Reformation Theology Research Articles

Des Teufels Lug und Trug: Nikolaus Magni von Jauer: Ein Reformtheologe des 15. Jahrhunderts gegen Aberglaube und Götzendienst by Krzysztof Bracha (review)

Reviewed by: Des Teufels Lug und Trug: Nikolaus Magni von Jauer: Ein Reformtheologe des 15. Jahrhunderts gegen Aberglaube und Götzendienst by Krzysztof Bracha Michael D. Bailey KEY WORDS Krzysztof Bracha, Nikolaus Magni, Reformation Theology, superstition, late medieval belief, Nikolaus Magni von Jauer, De superstitionibus Krzysztof Bracha. Des Teufels Lug und Trug: Nikolaus Magni von Jauer: Ein Reformtheologe des 15. Jahrhunderts gegen Aberglaube und Götzendienst. Trans. Peter Chmiel. Quellen und Forschungen zur Europäischen Ethnologie 25 . Dettelbach: J. H. Röll, 2013. Pp. 272. Late medieval superstition has received a fair amount of attention recently. In 2010, Euan Cameron’s expansive Enchanted Europe: Superstition, Reason, and Religion, 1250–1750 considered it at some length before moving on to later periods, and in 2013 my own Fearful Spirits, Reasoned Follies: The Boundaries of Superstition in Late Medieval Europe dealt with it exclusively. Krzysztof Bracha’s detailed study of a single late medieval author and a major (arguably the major) late medieval treatise on superstition is both the latest and also earliest important study in this area. The book is a German translation and updating of Bracha’s 1999 Polish publication Teolog, diabel i zabobony:Świadectwo traktatu Mikolaja Magni z Jawora De superstitionibus (1405 r.). In the intervening years, he has produced a number of valuable articles on superstition, several in German and a few in English, but it is wonderful to have his major study finally made available in a language that far more Western European and American scholars will be able to read. Nikolaus Magni was born in Jawor (German: Jauer) in what is now Polish Silesia around 1355. He studied and then taught at the University of Prague for over two decades, until he moved to the University of Heidelberg in 1402. He was an important theologian and academic leader at both institutions, and his movements to some extent illustrate the lines of intellectual connection and influence that criss-crossed Central Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, stretching from Prague, Krakow, and Vienna in the east to Cologne and Heidelberg in the west. The first part of Bracha’s book consists of two substantial chapters that trace Nikolaus’s life and career and situate him and his work in the context of late medieval efforts to promote religious reform among both the clergy and laity. Also in Part I is a shorter, more technical chapter detailing the origins and manuscript circulation of his great work De superstitionibus. The second part of the book examines that treatise in detail, with five chapters grouped around major aspects of superstition that it addressed. [End Page 224] As Bracha readily admits, the importance of this treatise does not lie in any great originality on its part. On almost every point, Nikolaus relied on standard patristic and scholastic authorities like Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, and William of Auvergne. What distinguishes his work is its encyclopedic nature and its astonishing circulation. More than a century ago (in the only other book-length study of Nikolaus), Adolph Franz identified 58 surviving manuscript copies of De superstitionibus, an enormous number for a theological treatise (Magister Nikolaus Magni de Jawor [1898]). Bracha has expanded this list by almost 100 additional manuscripts, bringing the total count to 152, listed in an appendix. Almost all of these manuscripts originated in Central Europe, meaning that Nikolaus’s influence was somewhat confined geographically, but it was all the more intense for that concentration. Also remarkable is that his influence basically did not extend past the fifteenth century, nor did his treatise ever find its way into print. I will return to this point below. Bracha’s book performs two important tasks that should give it a resonance beyond what its seemingly narrow focus might promise. First, in Part I, it provides a short but valuable study of Central European intellectual and religious currents through the lens of a major but now little-remembered and understudied figure. Then, in Part II, it presents a detailed exploration of late medieval superstition via the most extensive and widely circulated Central European exemplar of an antisuperstition treatise. Precisely because Nikolaus Magni was not startlingly original on any point, Bracha’s study gives background information...

A Spiritualty of a New Apostolic Reformation Movement in Perspective of Reformed Theology

A Spiritualty of a New Apostolic Reformation Movement in Perspective of Reformed Theology

T&T Clark Companion to Reformation Theology, edited by David M. Whitford

T&T Clark Companion to Reformation Theology, edited by David M. Whitford

KIMBANGUISM: AN AFRICAN INITIATED CHURCH

During the early 1920s in what was then known as the Belgian Congo, a Christian revival movement was initiated by an African, a Baptist catechist named Simon Kimbangu, who immediately challenged the colonial order by preaching to and healing the local population. The Kimbanguist Church, an African Independent Church born from this movement, considers itself as a tool of identity recon-struction, empowering the believers to express their suffering and challenge the racial inequalities still extant in the post-colonial context. A member of the World Council of Christian Churches since 1969, with an estimated membership of 17 million today, the Kimbanguist Church has evolved, as the American sociologist Susan Asch explained, with two parallel dimensions. The first is made up of the educated minority, which is struggling to bring about theological reform, while the second one, composed of the tradition-oriented majority, has imposed popular beliefs, throwing the church into a conflict with the World Council of Churches since the year 2000.

Acknowledgement to reviewers

In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi is a theological and acclaimed Open Access journal that serves as the official journal of the Reformed Theological Society (Gereformeerde Teologiese Vereniging). It has a broad coverage that promotes multidisciplinary, religious and biblical aspects of studies in the international theological arena, aiming to further Reformational Theology on a scientific basis. It encourages research that challenges traditional discourses within and between the fields of biblical, religious, social and human sciences as well as the constructive engagement with the natural sciences where applicable. The editorial board welcomes discussion articles related to the promotion and furtherance of reformational theology. All contributions are refereed anonymously by at least three other scholars who are recognised as specialists in the particular field of study and the comments of the referees are held in high esteem. English, Afrikaans and Dutch are the general languages of publication and articles in German will also be considered.

’n Bybelstudieboek vir vroue oor heelwording

In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi is a theological and acclaimed Open Access journal that serves as the official journal of the Reformed Theological Society (Gereformeerde Teologiese Vereniging). It has a broad coverage that promotes multidisciplinary, religious and biblical aspects of studies in the international theological arena, aiming to further Reformational Theology on a scientific basis. It encourages research that challenges traditional discourses within and between the fields of biblical, religious, social and human sciences as well as the constructive engagement with the natural sciences where applicable. The editorial board welcomes discussion articles related to the promotion and furtherance of reformational theology. All contributions are refereed anonymously by at least three other scholars who are recognised as specialists in the particular field of study and the comments of the referees are held in high esteem. English, Afrikaans and Dutch are the general languages of publication and articles in German will also be considered.

’n Verfynde siening van die inspirasie en die gesag van die Bybel

In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi is a theological and acclaimed Open Access journal that serves as the official journal of the Reformed Theological Society (Gereformeerde Teologiese Vereniging). It has a broad coverage that promotes multidisciplinary, religious and biblical aspects of studies in the international theological arena, aiming to further Reformational Theology on a scientific basis. It encourages research that challenges traditional discourses within and between the fields of biblical, religious, social and human sciences as well as the constructive engagement with the natural sciences where applicable. The editorial board welcomes discussion articles related to the promotion and furtherance of reformational theology. All contributions are refereed anonymously by at least three other scholars who are recognised as specialists in the particular field of study and the comments of the referees are held in high esteem. English, Afrikaans and Dutch are the general languages of publication and articles in German will also be considered.

Preface: The role and influence of biblical values on social change

No abstact available.

Exploring biblical reformational theology as a normative perspective for Christian psychology

The process and importance of dialogue between Christian religion and psychology are continuously an active area of debate amongst Christian counsellors and psychologists as witnessed by the diversity of opinions in the focus area. The aim of this article is to contribute to the enrichment of the theological interpretation of practices within the confines of a Christian psychological worldview. A Christian approach to anthropology is shaped by the Bible as basis for Christianity’s intellectual and religious conducts. The article cultivates and encourages a holistic sense of cross-disciplinary reflection that enables psychologists to respond to therapeutic situations with faithful, theologically informed practice. It is recommended that psychologists with a Christian worldview should look at the Bible and the Christian intellectual and religious tradition as a normative perspective for their practice-related research across the field of Christian psychology. To justify the hermeneutic approach, a decision should be made about the interpretation of the interdisciplinary theory-praxis relationship with regards to a particular normative perspective for Christian psychology. It is the intent of this article to reflect an transversal model of cross-disciplinary dialogue between Christian religion and psychology, based on mutuality and respect where psychology could be enriched by a normative perspective that explores the theory-praxis interface with a biblical reformational theology that holds to the authority of Scripture, the sovereignty of God and redemption by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.Verkenning van Bybelse reformatoriese teologie as ‘n normatiewe perspektief vir Christelike sielkunde. Die proses en die belangrikheid van dialoog tussen die Christelike godsdiens en die sielkunde is ’n voortdurende aktiewe debatspunt tussen Christenberaders en sielkundiges soos die diversiteit van menings in die fokusarea getuig. Die doel van hierdie artikel is om ’n bydrae te lewer tot die verryking van die teologiese interpretasie van praktyke binne die grense van ’n Christelik psigologiese wêreldbeskouing. ’n Christelike benadering tot die antropologie is hoofsaaklik gevorm deur die Bybel as basis vir die Christelik-intellektuele en religieuse handelinge. Die artikel kweek en moedig ’n holistiese benadering tot die kruisdissiplinêre refleksie aan wat sielkundiges in staat stel om tydens terapeutiese situasies ’n Christelik-teologies ingeligte benadering te beoefen. Dit word aanbeveel dat sielkundiges met ’n Christelike wêreldbeskouing na die Bybel en die Christelik-intellektuele en godsdienstige tradisie as ’n normatiewe perspektief kyk vir hulle praktyk-verwante navorsing op die terrein van die Christelike sielkunde. Om die hermeneutiese benadering te regverdig, moet ’n besluit geneem word oor die interpretasie van die interdissiplinêre teorie-praksis verhouding met betrekking tot ’n bepaalde normatiewe perspektief vir Christelike sielkunde. Die artikel reflekteer ’n transversale model van kruisdissiplinêre dialoog tussen die Christelike godsdiens en die sielkunde en is gebaseer op wedersydse respek. Die sielkunde kan verryk word deur ’n normatiewe perspektief te ondersoek wat die teorie-praksis koppelvlak met ’n bybelse reformatoriese teologie wat die gesag van die Skrif, die soewereiniteit van God en verlossing deur genade en met geloof in Jesus Christus handhaaf.

The Bridal-Mystical Motif in Bernard of Clairvaux and Martin Luther

This article discusses Martin Luther's appropriation of the tradition of bridal-mysticism, and contrasts it with that of Bernard of Clairvaux. According to Bernard, through the power of divine grace, the human person and God both come to find each other objects of mutual desire. By contrast, Luther, inFreedom of a Christian(1520), uses the bridal motif to describe the divine-human relationship as one of promise and trust. In this, the Reformer both appropriates and significantly reinterprets the bridal-mystical motif in accordance with the claims of his newly-minted Reformation theology of justification through faith.

A thought provoking new publication on Christology

In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi is a theological and acclaimed Open Access journal that serves as the official journal of the Reformed Theological Society (Gereformeerde Teologiese Vereniging). It has a broad coverage that promotes multidisciplinary, religious and biblical aspects of studies in the international theological arena, aiming to further Reformational Theology on a scientific basis. It encourages research that challenges traditional discourses within and between the fields of biblical, religious, social and human sciences as well as the constructive engagement with the natural sciences where applicable. The editorial board welcomes discussion articles related to the promotion and furtherance of reformational theology. All contributions are refereed anonymously by at least three other scholars who are recognised as specialists in the particular field of study and the comments of the referees are held in high esteem. English, Afrikaans and Dutch are the general languages of publication and articles in German will also be considered.

Acknowledgement to reviewers

In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi is a theological and acclaimed Open Access journal that serves as the official journal of the Reformed Theological Society (Gereformeerde Teologiese Vereniging). It has a broad coverage that promotes multidisciplinary, religious and biblical aspects of studies in the international theological arena, aiming to further Reformational Theology on a scientific basis. It encourages research that challenges traditional discourses within and between the fields of biblical, religious, social and human sciences as well as the constructive engagement with the natural sciences where applicable. The editorial board welcomes discussion articles related to the promotion and furtherance of reformational theology. All contributions are refereed anonymously by at least three other scholars who are recognised as specialists in the particular field of study and the comments of the referees are held in high esteem. English, Afrikaans and Dutch are the general languages of publication and articles in German will also be considered.

The Work of Feeling in James Hervey’s Meditations among the Tombs (1746)

James Hervey’s Meditations among the Tombs (1746) was published at the height of the literary taste for mortuary sentimentalism. A prose counterpart to contemporary ‘graveyard poetry’, feeling was central to its brand of religious didacticism. As a result, Hervey’s tract can be read as a comprehensive exploration of the didactic opportunities afforded by death, one that expertly employs a series of affective vignettes to cultivate a range of emotional responses, at once looking back to the ‘fear and trembling’ of Reformation theology, and looking forward to the pleasurable frisson of Gothic fiction and the emotional pedagogy of sentimental literature.

Reformed theology and politics

The Reformed tradition has always been involved in political issues. In terms of this perspective the views of two major Reformed theologians, John Calvin and Karl Barth, are compared with opinions in early Christianity regarding the relation between Christians and politics. Theologians in the early patristic period kept their distance from politics. Calvin pleaded for sober involvement, while Barth eagerly calls for a prophetic participation in the public sphere. These differences may be interpreted as a natural development related to historical changes: from a persecuted community to the corpus christianum, and subsequently to the challenge of a perverse political ideology, and the call for a response in a new situation its defeat. From this perspective all three positions are understandable. However, being true to the Reformed call ad fontes one must conclude that Barth’s theology is totally different from both that of early Christianity and the New Testament. This calls for a reconsideration of positions regarding the relation of church and politics.

Biblical nationalism and the sixteenth-century states

The emergence of Protestant nations in sixteenth-century Europe was driven by the sudden rediscovery of biblical nationalism, a political model that did not separate the religious from the political. Biblical nationalism was new because pre-Reformation Europeans encountered the Hebrew Bible through paraphrases and abridgments. Full-text Bibles revealed a programmatic nationalism backed by unmatched authority as the word of God to readers primed by Reformation theology to seek models in the Bible for the reform of their own societies. Sixteenth-century biblical nationalism was the unintended side effect of a Reformation intended to save souls.

38 Dagreise in die spiritualiteit van die Johannes-evangelie

In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi is a theological and acclaimed Open Access journal that serves as the official journal of the Reformed Theological Society (Gereformeerde Teologiese Vereniging). It has a broad coverage that promotes multidisciplinary, religious and biblical aspects of studies in the international theological arena, aiming to further Reformational Theology on a scientific basis. It encourages research that challenges traditional discourses within and between the fields of biblical, religious, social and human sciences as well as the constructive engagement with the natural sciences where applicable. The editorial board welcomes discussion articles related to the promotion and furtherance of reformational theology. All contributions are refereed anonymously by at least three other scholars who are recognised as specialists in the particular field of study and the comments of the referees are held in high esteem. English, Afrikaans and Dutch are the general languages of publication and articles in German will also be considered.

Bybel lees vir dag en tyd

In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi is a theological and acclaimed Open Access journal that serves as the official journal of the Reformed Theological Society (Gereformeerde Teologiese Vereniging). It has a broad coverage that promotes multidisciplinary, religious and biblical aspects of studies in the international theological arena, aiming to further Reformational Theology on a scientific basis. It encourages research that challenges traditional discourses within and between the fields of biblical, religious, social and human sciences as well as the constructive engagement with the natural sciences where applicable. The editorial board welcomes discussion articles related to the promotion and furtherance of reformational theology. All contributions are refereed anonymously by at least three other scholars who are recognised as specialists in the particular field of study and the comments of the referees are held in high esteem. English, Afrikaans and Dutch are the general languages of publication and articles in German will also be considered.

Using the book of Daniel for solid preaching during a time of persecution

In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi is a theological and acclaimed Open Access journal that serves as the official journal of the Reformed Theological Society (Gereformeerde Teologiese Vereniging). It has a broad coverage that promotes multidisciplinary, religious and biblical aspects of studies in the international theological arena, aiming to further Reformational Theology on a scientific basis. It encourages research that challenges traditional discourses within and between the fields of biblical, religious, social and human sciences as well as the constructive engagement with the natural sciences where applicable. The editorial board welcomes discussion articles related to the promotion and furtherance of reformational theology. All contributions are refereed anonymously by at least three other scholars who are recognised as specialists in the particular field of study and the comments of the referees are held in high esteem. English, Afrikaans and Dutch are the general languages of publication and articles in German will also be considered.

Openhartige beoordeling van die <i>Emerging Church</i>

In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi is a theological and acclaimed Open Access journal that serves as the official journal of the Reformed Theological Society (Gereformeerde Teologiese Vereniging). It has a broad coverage that promotes multidisciplinary, religious and biblical aspects of studies in the international theological arena, aiming to further Reformational Theology on a scientific basis. It encourages research that challenges traditional discourses within and between the fields of biblical, religious, social and human sciences as well as the constructive engagement with the natural sciences where applicable. The editorial board welcomes discussion articles related to the promotion and furtherance of reformational theology. All contributions are refereed anonymously by at least three other scholars who are recognised as specialists in the particular field of study and the comments of the referees are held in high esteem. English, Afrikaans and Dutch are the general languages of publication and articles in German will also be considered.

New to doing research and writing papers?

In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi is a theological and acclaimed Open Access journal that serves as the official journal of the Reformed Theological Society (Gereformeerde Teologiese Vereniging). It has a broad coverage that promotes multidisciplinary, religious and biblical aspects of studies in the international theological arena, aiming to further Reformational Theology on a scientific basis. It encourages research that challenges traditional discourses within and between the fields of biblical, religious, social and human sciences as well as the constructive engagement with the natural sciences where applicable. The editorial board welcomes discussion articles related to the promotion and furtherance of reformational theology. All contributions are refereed anonymously by at least three other scholars who are recognised as specialists in the particular field of study and the comments of the referees are held in high esteem. English, Afrikaans and Dutch are the general languages of publication and articles in German will also be considered.