Luther as Heretic. Ten Catholic Responses to Martin Luther, 1518–1541 ed. by M. Patrick Graham and David Bagchi (review)

This welcome addition to the source material from the Reformation available in English translation supplies texts of ten treatises by eight of Luther's Roman Catholic critics, each introduced by the translator with succinct descriptions of its historical context. The translations are generally well done and provide readers with clear impressions of the concerns of Luther's foes and the spirit that moved them in their defense against threats to their concept of order in the world. For the most part, helpful explanations in the extensive footnotes aid readers in understanding the circumstances. The authors do avoid the massive task of identifying what Luther actually said when references are made to his writings, a task that would aid the evaluation of how the polemic actually functioned.

The treatises are by Johann Tetzel, Johann Eck, Hieronymus Emser, Augustin Alveldt, Wolfgang Wulffer, Johannes Cochlaeus, Konrad Wimpina with others, and Paul Bachmann. Bagchi's introductory analysis echoes insights of his masterful Luther's Earliest Opponents, Catholic Controversialists, 1518–1525 (Fortress, 1991). He notes both the reluctance—if not outright opposition—shown by ecclesiastical officials to the entry of theologians into the arena of print. Bagchi commends those who proceeded independently to challenge Luther's call for reform in the medium he was finding so effective in swaying popular opinion. The relative ineffectiveness of their attempts to stop the Wittenberg tide lay perhaps, in addition to their lack of official support, in their choice of genre: half were scholarly treatises or disputations, many open letters, and few sermons, most written in Latin, not the vernacular. Few of the Catholic rejoinders translated here appeared in a second edition, contrasting with the republication of Luther's treatises an average of four or five times. The anticlericalism of the age along with the fact that criticism of the established order often finds more response than defenses of it may also have contributed to the ineffectiveness of the Catholic efforts. This reviewer notes that it may well be that the theology of these defenders of a system that provoked the crisis of pastoral care at the end of the fifteenth century could not compete for many who took their faith seriously. Bagchi also demonstrates the importance of support from secular rulers for the print campaign against Luther, in part, through its absence apart from the active crusade sponsored and conducted by Duke Georg of Saxony (see the recent study by Christoph Volkmar, Catholic Reform in the Age of Luther. Duke George of Saxony and the Church, 1488–1525 [Brill, 2017]). Five of the eight authors (Emser, Alveldt, Wulffer, Cochlaeus, and Bachmann) were associated with Georg's campaign.

Most of these theologians faithful to the papacy were scholars, able to defend the old system through their training, some of them within the movement called biblical humanism. They often engaged in the kind of personal invective that typified the public exchange ever since the Roman curial officials first reacted to the threat from Wittenberg, a style in which both sides engaged with abandon. What becomes clear from these treatises is that Luther's opponents were acutely concerned that destruction was inexorably descending upon society, and damnation was besetting pious souls because of Luther's redefinition of being Christian. They could only conceive of religion as a ritual-centered, hierarchically governed system emphasizing human performance in securing the sinner's relationship with God. They could not grasp Luther's understanding that God approaches sinners without condition to restore them to trust and obedience through his Word. "Faith alone," they believed, could only destroy public order. Without this framework too much of the opponents' writings seems trivial and self-seeking. They reflect the sense of crisis that beset defenders of the old order, so they concentrated on the defense of the papacy and the necessity of good works for salvation.

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