Bruce Gordon

Günter Frank

Tarald Rasmussen

Barbara Mahlmann-Bauer

Christopher B. Brown

Violet Soen

Zsombor Tóth

Günther Wassilowsky

Siegrid Westphal

Patrizio Foresta

Federica Meloni

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.

Proceedings of the Fourth Reformation Research Consortium Conference

Arts, Portraits and Representation in the Reformation Era

Lukasz Cybulski

Kristina Rutkovska

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.

Religious and Literary Communities in the 16th and 17th Century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Texts and Contexts

Beyond Devotion

Jordan J. Ballor

Wim Decock

Mathijs Lamberigts

Ute Lotz-Heumann

David M. Whitford

Johannes Schilling

Michael Germann

Laurent Waelkens

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 Legal Teachings of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations

Law and Religion

Joel R. Beeke

Martin I. Klauber

The Synod of Dort was an international conference of Reformed leaders held in 1618–1619 in the Netherlands. It is famous for its so-called Five Points of Calvinism which were a refutation of the Five Remonstrances of the followers of Arminius on the nature of divine grace and the perseverance of believers unto eternal salvation. As an international Synod, Dort made a significant impact on the definition and development of Reformed orthodoxy for decades and centuries to come. In countries such as France, the Canons of Dort served as a confessional boundary for Reformed orthodoxy and all pastors had to swear allegiance to them. Despite its tremendous influence, the decisions of the Synod of Dort remain a mystery to many today and are subject to caricatures and stereotypes of an extreme divine determinism and the hijacking of Calvin's pure theology. This volume seeks to shed light on various aspects of the Synod of Dort in order to inform the contemporary reader of its proper historical and theological context and its experiential emphases. Some leading scholars of post-Reformation Reformed thought and the Synod have contributed essays to this work. The book is divided into three major sections designed to deliver a better overall perspective on the Synod. The first section focuses on the reception of the Canons of Dort among the Reformed churches in France where they were accepted and enforced. However, there were some internal questions, concerns, and even objections to the canons which are detailed in these chapters. The second section hones in on the theology of the Canons of Dort with particular attention to the doctrines of election and the nature of the atonement. This section also includes an important chapter on the relationship between church and state, always a central concern in the Reformation and post-Reformation eras. Finally, the third major section looks at how believers could apply the theology to their daily lives and devotion to Christ. These chapters indicate that this was not merely a theological conference, but one that had practical and experiential implications as well. The book concludes with a chapter on the application of the Synod for believers today.

Historical, Theological, and Experiential Perspectives

The Synod of Dort

Anna Vind

Iben Damgaard

Kirsten Busch Nielsen

Sven Rune Havsteen

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'.

Reflections upon Visibility and Transcendence in Theology, Philosophy and the Arts

In-visibility

Jon Oygarden Flaeten

Death and dying were not in the main focus of the denominational conflicts of the 16th century. However, pious literature covered these topics again and again, not only before the Reformation, but after it as well. This volume contains papers presented at the Second RefoRC Conference in Oslo in 2012, and is characterized by a multiconfessional and multidisciplinary approach, with contributions from Church History, Art History, Archaeology, History of Literature and Cultural History. Within a field of research dominated by specialized contributions, the broad approach of this volume may further stimulate to comparative and cross-confessional reflection.

Preparing for Death, Remembering the Dead

Tarald Rasmussen

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