The Front-Runner of the Catholic Reformation: The Life and Works of Johann von Staupitz (review)

Reviews 227 Parergon 21.2 (2004) of the Catholic League is evident in Keith Cameron’s analysis of the propaganda campaign against Henry III in the late 1580s, but although Michael Wolfe also intelligently discusses book production and its impact on the debates surrounding Henry IV from 1574, we are clearly a long way from the original intentions of the project. But in this fact, like the diversity of the collection as a whole, we see the fecundity of the historical ground that this pioneering project has opened up. Glyn Parry History Department Victoria University of Wellington Posset, Franz, The Front-Runner of the Catholic Reformation: The Life and Works of Johann von Staupitz (St Andrews Studies in Reformation History), Aldershot,Ashgate, 2003; cloth; pp. xxii, 398; 4 b/w plates; RRPUS$104.95,£59.50; ISBN 0754608662. In this stimulating ‘theological biography’ (p. xv), Franz Posset provides the fullest account in English of the thought of the oft-neglected Augustinian theologian, Johann von Staupitz, usually remembered as the spiritual counsellor of the young Martin Luther. Influenced both by late medieval monastic spirituality and by the emerging biblical humanism of the early sixteenth century, Staupitz by-passed the scholasticism of Gabriel Biel in order to return to the theological and spiritual ‘mainstream’of Catholic tradition, ‘as shaped byAugustine, Gregory the Great, and Bernard of Clairvaux’ (p. 57). Like Luther after him, he was above all a disciple of the Bible and of Augustine. Posset criticises the common characterisation of Staupitz as a Thomist, arguing that Staupitz cannot properly be understood within the framework of any scholasticism, but only within the framework of a more spiritual, monastic form of theology. Staupitz sought to cultivate theological, spiritual and pastoral reforms, guided always by a profound conviction of the centrality of Christ. In his efforts to reform popular piety, he promoted an internalised and Christ-centred piety, criticising customs (such as indulgences and the rosary) which he judged to be too externalised or to subvert the centrality of Christ. Posset thus portrays Staupitz as ‘a master of balanced Catholic spirituality’ (p. 22), who continued the existing Augustinian tendency towards an ‘individualized and simplified piety’ (p. 30). An eminent preacher, Staupitz aimed ‘at the heart of the listener’ (p. 140), 228 Reviews Parergon 21.2 (2004) and focused on the themes of Christ and grace. He stressed the priority of divine grace, and the ‘sweetness’ of God: Christ, he said, is ‘God made sweet for us’ (p. 173). In emphasising the sweetness of God in Christ, Staupitz made a ‘tremendous contribution’ to the revision of the vulgar image (which so tormented the early Luther) of Christ as Judge (p. 198). Staupitz’s warm, Christ-centred preaching even led his auditors on one occasion to praise him as ‘the tongue of Paul’and ‘the herald of the gospel’(p. 221). Posset’s rich portrayal of Staupitz’s preaching thus constitutes a welcome challenge to ‘the simplistic but popular myth of the total absence of pastoral care and preaching’ in pre-Lutheran Germany (p. 154). Although Staupitz’s strict concentration on Christ led him to play down the spiritual significance of the sacraments, it did not preclude mariological devotion; he articulated a reformed and simplified mariology which centred on Christ and highlighted the mercy of God. Staupitz’s Christ-centredness further led him to relativise the problem of ecclesiastical authority in a way that clearly influenced Luther. The true pope, according to Staupitz, ‘lives in our hearts’, for ‘God is our pope’(p. 281). Posset thus describes Staupitz as a ‘reform-minded’, ‘Evangelical’ and ‘Catholic’ theologian (p. 269), who sought to be authentically ‘Catholic’ without being a ‘papist’ (p. 330). Indeed, although Staupitz’s works were later placed on Rome’s Index, Posset convincingly argues that Staupitz was an outstandingly ‘Catholic’ representative of the early reform movement. Posset further emphasises the catholicity of the Protestant Reformation itself, which embodied some of the deepest spiritual and theological concerns of mainstream, non-scholastic Catholic tradition. Although Posset’s characterisation of scholasticism and its relationship to the reforms lacks nuance, and although scholastic thought-forms almost certainly played a more significant role than...