Erneuerung der Kirche durch Bildung und Belehrung des Volkes: Der Beitrag des Dortmunder Humanisten Jacob Schoepper zur Formung der Frömmigkeit in der frühen Neuzeit by Ursula Olschewski (review)

book reviews327 his belief that Melanchthon was responsible for his exile to SUesia after the death of his patron, George of Saxony, but also in response to a more polemical tone in Melanchthon, who now referred to the Lutheran church as evangelical and the Roman Catholic Church aspapist. Philippica VI, written in 1544, deals with reform issues in Cologne, whUe Philippica VII appeared in 1549 as a defense of the Augsburg Interim, and was also appended to Cochlaeus'History of the Hussites. Throughout the Philippics, the importance of secular rule in preventing the spread of the Protestant reform is paramount, and the exhortation to take action is clearly directed at Charles V. The importance of ecumenical councUs is also stressed, as is the place of tradition. At the same time, Cochlaeus clearly tries to show the deceit of Melanchthon, and labels Luther and his foUowers anti-church Donatists. Ultimately, the polemical severity of Cochlaeus would lead to marginaUzation by his own Church, characterized by his difficulty in finding pubUshers. This two-volume work continues Keen's laudable effort to make avaUable critical editions of the controversial theology of Cochlaeus. The first volume contains the Latin text, whUe the second volume is entirely given over to a superb critical apparatus, including a sixty-page introduction to the history of the Philippics. In addition, several useful appendices of lesser primary texts are included . It would be a welcome addition to any library even moderately devoted to sixteenth-century studies. Keith Lewis St.John's Seminary Camarillo, California Erneuerung der Kirche durch Bildung und Belehrung des Volkes:DerBeitrag des Dortmunder HumanistenJacob Schoepper zur Formung der Frömmigkeit in der frühen Neuzeit. By Ursula Olschewski. [Reformationsgeschichtliche Studien und Texte, Band 141.] (Münster: Aschendorff. 1999· Pp. Lx, 348. DM 90,00.) Jacob Schoepper (d. 1554), known mainly for an influential catechism and numerous Latin dramas that he composed whUe he was teacher at the Dortmund Gymnasium, has not been fuUy appreciated as a religious thinker. So argues Ursula Olschewski in this revised Bochum dissertation, the first full-length study of Schoepper's work. The fact that Schoepper has been seen both as a reactionary and a Lutheran, as well as a number of points in between, proves the need for a careful re-examination. Thus with the impressive thoroughness one expects from this monograph series, Olschewski examines Schoepper's Catechismus , Institutio Christiana, and the three volumes of preserved sermons 328BOOK REVIEWS to reveal a comprehensive reform program within the moderate branch of Reformation-era Catholicism in Germany. After an informative biographical survey, Olschewski sets Schoepper within the reformist camp of Westphalian CathoUcism, the documentary monuments of which are reform ordinances for Jülich-Cleve-Berg and Cologne and the Enchiridion of Johannes Gropper. Within this context, the Dortmund schoolmaster and cleric articulated a program of pastoral care in the form of diligent religious instruction for chUdren and adults alike. Olschewski presents Schoepper 's work as coherent as well as comprehensive, for wherever possible she compares his positions in the Catechism and Institution with pertinent passages in the sermons. What emerges is a reform program in direct opposition to Lutheran teachings. Recognizing, with Erasmus and Gropper, the value of ancient sources as the most solid foundations for doctrine and practice, Schoepper counters Protestant challenges with biblical and patristic defenses of aU seven sacraments, the veneration of saints, and the authority of the hierarchical church. The element that keeps Schoepper from taking a place alongside the controversialists of his time is the importance he assigns to education as a form of pastoral care. In his defense of the priesthood,for example, he acknowledges that greater care needs to be exercised in examining candidates for ordination, and demands that priests meet the needs of their parishioners more dUigently than in the past by offering continuing instruction in dogma and piety. Schoepper 's program of renewal from within sets him safely within Catholic Reform, whUe his reluctance to concede anything to the Protestants offers a CounterReformation complement. Although Olschewski seems at times to elevate the anti-Reformation element to an importance unwarranted by the texts, her work is a useful corrective to the tendency to ignore polemical...