Teaching Romans 7 after Trent: Michael Baius and his Lecture Hall on Concupiscence and Original Sin in Early Modern Louvain (1552–1589)

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-221
Author(s):  
Jarrik Van Der Biest
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Original Sin ◽  
Lecture Hall ◽  
Council Of Trent ◽  
The Core ◽  
Educational Application ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Sacred Scripture ◽  
The University

Abstract This article introduces a new corpus of sources relevant to the sixteenth-century Baianist controversy at the University of Louvain: student notes made during Michael Baius’ lectures on the Bible during the 1560s. The commentary on Romans 7 taught by the Royal Professor of Sacred Scripture contains a discussion on the sinfulness of concupiscence, the effect of the Fall driving humankind to sin. A contested concept between Catholics and Protestants, the nature of concupiscentia also lies at the core of debates on the orthodoxy of Baius’ justification theology, both early modern and more recent. The professor’s lecture on Romans 7 is analysed against his published treatises, the censures (1565–1567) and papal bull (1567) condemning certain propositions as heretical, and the Tridentine Decree on Original Sin (1546). While Baius’ Augustinian revaluation of humanity’s wounded nature (natura viciata) moved away from the Thomistic conception of concupiscence as innate, but disordered, he did respect the boundaries set by the Council of Trent. Indeed, Baius taught his positive theology in the interstices between the educational application of the Tridentine Decrees and the gradual assertion of dominance by a renewed Thomism in Catholic orthodoxy. I argue that such a historical reading of Baius’ ideas is the key to avoid the earlier dogmatic assessments of his theology.

Biblical Exegesis and Early Modern Legal History in Calvin’s Mosaic Harmony

2020 ◽  
pp. 165-195
Author(s):  
Barbara Pitkin
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Legal History ◽  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Biblical Exegesis ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
The Relationship

The chapter examines John Calvin’s commentary on Exodus through Deuteronomy (1563) through the lens of sixteenth-century historical jurisprudence, exemplified in the works of Calvin’s contemporaries François de Connan and François Baudouin. Recent scholarship has demonstrated how Calvin’s historicizing exegesis is in continuity with broader contemporary trends in premodern Christian biblical interpretation; this chapter explores another essential context for Calvin’s approach to the Bible. The intermingling of narrative and legal material in these four biblical books inspired Calvin to break with his customary practice of lectio continua and apply his historical hermeneutic more broadly and creatively to explain the Mosaic histories and legislation. Calvin’s unusual and unprecedented arrangement of the material in this commentary and his attention to the relationship between law and history reveal his engagement with his generation’s quest for historical method.

Printing Baronius's Annales Ecclesiastici (Rome 1588-1607)

Quaerendo ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J.A.N. Rietbergen
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Council Of Trent ◽  
History Of ◽  
Printing History

AbstractThe printing history of Baronius's Annales ecclesiastici (Rome 1588-1609), one of the chief works of early modern historiography, is closely linked with the eventful history of the Vatican printing shop, which was founded with the specific aim of printing works like that of Baronius and publishing them in the context of the church's policy as laid down by the Council of Trent. The article discusses this history as the background to the genesis of the successive volumes of the Annales. At the same time, and more specifically, the technical and financial aspects of printing and publishing part vii (1596) are examined as illustrative of sixteenth-century printing history.

Who Compiled the Sixteenth-Century Patristic Handbook Unio Dissidentium?

1965 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 237-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Peters
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Literary History ◽  
Original Sin ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Infant Baptism ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Bible ◽  
High Level ◽  
And Function

The purpose of this paper is to raise a problem of more than antiquarian interest in Reformation literary history. The Unio Dissidentium is a collection of passages from the Bible together with nearly 550 quotations, many of them quite lengthy, from the Fathers. This latter feature gives to the book much of its interest, as well as a place in the patristic revival begun by the classical humanists and brought to a high level of development by the work of such men as Erasmus and Beatus Rhenanus.So far as can with certainty be stated, the first part of Unio Dissidentium was published by the Antwerp printer, Martin de Keyser, in March 1527. The ten sections into which it is divided contain passages supporting the compiler’s theology on such current theological issues as original sin, infant baptism, predestination, the nature and function of law, grace and merit, faith and works, and human ordinances. Later that same year the same printer published the second part, dealing with the value of the Word of God, penitence, brotherly correction, fasting, prayer, indulgences, the Eucharist, ecclesiastical constitutions, the vocation of all Christians to be priests, kings, and prophets, and antichrist. To the editions printed in and after 1531 a further three sections were added, the first two of which are on expensive funerals and the flight and persecution of Christians, respectively, while the third is the tract of Pseudo-Augustine, De Essentia Divinitatis.

scholarly journals The Ximenez Polyglot

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
FRANCES LUTTIKHUIZEN
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Educational Project ◽  
Religious Context ◽  
Christian Humanism ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Social ◽  
The University

Abstract: The Ximenez Polyglot Bible was part of a larger educational project—the University of Alcalá—implemented by Cardinal Cisneros at the turn of the sixteenth century in order to revive learning and encourage the study of the Scriptures. Following a brief biography of Cisneros, his reforms, and the social-religious context in which the Bible was produced, this article goes on to discuss the project itself, the manuscripts consulted, the printing, and the scholars involved. Cisneros’s focus on biblical studies at the University of Alcalá developed into an interest in Christian humanism and the writings of Erasmus, which would later bring forth fruit in the evangelical movements in Seville and Valladolid in the 1550s.

‘The engrafted word’

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Brownlee
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Perceived Benefit ◽  
Biblical Typology ◽  
Individual Reading

This chapter examines the reception and circulation of the Bible and early modern exegetical culture. It begins by tracing how the laity encountered the scriptures, paying particular attention to the accessibility of the Bible’s narratives through non-textual media. Acknowledging the emphasis Protestantism placed on individual reading of the Bible, the discussion then moves to address the question of how the Bible was to be read; that is, the perceived benefit of sequential reading for understanding scripture’s two Testaments. This consideration of the importance of orderly reading then opens into a discussion of the central tenets of biblical typology, and the expansion of this methodology in the sixteenth century to include the present within a continuing process of typological fulfilment. The chapter concludes by elucidating how typology points up the capacious, and contradictory, nature of Protestant literalism, and the contested nature of reformed hermeneutics more generally.

scholarly journals Defining 'Movement' in Global History: The Early Modern Iberian World in a Global Frame (16th-18th centuries)

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-97
Author(s):  
Desiree Arbo ◽  
Desiree Arbo
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Spanish America ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Global History ◽  
Early Modern History ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The University

On 9 June 2017, scholars from a range of disciplines across the United Kingdom and Spain met at the University of Warwick to discuss the ways in which taking a global perspective can enrich research on early modern Iberia and colonial Spanish America. Coming at a time when Spanish exceptionalism is being increasingly challenged but the Americas are still being side-lined in the writing of global history, the presenters addressed gaps in current historiography and challenged Eurocentric narratives of early modern history which have predominated since the Enlightenment. The final roundtable called for definition in the language of movement in global history and concluded that we need to rethink global history as a project that began in the sixteenth century with conceptions of an Iberian or Catholic globe, an orbe hispano.

Scholastic Theology, Justice, and the Conquest of the Americas

2020 ◽  
pp. 38-56
Author(s):  
David M. Lantigua
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Historical Consciousness ◽  
Religious Conflict ◽  
Political Freedom ◽  
American Tradition ◽  
Increased Sensitivity ◽  
Principles Of Justice ◽  
The University

This chapter examines the scholastic idea of justice presented in the lectures, writings, and advocacy of key Spanish theologians during the early conquests of Amerindian peoples in the sixteenth century. Indebted to the medieval tradition and associated with the University of Salamanca, these Spanish theologians espoused a scholastic method of inquiry grounded in fundamental principles of justice and natural law. Their brand of early modern scholastic humanism displayed an increased sensitivity to historical consciousness and ethno-religious conflict through critical reflection on important sociopolitical questions in the Atlantic World related to the rights of non-Christians, just war, evangelization, and political authority. The chapter demonstrates how scholastic theology in the context of empire provided resources to challenge the injustice of violent colonial institutions and imperialistic humanism by affirming the rights of innocent peoples to spiritual and political freedom. It concludes with a brief overview of the Spanish-scholastic political legacy for the Latin American tradition of human rights.

The Place of Tradition in Dutch Anabaptism

1974 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornelius J. Dyck
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Church History ◽  
Main Stream ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Council Of Trent ◽  
Vital Part ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Social ◽  
Biblical Literalism

There is little doubt that biblical literalism was a characteristic of the main stream of sixteenth-century Anabaptism. By biblical literalism is not meant a wooden, proof-texting, legalistic understanding of every word of the Bible, but a conviction that the plain meaning of scripture could be understood by any sincere Christian, and ought to be obeyed. The Protestant reformers Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and Bucer also made the Bible central to their reforming efforts. In a sense this might even be said about the intentions of the Council of Trent. Yet differing hermeneutics and socio-political presuppositions led to vastly different ecclesiastical results. Recent Reformation historiography, particularly in eastern Europe, rightly reminds us of the importance of the social and economic factors involved, but hermeneutics remains a vital part of the dynamic of that period, as of all church history, and must be central to contemporary efforts to overcome the legacy of ecclesiastical fragmentation which that area left us.

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