This study is an inquiry into the intellectual origins of the Reformed branch of Protestantism generally called Calvinism. It focuses on the early theologian who gave formative shape to Reformed theology, Peter Martyr Vermigli.
The great Florentine Protestant reformer Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499-1562) made a unique contribution to the scriptural hermeneutics of the Renaissance and Reformation, where classical theories of interpretation derived from Patristic and Scholastic sources engaged with new methods drawn from Humanism and Hebraism. Vermigli was one of the pioneers of the sixteenth century in acknowledging and harnessing the biblical scholarship of the medieval Rabbis. His eminence in the Catholic Church in Italy (until 1542) was followed by an equally distinguished career as theologian and exegete in Protestant Europe where he was professor successively in Strasbourg, Oxford, and finally in Zurich. The Companion consists of 24 essays divided among five themes addressing Vermigli s international career, hermeneutical method, biblical commentaries, major theological topics, and his later influence. Contributors include: Scott Amos, Michael Baumann, Jon Balserak, Luca Baschera, Maurice Boutin, Emidio Campi, John Patrick Donnelly SJ, Max Engammare, Gerald Hobbs, Frank James III, Gary Jenkins, Robert Kingdon, Torrance Kirby, William Klempa, Joseph McLelland, Charlotte Methuen, Christian Moser, David Neelands, Peter Opitz, Herman Selderhuis, Daniel Shute, David Wright, and Jason Zuidema.
In this last work of Vermigli's distinguished career as a theologian, he uses a dialogue to discuss the disagreement among Christians about the Eucharist and Christ's presence in the Lord's Supper.
Analyzing and comparing the doctrines of justification held by a legendary nineteenth-century Catholic, John Henry Newman, and an Italian hero of the Reformation, Peter Martyr Vermigli, this book uncovers abiding opportunities, as well as obstacles at the Catholic-Protestant divide. These earnest scholars of the faith were both converts, moving in opposite directions across that divide, and, as a result, speak to us with an extraordinary degree of credibility and insight. In addition to advancing scholarship on several issues associated with Newman's and Vermigli's doctrines, and illuminating reasons and attendant circumstances for conversion across the Tiber, the overall conclusions of this study offer a broader range of soteriological possibilities to ecumenical dialogue among Roman Catholics and Reformed Protestants by clarifying the common ground to which both traditions may lay claim.
For the Roman Catholic Church, the doctrine of transubstantiation was not merely based in Scripture and rooted in tradition and official church teaching; it was the keystone of the whole sacramental system through which the Church claimed spiritual authority as the mediator of salvation, and for ordinary believers, was the focal point of sincere, though often superstitious, devotion. For many Protestants, however, it was an absurdity contrary to both reason and sound theology, and obscured the central role of faith in receiving Christ and His benefits.One of the most significant Reformation-era texts on the Eucharist, The Oxford Treatise and Disputation on the Eucharist displays Peter Martyr Vermigli at the height of his powers. Recently arrived in England to teach at Oxford during the reforming reign of Edward VI, Vermigli used a university controversy over his eucharistic theology as an opportunity to take the offensive against transubstantiation, the strongest bulwark of Catholic traditionalism in Edwardian England. His Treatise offered a crisp and compelling statement of the Reformed doctrine of the Eucharist and objections to transubstantiation, while the Disputation locks horns with a series of Catholic disputants on the biblical, philosophical, and historical issues at stake. This volume is essential reading for any who wish to understand the contours of this crucial doctrinal controversy.
This collection of essays on Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499-1562) not only demonstrate his shaping influence on Reformed Protestantism, but also illuminates some of his more important and provocative contributions to the various Reformations in sixteenth-century Europe, both Catholic and Protestant.
Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499-1562) was a forgotten giant of the Protestant Reformation. With a legacy that spanned from Naples to Zurich to Oxford, Vermigli left behind him voluminous biblical commentaries and treatises, and a band of faithful disciples who collected his writings into the massive theological compendium, the Loci Communes. "On Original Sin" represents the first installment of a new project to translate the Loci into English for the first time since 1583, Presented here in a clear, readable, and learned translation, Vermigli's searching discussion of original sin reveals the biblical and patristic foundations of this controversial doctrine, and its centrality to Protestant orthodoxy. Along the way, Vermigli offers a scathing critique of the semi-Pelagian Catholic theologian Albert Pighius and defends the Augustinian understanding of sin and grace, in a treatise marked by exegetical skill, historical erudition, and philosophical sophistication."Vermigli's Commonplaces became one of the most influential of all Reformed systematic theologies, especially in the English-speaking world. Kirk Summers has translated the selection of these commonplaces pertaining to the pivotal Christian teaching concerning Original Sin and rendered them into lucid, legible, modern English. For any scholar or aspiring theologian attuned to the Reformed tradition this volume should be obligatory reading." -W.J. Torrance Kirby, McGill University, author of The Zurich Connection and Tudor Political Theology "Peter Martyr Vermigli is undoubtedly one of the most significant Reformed theologians of the sixteenth century and his Common Places is the crown jewel of his collected works. The rendering of this work into contemporary English is a great service to the understanding of Reformation thought and will be enriching for scholars and pastors alike. Vermigli's theological training and acumen are on full display here and the results are rightly esteemed as a masterwork of Reformed theology."-Jordan J. Ballor, The Acton Institute, Junius Institute, author of Covenant, Causality, and Law: A Study in the Theology of Wolfgang Musculus"With this precise but grandly readable translation, Reformation scholars owe a debt of gratitude to the editors and translator for this initial volume in this new series on Peter Martyr Vermigli's Commonplaces. Kirk Summers has faithfully and eloquently rendered Vermigli who is here at his subtle and forceful best; and has thus opened to a wider audience the Reformer's thought on some of the questions most central to the disputes of the sixteenth century."-Gary Jenkins, Eastern University; author of Calvin's Tormentor's: Understanding the Conflicts that Shaped the Reformer