Reformation und Rationalität ed. by Herman J. Selderhuis and Ernst-Joachim Waschke (review)

This volume presents the papers from a conference held in 2012 in Wittenberg on the relation of the Reformation and rationality. Most essays are in German. Two are in English.

The first part handles the history of the University of Wittenberg and especially of its theological faculty. Helmut G. Walther examines the foundation of this university, and states that evangelical territorial lords found it necessary to support universities in order to preserve their evangelical identity. Armin Kohnle and Beate Kuschke set forth the current state of research on the Wittenberg theological faculty at the beginning of the Reformation, investigating also practical matters such as sources of funding for the university. Volker Leppin investigates the change in the practice of academic disputations at Wittenberg. Ironically it was John Eck's book of disputations that showed Karlstadt and Luther how to use disputations in a provocatory manner, to claim truth for themselves and ascribe falsehood to their opponents. Seen in this light, the Ninety-Five Theses (1517) were an international challenge that invited attacks, not just an intramural exercise. Heiner Lück and Stefan Weise present an edition of Latin manuscript regulations for doctoral promotions at Wittenberg, dated from 1599, but based on much older texts and practices. Perhaps, they suggest, these were the rules and the context under which Luther attained his doctorate on Oct. 18/19, 1512. (The 1599 revision includes vows of the doctorandus to teach in accord with the Book of Concord.)

The second and third parts focus on the use of philosophy in theology among Lutherans and Reformed in the 16th and 17th centuries. Günter Frank argues against current views which do not see any innovative approaches to rationality in the Reformation. Instead, it was precisely the two core Reformation perspectives, according to Frank—the experience of faith and the authority of Scripture—which shaped 20th-century philosophy, as seen in Martin Heidegger's existential interpretation and fundamental ontology, and in hermeneutics as a universal theory of understanding. Michael Weichenhahn addresses Lutheran views of Copernicus's new worldview. He finds a number of people in the Wittenberg orbit who appropriated the mathematical conclusions of Copernicus and saw astronomy as a way to the knowledge of God. Copernicanism is also Gijsbert van den Brink's topic. Summarizing the secondary literature on the relation of the Reformation and the rise of modern science, he argues that science and religion in the sixteenth century were not always antithetical. Tarald Rasmussen examines the important Philippist theologian Niels Hemmingsen and his biblical hermeneutics. Hemmingsen advised against using older Bible commentaries for exegesis and preaching. For Hemmingsen, reason and the text of the Bible take precedence over the ancient Christian exegetical tradition. Hemmingsen was pushing Lutheran Bible exegesis in a rational-scientific direction. Touching on the problem of "double truth," Joar Haga asserts that "the metaphysic of Lutheran Orthodoxy was a tragedy," yet without sufficient documentation to support his claims. Andreas J. Beck covers the same ground (Daniel Hofman of Helmstedt and his attempt to reassert the doctrine of double truth) with clarity, and details the Reformed theologian Bartholomäus Keckermann's opposition: whatever theology asserts as true is never really claimed as false by philosophy, and vice versa. Peter Opitz, Aza Goudriaan, Henk van den Belt, and András Szabó examine various aspects of post-Reformation Reformed theology.

The volume will interest specialists in the history of the University of Wittenberg, of Lutheran and Reformed theology, and of philosophy in the areas where it borders upon theology. Extensive bibliographies make this book a good place to begin historical investigations.