn as a departure point into modemity. The term "transformation" has also been used occasionally in research of the history of dogma. This article explores to which extent it ma1es sense to spea1 of transformations in ecumenical research as well, in doing so, however, a number of impHcations arise that primarily concern the goal of ecumenism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To theologically substantiate my argument over the end of the Reformation, I will probe into the following questions that I am asked by people in communities: What hinders us from partaking together of the Lord's Table? The understanding of the Eucharist (real presence, sacrificial character)? The ministry? The doctrine of the Church and apostolic succession? Or the doctrine of justification? And last but not least: If the church-dividing Reformation has come to an end after all, what reforms are in store? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theophrastus Bombastus Von Hohenheim (1493–1541), known as Paracelsus, was a German-Swiss Renaissance man. His interests included alchemy and medicine. During the early 1500s, he worked as a physician, introducing mineral-based therapies to treat ailments. He is credited with developing the first recipe for laudanum, a powerful opium-based pain medication. He had radical beliefs, claiming that supreme knowledge could be reached by observing nature, not by reading books. He expressed rebellious opinions on religious topics and, though devoted Christian, criticized the Catholic Church, preaching that the spirit of Christianity dwells in the human soul and not within the church walls. Paracelsus' efforts to "renovate" the expression of the Christian faith by limiting the ritual and augmenting the spirituality among believers are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the content of the «Theological Disputation against Metaphysics» by William Ames, one of the creators of Puritan theology. It is shown that Ames’ disputation against metaphysics and the line of his argumentation, firstly, goes back to the scholastic discussions about the content of Corpus Aristotelicum, and secondly, is rooted in the criticism of secular knowledge that was given by the Reformers (Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon and others). Besides, it was a moment in the confessional debate with the project of the Catholic «natural theology», presented by Suarez’s treatises. At last, it substantiates a new understanding of human activity, associated primarily with the practical, rather than contemplating meaning of human life that reflects the characteristic of the Post-Reformation culture.

The article focuses on Reformation in the Swedish Empire is commonly known as the King's Reformation. It mentions religious-theologically induced transformations that are carried out by politics and authorities either accompanied by waiting or in real cooperation. It also mentions main source for the reconstruction of the political relationships, beyond that, through further primary sources and secondary literature.

In the last decades 'theologies of retrieval' have become a popular way of doing systematic theology and reconnecting pre-modern authors with contemporary theological issues. This 'retrieval' of history within systematic theology is, however, not without its moral challenges. Certainly, today we have become more conscious of our presumptions and one-sidedness in our interpretations of historical events (e.g. the Dutch 'golden' age). A theology of retrieval can hence quickly be used to serve particular contemporary theological ends that fail to do justice to the complexity of the actual sources and run the risk of 'overemplotting' the past. Based on an exploration of James McClendon's retrieval of the Radical Reformation in his baptist vision, an argument is made for a more conscious 'art of historical conversation' within present-day systematic theology, especially theologies of retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay studies Robert Persons's understanding of the reforms of Mary i of England within the continental discursive context in which he worked. By describing his critiques of Marian reforms together with similar reformist discourses in France and Spain, it is argued that his ideas represent a common Counter-Reformation polemical stance and a set of normal Catholic assumptions about the 'political' and institutional reforms necessary to combat heresy. Persons's thoughts about the 'political' reforms within a broader field of spiritual imperatives serve as a reminder that the Counter-Reformation was necessarily about politics despite scholarly emphasis on issues of theology and religious practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The artistic figure and music of Johann Sebastian Bach looms large in the history of Western arts and culture. His influences were many, but one strong influence in his life's work was that of the Protestant Reformation and the theology of the Lutheran church. Through this research, it is evident that Bach strongly held to the doctrines and theology of the Lutheran church and that his employment in the Lutheran church was not merely a vocation for him, but an outward expression of his inward religious and theological conviction. This position is evidenced by the writings and teachings of Martin Luther, specifically his writings on music. In these writings, Luther argues that music and theology are complementary of one another, and that music in the church is one of the strongest ways through which to communicate theology and the truth of scripture. The practice of the Lutheran church also suggests that Bach had a strong understanding of Lutheran theology, specifically the Lutheran catechisms. Finally, in the sacred works of Bach himself, specifically his cantatas, the theology of the Lutheran church and the religious conviction of the Protestant Reformation can be clearly observed. This research has been assembled through the study of historical documentation in the form of primary and secondary sources.

Introduction to the 7th volume of the almanack

In what way is Nietzsche's infamous late aphorism, 'God is dead', related to a general attack on theology and its intellectual practices? In Twilight of the Idols, he remarks: 'I'm afraid we're not rid of God because we still believe in grammar.' Reason, he decries, has become mired in linguistic rules long determined by the requirements of scholastic philosophy, whether of medieval theology or of Immanuel Kant. Nietzsche dismisses these as die Sprach-Metaphysik ('metaphysics of language'). In this essay I examine Nietzsche's attack on theology via his long-term struggle with the ideas of Luther, once the idol of Goethe's German enlightenment, and now, Nietzsche insists, its arch-enemy. To do this, I re-examine Luther's theology of language, especially in the early Lectures on Romans (1515–1516). Luther's own attack on scholasticism is founded on a theology of reading which has unexpected affinities with Nietzsche. By placing this in a revised genealogy of hermeneutics from Nietzsche to Heidegger, it is possible to see theology as less deterministic and metaphysical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This collection of essays arose from the 2017 Luther Jubilee and aims to explain the issue of sola scriptura, largely by approaching it historically as a theme that exercised Lutherans (and others). The essays examine Luther himself and the issues at stake since the era of the Reformation with a special section for the Reformation Jubilees of each century. One cannot be sure that sola scriptura has been defended or defined but at least the book shows that it is still a theological principle to be reckoned with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lutheran Leipzig offers an excellent example for an early modern German territorial city where religion and civil culture entered into a long-lived symbiosis. This article follows Leipzig's church history from the first arrival of the Wittenberg Reformation after 1519 to the middle of the nineteenth century. It was not before the end of the sixteenth century that orthodox Lutheranism, based on the formula of concord, was firmly established as the city's official form of protestantism. Lutheran confessional culture reached its zenith during the seventeenth century. Religion was considered as a constituent part of public welfare. But Leipzig ran through a phase of de-confessionalization in the later eighteenth century. Religion was now understood as part of the private life, and confessional boundaries became increasingly obsolete. With respect to sociability, Lutheranism made a considerable contribution to the social life of the Leipzigers, but it had little to do with their leisure time habits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers brief reflections theological perspective Catholicism and reformation. It mentions that Catholic understanding of the Reformation and its main protagonist who manifested themselves. It also informs on the radical rejection of the ecumenical interpretation of history, along with the views of Pope Francis.

In the article, the author discusses the issues on the place of authority and the value of dogma in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. Topics include the relationship between episcopal and political authority, the English Reformation, the Tractarians' theological questions in the 19th century, and the importance of questioning authority as part of ecclesial well-being.