1. Chapter 3 Reformation and Post-Reformation Periods, 1500-1750
Alister E. McGrath
Historical Theology:
An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought

2. Reformation – or Reformations?
A clarification of terms
The German Reformation (Lutheranism)
The Swiss Reformation (Calvinism/Reformed)
The radical Reformation (Anabaptism)
The English Reformation (Anglicanism)
The Catholic Reformation (Counter-Reformation)
Second Reformation

3. The German Reformation – Lutheranism
Martin Luther, 1522
The Swiss Reformation – the Reformed church
Institutional, ethical, and social reform
John Calvin – Geneva, 1550s
The radical Reformation – Anabaptism
Anabaptist = rebaptizer
sola scriptura
The English Reformation – Anglicanism
Henry VIII, 1527
The Elizabethan settlement (1558-9)
The Catholic Reformation
Council of Trent, 1545
Protestant Orthodoxy ( )
Confessionalization

4. Post-Reformation movements
The consolidation of Catholicism
Council of Trent ( )
Continuity and constancy – semper eadem
Puritanism
Version of Reformed Orthodoxy in 16th-century England
Richard Baxter ( )
American Jonathan Edwards ( )
Pietism
Philip Jakob Spener, Pia desideria, 1675
Nikolaus Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf ( ) – “religion of the heart”
John Wesley ( ) – “living faith”

5. Key theologians Martin Luther (1483-1546) Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531)
University of Wittenberg
Huldrych Zwingli ( )
Zurich
John Calvin ( )
Geneva
Teresa of Avilà ( )
Mystical theology

6. Theodore Beza (1519-1605) Johann Gerhard (1582-1637)
Genevan Academy
Johann Gerhard ( )
Lutheran Orthodoxy (Loci communes)
Roberto Bellarmine
Catholic theology
Jonathan Edwards ( )
America’s great theologian

7. Key theological developments
The sources of theology
Scripture and tradition
The doctrine of grace
Justification by faith
Unconditional election
The doctrine of the sacraments
Outward signs of the invisible grace of God
The doctrine of the church

8. Developments in theological literature
Catechisms
Luther’s Greater and Lesser Catechisms
Calvin’s Geneva Catechism
Catholic catechisms
Confessions of faith
Scripture, creeds, confessions
Works of systematic theology
Philip Melanchthon, Loci communes (1521)
Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion ( )
Roberto Bellarmine, “Disputations concerning the controversies of the Christian faith against the heretics of this age” (1586)

9. Case study 3.1 Bible and tradition in the Reformation debates
The canon of Scripture
The Old Testament and the Apocrypha
The authority of Scripture
Catholic theologians: the church “presides over the Word of God”
Protestant reformers: the church “reverently subjects herself to the Word of God”
Historical continuity (Catholics) or doctrinal continuity (Protestants)

10. The translation of the Bible
The role of tradition
Tradition 0: radical Reformation
rejection of tradition
Tradition 1: magisterial Reformation
traditional way of interpreting Scripture within the community of faith
Tradition 2: Council of Trent
tradition as separate, equally authoritative source of revelation
The Catholic position
Scripture and tradition of equal authority
Apocrypha & Vulgate
Authority of the church to interpret Scripture
The translation of the Bible
The vernacular (e.g., German) or Latin

11. Case study 3.2 Justification by faith: Protestantism and the Council of Trent
Justification = entering into right relationship with God
Martin Luther
The righteousness of God = a righteousness that God gives sinners as a gift
Luther’s view of faith
Luther v. Augustine: the “alien righteousness of Christ”
Forensic justification: Philip Melanchthon and John Calvin
Justification and sanctification/regeneration
The Council of Trent
The nature of justification
The nature of justifying righteousness
The nature of justifying faith
The assurance of salvation

12. Case study 3.3 The nature of the real presence: Luther, Zwingli, and the Council of Trent
Transubstantiation
Aristotle – substance and accident
Luther: consubstantiation
Christ’s real presence
Zwingli: memorialism
This “is” my body = this signifies my body
Eucharist as a pledge
Commemoration of Christ in his absence

13. Case study 3.4 The debate over infant baptism
The New Testament
Origins of infant baptism
Martin Luther
Baptism generates faith
Huldrych Zwingli
Baptism as circumcision (rite of belonging)
Anabaptism: Menno Simons
Return to authentic apostolic Christianity
Outward sign of inward spiritual reality – the faith of the believer

14. Case study 3.5 The doctrine of the church: Trends within Protestantism
Catholic view of the church: visible, historic, continuity with apostles
Radical Reformation: the true church in heaven
Magisterial Reformation: a middle ground
Temporary schism?
Martin Luther: central role of the Word of God
The radical Reformation: the true church concealed until the end of time
Augustine: the wheat and the weeds
John Calvin: the Word of God preached, the sacraments rightly administered
The visible and invisible church

15. Case study 3.6 Theology and astronomy: The Copernican and Galileian debates
Nicholas Copernicus, 1543
The heliocentric view and the Bible
Literal approach
Allegorical approach
Accommodation
John Calvin’s contributions
Galileo Galilei’s condemnation
Paolo Antonio Foscarini, 1615
Innovations rejected – unchangeability of the Catholic tradition