Tradition and Authority in the Reformation by Scott H. Hendrix

Abstract

Tradition and Authority in the Reformation. By Scott H. Hendrix. [Collected Studies Series, CS 535.] (Brookfield,Vermont:Variorum, Ashgate Publishing Co. 1996. Pp. xii, 330. $89.95.) Seventeen previously published articles and chapters are organized around the topics of Scripture and the Fathers, Church, Society, and Luther's Authority; fourteen of the seventeen are from the 1980's and early '90's. Most of the essays focus on two figures in the German Reformation: Martin and Urbanus Rhegius (1489-1541). Luther Against the Background of the History of Biblical Interpretation. Protestant exegetes did not mark clear new era in biblical interpretation. never gave up allegory. maintained grammatical and theological approach that must be applied to (his) today. contrast between and the tradition is one of balance. study of and medieval exegesis has continued the same view of Hendrix (of 1983), namely, that there is not radical departure with from medieval approaches; this holds true for areas other than exegesis as well. The Authority of Scripture at Work: Luther's Exegesis of the Psalms. Seven rules indicate how understood sola scriptura: learn to copy the model (trust in the strength of the Lord), diligently inspect the text (even every word), apply the tools of interpretation (languages), relate the text to experience (palestra), pray for the inspiration of the Spirit, seek out the central core, acknowledge the inexhaustibility of Scripture. approach to Scripture is likened to the approach to work of art, which, while Hendrix calls this an imperfect illustration, I would call distraction. Rhegius was Protestant preacher in Augsburg (1524-1530) and superintendent in Luneburg (1530 to his death in 1541). In two articles (Use of Scripture; Use of the Church Fathers) Hendrix tries to distance Rhegius from his nineteenth-century (Lutheran) biographer, Gerhard Uhlhorn, when it comes to what Hendrix calls Rhegius's ecclesiasticle or apostolic principle of Scripture interpretation, which goes beyond sola scriptura to include at least the aid of the fathers. Uhlhorn says Rhegius did not practice what he preached; Hendrix says he did. Both Uhlhorn and Hendrix see appeal to Church Fathers as deviation from sola scriptura. Hardly. Sola scriptura is not biblicism; with it was short-hand polemical phrase that needs the fuller sentence in context to be understood (Scripture alone and not the pope). went beyond Scripture to articles of faith, the practice of tradition, and reason for authorities. Hendrix knows this. In four selections Hendrix uses categories from family therapy (intergenerational behavioral theory known as contextual therapy). In one of his initial attempts (Luther's Loyalties and the Augustinian Order), we see a and not monk earn entitlement by crediting his father's care (in his dedication of De votis monasticis iudicium, 1521, to his father Hans). When transferred his loyalty from monastic vows to the ministry of the Word, he parentifed Christ.The loyalty bond of faith that ties believers to Christ as to parent deters believers from basing their faith on their internal power. Nurture comes from outside. Hendrix disdains psychohistory, and rather focuses on relational developments. …