Refo500 Academic Studies (R5AS) Series

Frances Luttikhuizen chronicles the arrival, reception, and suppression of Protestant thought in sixteenth century Spain—referred to at that time as 'Lutheranism'. It opens with several chapters describing the socio-political-religious context that prevailed in Spain at the beginning of the sixteenth century and the growing trend to use the vernacular for parts of the Mass, as well as for catechizing the populace. Special attention is given to the forerunners, that is, the early alumbrado-deixados, the role of Cardinal Cisneros, and the impact of Erasmus and Juan de Valdes, etc. The use of archival material provides new details regarding the historical framework and the spread of evangelical thought in sixteenth century Spain. These dispatches and trial records greatly enrich the main body of the work, which deals with the arrival and confiscation of evangelical literature, the attitude of Charles V and Philip II towards religious dissidents, and the severe persecution of the underground evangelical circles at Seville and Valladolid. Special attention is given to the many women involved in the movement. The recurrent mention of the discovery and confiscation of prohibited literature shows how books played an important role in the development of the movements. The final chapters focus on the exiles and their contributions, the persecution of foreigners, and the years up to the abolition of the Inquisition. The work concludes with the efforts made in the nineteenth century to rediscover the history of the persecuted sixteenth century Spanish Protestants and their writings.

This book is about one of the most important elements of the political narratives in the history of Hungary in past and present: the Holy Crown of Hungary. This object is one of the most widely used symbols of modern Hungarian nationalism in our times and has been in use for ages in political culture. Surprisingly less is known how the meaning of the crown has changed over the centuries and how this influenced the development of national identity in the early modern period. Starting point is that the "medieval doctrine of the holy crown" is a modern invention. Teszelszky's research concentrates on the relation between the change in the meaning of this crown and the construction of an early modern national identity between 1572 and 1665. Using a constructivist method of research the author shows how the Habsburg ruler and the Hungarian estates legitimised their political program through an image of the crown and the Hungarian political community. In a short period between the end of 1604 and 1613 during a rebellion in Hungary, a war with the Ottomans and a strive between Emperor Rudolf II and his brother Archduke Matthias, the medieval tradition of the holy crown was revived and redeveloped by Hungarian and foreign historiographers into an ideology which is still present today.

This volume contains the papers of the international RefoRC conference on 'Reformed Majorities and Minorities in Early Modern Europe' as it was organized by the Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek, Emden in cooperation with the Faculty of 'Artes Liberales' of the University of Warsaw. The conference took place April 10-12, 2013 in Emden and was part of the research project 'Doctrina et Tolerantia' directed by the Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek. The contributions in this volume deal with the question how the relation between doctrine and toleration was dealt with in territories with a Reformed majority. Did the refugee-experience of the Reformed make them tolerant or militant? How did official policy relate to everyday practice? Were there different opinions on this issue within the Reformed tradition? The answers to these questions give more insights into the diversity of international Calvinism and the way theory was put into practice.

The content of the book reconsiders the relation between visibility and transcendence. The focus is especially on the contribution to this issue from the theological tradition in protestant Europe between the 16th and the 21st Centuries. In the book a thematically broad field is covered embracing more than five centuries and a plurality of methods drawn from theology, philosophy, and the history and theory of art.The book is divided into five sub-themes: In the first and more fundamental part, 'The phenomenology of in-visibility', questions underlying the other four themes are sought defined or narrowed down. Here the modes of appearing/revealing or hiding of phenomena are reflected. In the second section of the book dealing with 'Language as a mode of revealing and hiding' the specific role of verbal expressions understood in a very broad sense is at the core: What is the fundamental understanding and use of language, when speaking of the ineffable? The third section about 'Human existence between visibility and invisibility' focuses on theological anthropology: its features and norms. The ambiguity of anthropological categories such as faith, rationality, imagination, memory and emotion play a prominent role in this context.Thefourth section concerning 'The manifestation of a 'beyond' in the arts' investigates transcendence in the arts. What are the theological discourses behind the religious uses of the different artistic media (i.e. images, music, liturgical inventory, architecture)? Finally in the fifth section concerning 'Visible community and invisible transcendence' one finds contributions working with the idea of 'vicarious representation'.

In this study Charles Raith II fills a gap in Reformation-era scholarship by analyzing Calvin's teaching on works and reward in light of medieval theological developments surrounding the doctrine of merit. While significant analysis has been given to Calvin's doctrine of justification, its relation to sanctification, the notion of union with Christ, and the role of participation, there is as yet no sustained analysis of how these teachings are shaped by the most hostile and pervasive of his polemics, namely, his confrontation with a merit-based framework for understanding Christian salvation. This volume, however, interprets Calvin's own theological constructions as contextually determined by the reigning polemics of his day. In addition, previous scholarship on these topics has largely failed to properly contextualize Calvin's own thought against the background of scholastic theological developments—developments that Calvin both accepts and rejects in the formulation of his own theology. After Merit addresses these gaps by (1) analyzing Calvin's tracts, scriptural commentaries and Institutes to demonstrate Calvin's unique distain for the doctrine of merit among the early Reformers and the pervasiveness of this polemic within his theological program; (2) reviewing the scholastic developments surrounding the doctrine of merit from the High to Late Middle Ages as background to Calvin's thought; (3) highlighting Calvin's principle problems with the doctrine of merit: the competitive-causal schema between divine and human causality, merit as a basis for justification, and good works as "deserving" of reward; and (4) unpacking Calvin's theology of justification, sanctification, the worth of works, and the role of works in salvation as an alternative to the "opponents" doctrine of merit. The volume concludes by reflecting on the reception of Calvin's theology of works and reward in later Reformed thought.

In her study Chaoluan Kao offers a comprehensive investigation of popular piety at the time of the European Reformations through the study of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Protestant prayerbooks. It pursues a historical-contextual approach to spirituality by integrating social and religious history in order to yield a deeper understanding of both the history of Christian piety and of church history in general. The study explores seven prayerbooks by German authors and seventeen English prayerbooks from the Reformation and post-Reformation as well as from Lutheran, Anglican, and Puritan traditions, examining them as spiritual texts with social and theological significance that helped disseminate popular understandings of Protestant piety. Early Protestant piety required intellectual engagement, emphasized a faithful and heartfelt attitude in approaching God, and urged regular exercise in prayer and reading. Early Protestant prayerbooks modeled for their readers a Protestant piety that was a fervent spiritual practice solidly grounded in the social context and connections of its practitioners. Through those books, Reformation could be understood as redefining the meanings of people's spiritual lives and re-discovering of a pious life. In a broader sense, they functioned as a channel of historical and spiritual transition, which not only tells us the transformation and transmission of Reformation historically but also signifies the development of Christian spirituality. The social-historical study of the prayerbooks furthers our understanding of continuity, change, and inter-confessional influence in the Christian piety of early modern Europe.

During the first half of the sixteenth century the Spanish Inquisition fought "Lutheranism" in a benign way, but as time passed the power struggle between those that favoured reform and the detractors intensified, until persecution became relentless under the mandate of Inquisitor General Fernando de Valdés. The power struggle did not catch Constantino by surprise, but the tables turned faster than he had expected. On 1 August 1558 Constantino preached his last sermon in the cathedral of Seville; fifteen days later he was imprisoned. Constantino's evangelising zeal is evident in all his works, but the core of his theology can be found in Beatus Vir, where he deals with the doctrines of sin and pardon, free grace, providence, predestination, and the relationship between faith and works. In his exposition of Psalm 1, Constantino does not resort to human philosophies but associates the spiritual fall of humanity with ugliness. In his exhortation to the reader, he states: "we shall plainly see the repulsiveness of that which seems so good in the eyes of insane men, and the beauty and greatness of that which the Divine Word has promised and assured those who turn to its counsel."

These twelve essays by international scholars investigate Melanchthon's theological activities as teacher, confessor of the faith, and defender of his doctrine and ecclesiastical policies as they developed within the context of his service of society and church. In the past quarter century Melanchthon researchers have scrutinized older, mostly negative, interpretations of the Preceptor Germaniae. The editors present in this volume precisely focused appraisals of »Master Philip« in his role as theologian at the university and in the service of his own prince and others. By carefully placing his use of Aristotle, his understanding of the nature of training for pastoral ministry, his biblical exegesis in context, by analyzing four of his attempts to formulate Wittenberg teaching in public confession, by assessing how his own writings took on normative character for the church, and by tracing his thinking on the free will and the Lord's Supper in the midst of controversy, these authors offer carefully etched portraits of Melanchthon as Preceptor ecclesiae. This volume contributes to the expansion of our understanding of Melanchthon as key figure in the Wittenberg Reformation and the currents of controversy that have long surrounded the interpretation of his contributions.

The Republic of Venice was the only Catholic territory in which an Anabaptist community formed in the 16th century. The history of Venetian Anabaptism, hitherto little known in Reformation Studies, is the focus of this book. Using a large quantity of archival material and rare printed sources Riccarda Suitner reconstructs the lives of the Republic's Anabaptists and the inquisitorial repression they suffered, and analyses the doctrinal specificities of the Radical Reformation in this area. This story represents a fundamental stage in the relations between German, central-European and Italian culture in the early modern period. Events in Venice are presented within a broader comparative framework, paying particular attention to the German states, Switzerland, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Transylvania, Moravia, Tyrol, and the Kingdom of Naples. It will emerge that its Venetian history cannot be ignored if we are to gain a true understanding of the European Reformation.

This collection of essays, a companion volume to the book, Twentieth-Century Lutheran Theologians (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013), examines important nineteenth-century figures from the perspective of contemporary European and North-American scholars. Each essay provides an overview of the life and central ideas of a key Lutheran/Protestant theologian who has had a significant impact on theological reflection down to the present. The focus here is on those thinkers who were active between 1799 (the year when Schleiermacher's Speeches appeared) and the First World War. These are individuals who deserve repeated examination, whose insights are still worth pondering today, and whose theological positions help us to understand better "where contemporary theology has come from" (Karl Barth). All of the essays were initiated by the journal Lutheran Quarterly in order to assess our theological heritage as we move further into a new millennium. The goal of the authors, each a leading theologian, has been to describe a given thinker's life and vocation and how that person's work continues to impact theology today.

The reforms begun by Luther and Calvin became two of the largest and most influential movements to arise in the sixteenth century, but frequently, these two movements are seen and defined as polar opposites – one's theology is Reformed or Lutheran, one is a member of a Reformed or Lutheran congregation. Historically, these were two very separate movements – but more remains to be understood that can best be analyzed in the context of the other.Just as surely as the historical question of the boundaries between Calvin and Luther, or Lutheranism and Calvinism must be answered with a resounding yes, the ongoing doctrinal questions offer a different picture. In the more systematic doctrinal articles, an argument is forwarded that the broad confessional continuity between Luther and Calvin on the soteriological theme of union with Christ offers still-unexplored avenues to both deeper understandings of soteriology. Through such articles, we begin to see the possibility of a rapprochement between Calvin and Luther as sources, though not as historical figures. But that insight allows the conversation to extend, and bear far greater fruit.Contributors are, J.T. Billings, Ch. Helmer , H.P. Jürgens, S.C. Karant-Nunn, R. Kolb, Th.F. Latini, G.S. Pak, J. Watt, T.J. Wengert, P. Westermeyer, and D.M. Whitford.

Who was Jacob Latomus? What did he write in the series of lectures to which Luther penned an answer in 1521, an answer which is now so central to many interpretations of the great reformer? And how is the reading of that answer affected when it is preceded by an interpretation of what Latomus wrote?The study goes through the most important parts of Latomus' treatise against Luther (1521). The aim is to identify Latomus' theological convictions and thus to pin down who and what Luther was up against. The second and major part of the book is a reading of Luther's pamphlet against Latomus (1521). Parallels are drawn with Latomus' theology in order to facilitate as much as possible an appreciation of the differences between the two.The comparison between the two theologians shows that they speak completely different languages and that their viewpoints do not square at all. Basically their ways depart in their understanding of God's word and how it is communicated to man. This generates two ways of perceiving the matter of theology, and of speaking theologically –: and prevents mutual understanding. Latomus cannot understand Luther's view of the autonomy of God's word and the special character of proclamation, and hence a theology which is incompatible with natural reason. Even though he accepts a division between a natural and a supernatural rationality, and thus admits that natural reason has a limit, he grants the very same natural reason an important role in the ascent of cognition towards revelation. Everything else – such as Luther's theology – is a dehumanization of the human being. Luther, on the other hand, regards Latomus' theology as a result of the impulse in sinful man towards ruling and controlling the word of God with his own inadequate natural abilities. In Luther's eyes that proclamation of Christ, which in the shape of a human being comes to man in contradiction of everything human, here disappears in the twinkling of an eye.

This volume contains the plenary papers and a selection of shortpapers from the Seventh Annual RefoRC conference, which was held May 10–12th 2017 in Wittenberg. The contributions concentrate on the effects of Luther´s new theology and draw the lines from Luther´s contemporaries into the early seventeenth century. Developments in art, catholic responses and Calvinistic reception are only some of the topics. The volume reflects the interdisciplinarity and interconfessionality that characterizes present research on the 16th century reformations and underlines the fact that this research has not come to a conclusion in 2017. The papers in this conference volume point to lacunae and will certainly stimulate further research. Contributors: Wim François, Antonio Gerace, Siegrid Westphal, Edit Szegedi, Maria Lucia Weigel, Graeme Chatfield, Jane Schatkin Hettrick, Marta Quatrale, Aurelio A. García, Jeannette Kreijkes, Csilla Gábor, Gábor Ittzés, Balázs Dávid Magyar, Tomoji Odori, Gregory Soderberg, Herman A. Speelman, Izabela Winiarska-Górska, Erik A. de Boer, Donald Sinnema, Dolf te Velde.

The contributions in this volume enter the debate about the way in which the provision of poor relief can be influenced by its national confessional context. They bring new perspectives to the understanding of theological aspects of Lutheranism, such as the connection between justification by faith alone and care for the poor, and work and work ethics. The articles also analyse the implementation of social responsibility of the authority towards different categories of poor ('deserving' and 'undeserving'), local administration and centralization of poor relief through connections of public and private sources of funding, and collaboration between state, church and civil society through different public and private aspects of poor relief. In this way the various contributions combine to demonstrate new ways in the study of the connection between confessional specifics and historical developments through detailed knowledge of theology, supported by concrete historical case studies.

This volume is one of scarce studies of religious literature of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth conducted by scholars from both Poland and Lithuania. What makes this endeavour important is mainly the will to overcome the frontiers and strains of the modern world that encourage exploring separateness instead of the realities of deep mutual interdependency. Łukasz Cybulski and Kristina Rutkovska analyse secular and religious writings of secular authors as well as those belonging to the clergy and religious orders. Their main interest lies in exploring the different genres of early modern Polish and Lithuanian sermons and novels, and in tracing this heritage to its social and literary context through the works' material presence in manuscript form and in print. Other papers in this volume give insights into the origins of vernacular translations of the Holy Scriptures and the controversies surrounding them, as well as into the written testimonies of religious devotion and conversions. The aim has been not only to confront different kinds of texts and experiences, but to situate this heritage in its social and confessional context.

The book presents many aspects of the phenomenon of translation and commentary work of the Bible in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th and 17th centuries. It contains studies of eminent scholars as well as of some young adepts, coming mainly from Poland, but also from Lithuania and Czech Republic. The texts present various aspects of the researches conducted on this phenomenon nowadays. As it was an exceptional movement, extremely varied and long-time lasting, it would be difficult to offer its complete synthesis in one volume. Though, the exhaustive presentation of the historical and linguistic contexts allows the reader to understand the phenomenon. Intensified interest in translations of the Bible is closely connected with the interest in the Polish language, its literary expression as well as its grammatical and orthographic standardisation that occurred just in the same time. The intellectual activity related to the Bible contributed simultaneously to the development of the Polish literary language and even inspired the translations of the sacred texts of other religions present in the country. Moreover, contacts between different languages of Central and Eastern European area, where many attempts of new translations appeared, are very important. A quick rise of the different Reformation movements contributed to a »natural« need for new translations and commentaries to be used by community members. These new currents, first easily accepted and spread in the country, even when suppressed, could not stop this activity, and later new Catholic translations and commentaries of the post-Trident period, both in Polish and Lithuanian, proved it. Big part of study is also dedicated to particular typographical realizations of this activity and an interesting example of the musical expression directly inspired by the biblical translation, is also provided.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth familiarized itself with Christian Hebraism in the first half of the 16th century. "In Search of 'the Genuine Word of God'" sketches out the process in three chapters. The first one deals with the development of modern Hebrew studies in Western Europe, the second gives an account of the academic and religious level of Hebrew scholarship in the Commonwealth in the 16th century and at the beginning of the 17th century, and the third is devoted to Polish translations of the Hebrew Bible, which were the most significant consequences of the reception of the West-European Christian Hebraism in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in Renaissance. Knowledge of Hebrew would be spread in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth through personal contacts of magnates and church dignitaries with the Western European Hebrew experts, through Jewish converts teaching Semitic languages, through foreign studies at European universities and through books. Polish Christian Hebraism was not creative; local humanists and reformers who communicated with adherents of Judaism contributed but little to domestic Hebrew studies. Only scholarly trends occasioned by different Christian confessions come to our notice. Hebrew studies were undertaken within universities or religious movements. The purpose was practical: to have direct access to the original Hebrew Bible for the sake of theological disputes or to have proper translation tools for rendering the Scripture in Polish.

From different perspectives this book studies the role of Reformation theology in the shaping of Danish society and the social dimensions of Lutheran confessional culture. The book develops an approach making it possible to draw strong conclusion about the social teaching of Luther and its impact on the development of the Danish society. It works on a conceptual level by analyzing the social dimensions of key Lutheran concepts and their translation into the doctrine of the three estates (church, household, and state), and on the level of lived experience of life within these three orders, not at least within the household forming the ideal form also for church and state. Thus the chapters in the book endeavor to connect the social ideas inherent in the Lutheran confession with the social formation of the Danish state from the Reformation into the period of Absolutism. A long mono-confessional situation within the Danish Monarchy makes it possible to study the impact of Lutheranism and the development of a confessional culture within a uniquely long timeframe. The focus is on basic mediums for the translation of Lutheran ideas into social practice: law, primarily connected to marriage and family; and the role of household, both as primary social relations and as basic social and political model. In this way the book offers important insights for theologians, historians, sociologists, and academically anyone interested in the relation between theology and sociality, confession and culture.

Wim Decockcollects contributions by internationally renowned experts in law, history and religion on the impact of the Reformations on law, jurisprudence and moral theology. The overall impression conveyed by the essays is that on the level of substantive doctrine (the legal teachings) there seems to be more continuity between Protestant and Catholic, or, for that matter, between medieval and early modern jurisprudence and theology than usually expected. As it is illustrated with regards to topics ranging from just war doctrine over business ethics to marriage law, at the very least there appears to have been an on-going conversation between jurists and theologians across the confessional divide. This does not prevent some contributions from highlighting that on the institutional level, for instance in university politics, radical tensions between Reformers and Counter-Reformers played a paramount role. This book also offers approaches to the relationship between Church(es) and State(s) in the early modern period and to the practical as well as doctrinal use of natural law in both Protestant and Catholic lands.

The European reformations meant major changes in theology, religion, and everyday life. Some changes were immediate and visible in a number of countries: monasteries were dissolved, new liturgies were introduced, and married pastors were ordained, others were more hidden. Theologically, as well as practically the position of the church in the society changed dramatically, but differently according to confession and political differences. This volume addresses the question of how the theological, liturgical, and organizational changes changes brought by the reformation within different confessional cultures throughout Europe influenced the everyday life of ordinary people within the church and within society. The different contributions in the book ask how lived religion, space, and everyday life were formed in the aftermath of the reformation, and how we can trace changes in material culture, in emotions, in social structures, in culture, which may be linked to the reformation and the development of confessional cultures.

This collected volume is dedicated to the role of prayer books in lay piety in medieval and early modern contexts. Instead of focusing on individual examples, it places them within the broader genre of devotional literature and considers them in connection with prevailing cultural, religious and artistic developments, taking into account the Reformation, the printing press and growing interest in lay piety, in the context of increasing individualism, developing literacy, privatization and/or personalization of religion. Contextualising devotional literature, the volume refines understandings of religious practice fostered by traditional Catholicism and early modern Protestantism and its relationship with the written word, locating the use of books within a devotional 'diet' that included oral recitation of prayers as well as contemplation of images. Stressing continuities, often against the grain of existing literature, this volume highlights differences between regional cultures of prayer in contrast to norms set by the universal Church and emphasizes the tension between public/communal and private/individual devotion.

This book does not only deal with the history, but also with the effects of the Reformation over the mentality, education and scientifical research among Hungarians during the last five centuries. The spirit of the Reformation has not only been a church-forming factor, but also a force of nation-building and salvation. This volume includes 17 studies of Hungarian Reformed theologians presented at a conference in November 2016. The main goal was to give an overview of the most recent research results in history and theology regarding Reformation and its effects over society and mentality among Hungarians. The contributors come from various Hungarian theological universities from the Carpathian basin, thus the book is an overview of their research topics and results. The City Cluj-Napoca was, became and remained an important center of the Reformation, as significant events took place in its surroundings as well. The Faculty of Reformed Theology of the Babeș-Bolyai University and the Protestant Theological Institute has always functioned in an environment, where the challenges of multi-confessionalism and multiethnicity are also present beside interdisciplinarity.

In his fascinating new book, Polonia Reformata. Essays on the Polish Reformation(s), Professor Piotr Wilczek of the University of Warsaw discusses selected aspects of Polish early modern religious history and literature, introducing them from a new perspective and emphasizing the great role of Poland's radical Reformation in European intellectual life. At the same time, the author presents the varieties of religious experience and expression to be found in the Polish-Lituanian Commonwealth, and questions certain myths about Poland's Reformation and Counter-Reformation history and culture, which have featured in European historiography at least since the publication in 1685 of Stanislas Lubieniecki's Historia reformationis Polonicae. The book's general introduction about Polish "religion on the periphery" is followed by essays on the reception of John Calvin's works, the role of Socinianism, religious polemics and the major religious poets of the early modern period, including Jan Kochanowski, probably a Lutheran in his youth and an Erasmian Catholic later in life, and Erazm Otwinowski, the finest Polish-language poet in the community of the Polish Brethren (Socinians). In this engaging study, Professor Wilczek also looks at the broader European contexts that played an important role in the development of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation in Central and Eastern Europe. This meticulously researched book will appeal to scholars and general readers interested in early modern religion, culture, literature and history.

The focus of this study is on Oecolampadius's 1534 commentary on the biblical book of Hebrews, which derived from his theology lectures at the University of Basel in 1529-1530. Jeff Fisher compares his exegesis with more than twenty-five of the most relevant interpreters from the early church to the Reformation. He shows that by recovering and adapting an Alexandrian interpretive notion of Christ as the goal of Scripture, Oecolampadius's Christoscopic reading of Scripture served as an essential step in the shift toward Reformed interpretative approaches, such as that of John Calvin.

This is the first work to examine Calvin's understanding of the relationship between Jews and Christians at such a fundamental level. After an overview of the status of Jews in Europe during the late Middle Ages and the interest at that time in the knowledge of Hebrew and Judaism, the author turns specifically to Calvin and his interpretation of the Bible. Several important questions are addressed: How did Calvin understand the relationship between Jews and Christians? Have Christians taken the place of the Jews, or do they belong to the Jews because they are included in the relationship between God and Israel? What does Calvin have to say about the future of the Jews? The author concludes that Calvin's view of the relationship between Jews and Christians is closely tied to his view of the unity of the Old and New Testaments.

The role played by artistic, literary, historical and theological representations in the establishment of the European Reformation has attracted scholarly attention over the years. While they were generally regarded as a significant means of conveying the evangelical message, particularly in a society with a low average literacy rate, this scholarly consensus was then seriously challenged by objecting that their meaning must have remained opaque to those who couldn't read and interpret their sometimes multilayered imagery and their verbal and figurative messages. This volume, which publishes some of the papers delivered at the Fourth Reformation Research Consortium Conference held in Bologna, May 15th–17th, 2014, is an attempt to examine the visual intelligibility of the European Reformation by a comparative, multiconfessional and multidisciplinary analysis of examples taken from both the Catholic and the Protestant world in the Early Modern and Modern Era, with particular reference to the figurative arts, but also to history and theology. All the case studies included here examine their peculiar subjects with regard to their religious and artistic contexts, in order to understand their historical significance in a new fashion, combining approaches from political history, history of arts, historiography, anthropology, philosophy and theology. Thus, the volume offers a very rich outline of how visual culture and representation through arts was embodied in very different cultural portraits and images.

This volume introduces an important concept which hitherto has not gotten the recognition it deserves. The concept simul, the idea of a both-and in theology, is primarily associated with the Lutheran understanding of justification. The formula simul iustus et peccator is a shorthand for the nucleus and heart of the Reformation. But the concept, which implies a tension or even a paradox, appears to play a significant role in other areas of theological reflection. This volume highlights a number of areas in which this idea historically has played an important role, as well as its potential in the contemporary conversation. The aim of the work is to provide an informed and readable introduction to the simul concept in various areas of systematical theology and Biblical exegesis.

At the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism, an international conference on the spirituality of the Heidelberg Catechism was held at the Theological University Apeldoorn, 21-22 June 2013. This publication offers the plenary papers presented, and a selection of the short papers. While the papers center on the Catechism's spirituality, a wide range of topics is covered, from both historical and theological perspectives. These topics include: the roles of Ursinus and Olevianus, controverse theologians, anabaptist spirituality, comparisons with Calvin's Genevan Catechism and the later Synopsis of Purer Theology. Also, the distinct spirituality of faith, regeneration, the trinity, the law and prayer in the Heidelberg Catechism are scrutinized, besides the idea of mystical union and the art of dying and living. Three contributions reflect on the controversy on the Eucharist which has stamped the Heidelberg Catechism. From a practical-theological perspective, the preaching and teaching of the Catechism are discussed, as well as the mode of gospel presentation and the permanent character of catechetical instruction. So, this volume offers a broad range of scholarly perspectives on the Catechism. Its spirituality is famous for the first question and answer, on the only comfort in life and death: That I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.""

The study aims to analyse the impact of Luther's theology on his thoughts about music. It limits itself to an analysis of the topic by focusing on the three most important statements of Luther about music in his unfinished treatise Περι της μουσικης [On Music]. The first statement is that music is "a gift of God and not of man" [Dei donum hominum est], second, music "creates joyful soul" [facit letos animos], and third, music "drives away the devil" [fugat diabolum]. The relation between these three statements to each other and to Luther's theology in general can be understood in connection with his personal experiences and commitments to music, which were undergirded by his theology. Luther, as a man of medieval times, took for granted the existence of the devil, and many of his writings contained frequent references to the personal attacks of the devil, where it influenced his thoughts about music.

Die Wirkung Martin Luthers auf den Calvinismus war enorm. In diesem Band dokumentieren namhafte Autoren auf dem Gebiet der Lutherforschung und der reformierten Theologie die internationale Forschung zur Rezeption Martin Luthers im Calvinismus. Umfassend analysieren sie das Bild Luthers in unterschiedlichen calvinistischen Kontexten. Als Experten gelingt es ihnen, die zentralen Zusammenhänge zwischen lutherischem und calvinistischem Denken nachvollziehbar und präzise aufzuzeigen. Mit ihrem nachdrücklichen Hinweis auf die immense Wirkung Luthers auf den Calvinismus leisten sie insgesamt einen Meilenstein auf dem Weg zur Erforschung der Bedeutung Martin Luthers für die Geistesgeschichte Europas.