Théodore de Bèze (1519–1605) (review)

The most successful conferences are those that leave a sense of having advanced the field by challenging received views and bringing new perspectives. This can be said of the 2005 colloquium held in Geneva to mark the 400^th anniversary of the death of Theodore Beza. Naturally, the undisputed leader of the Reformed churches in the late sixteenth century is not an unknown figure, and his importance has long been recognized, if somewhat negatively. Outside a small number of scholars, his reputation has borne something of a Protestant black legend: Beza was the severe reformer of Geneva who twisted Calvin's theology into a joyless predestinarianism.

The range of subjects covered at the colloquium reflects Beza's diverse and extraordinary talents. After reading through the twenty-three essays in this volume, one has to concur with Béatrice Nicollier's conclusion: "Je crois que nous avons pendant cette semaine définitivement débarrassé Bèze de son etiquette de 'successeur de Calvin'!" (577). That, however, could be misleading, for the scholarly work in this volume does not so much attempt to uncouple Beza from his more famous partner, whose theological and reforming legacy he fiercely defended, as to examine him in his own context. Seen in those terms, the sheer range of his activities is arresting: pastor, theologian, educator, international church leader, poet, dramatist, and polemicist, to name a few. The editor of the volume, Irena Backus, writes that the challenge laid out by the organizers for the participants was to take an appropriately interdisciplinary approach to Beza. Backus herself offers a historiographical overview that reveals the patchy development of a field that is currently enjoying considerable attention, thanks to the ongoing edition of Beza's correspondence and recent studies by Scott Manetsch and others.

Yet who is the man that emerges from these studies? Beza lived by the pen and the spoken word, a dominant and complex personality with a canny sense of politics and institutional governance, and an instinctive feel for the cadences of language and prayer. He was equally comfortable with nobles, students, and the common people and was able to adjust his discourses appropriately. As Christian Grosse demonstrates, he pursued Calvin's ideal of discipline in Geneva, but was able to work with the magistrates to establish greater stability and even a degree of professionalization. Unlike Calvin, he was scrupulous in his attention to the details in publishing his works and his relationships with his printers reflected his volatile personality. The writers reveal Beza's ability to infuse old forms with new life. This is evident in his rigorous use of sources in L'Histoire ecclésiastique des Églises réformées au royaume de France, in which a distinctively Reformed French voice emerges. Bernard Roussel reminds us that Protestantism is not a religion of the book, but of the interpretation of the book. It is in this respect that he examines the Novum Testamentum and demonstrates how Beza's translation and notes spoke to his age. Ruth Stawarz-Luginbühl offers a fascinating study how of Beza explored the implications of tragedy for Reformed thought in his L'Abraham sacrifiant. Olivier Pot examines the Chrestiennes Meditations sur Huict Pseaumes and finds in them a new form of literary genre, subtle and intricate, that weaves together public and private discourses of the practice of religion. Max Engammare gives a full literary and historically contextual analysis of the dispute between Beza and the ultra-Catholic Gilbert Génébrard over the Psalms. These few examples, chosen with apologies to the other authors, give a feel for the attention to context and the sophistication of Beza's methods evident throughout the collection.

Naturally, there are desiderata. An assessment of Beza the correspondent would address a major lacuna in the field: the epistolary world of the reformers. Further, perhaps the desire to...