Reformed Theology between 1600 and 1800

Early modern Reformed theology embraced a wide variety of styles, genres, and doctrinal variants expressed within the broadly and sometimes vaguely defined confessional boundaries presented in a series of regional and national confessions. Its development between 1600 and 1800 (roughly distinguishable into three phases: early orthodoxy extending from ca. 1565 to ca. 1640, high orthodoxy from ca. 1640 to 1725, and late orthodoxy from 1725 to ca. 1780) saw the rise and decline of scholastic models, a significant alteration of exegetical assumptions, and a massive shift in philosophical understandings, framed by patterns of confessionalization and deconfessionalization in the nations, states, and movements that belonged to the Reformed branch of the magisterial Reformation.

Early Modern Lutheranism

The early modern Protestant church known as “Evangelical” and eventually as “Evangelical Lutheran,” has from its origin displayed a deep ambivalence about its self-understanding, either as a theological “movement” within the historic Western form of Christianity, or as a separate church. By examining how Lutherans understand God and creation, scripture and exegesis, the church and its sacraments, the debates over the meaning of justification, and the renewal movement known as Pietism, this section of the Handbook provides readers with the basis for probing that question, as well as other issues and consequences of Lutheranism. These additional topics range from continuing debates about the person and importance of Luther himself, to the didactic/teaching legacy of pastoral training, the standing of confessional documents, Lutheranism’s medieval roots and subsequent political history, its relationship to marriage, gender, and sexuality, and its manifestation in a global, extra-European context.

Introduction

This handbook presents essays from a wide range of scholars about Christian theological literature in the period 1600 to 1800. Our introduction addresses several issues concerning the shape and contents of the handbook: first, the intention and scope of the volume; second, what are the actual boundaries of a study of early modern theology that is broadly assigned to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; third, why we use the term “early modern”; fourth, how early modern theology should be examined, analyzed, and understood given the varied intellectual, social, and political contexts of the era; and fifth, how the present volume is organized.

Catholic Sacramental Theology in the Baroque Age

This essay provides an account of the historical and thematic features of Catholic sacramental theology during the Baroque age. Its intent is primarily bibliographic, and hopes to introduce readers to the wide range of sources by which theologians of this time period constructed their grand syntheses, including the renewed traditions of scholasticism, polemical theology, mystical and devotional literature, liturgical studies, and the newly emergent Tridentine curia. Some of these developments will be outlined in three sections: (1) a brief bibliographic survey of the sources for early modern Roman Catholic sacramental theology; (2) an outline of some of its main scholastic controversies; and (3) a corresponding outline of the various attempts of the Holy Office to answer questions that arose in sacramental theology between the years 1500 and 1800.

The Rise of Natural Law in the Early Modern Period

This article traces the history of the rise of natural law from the classical and medieval periods to the eighteenth century, considering the publications and debates that began to mushroom from the Reformation, and how the works of Grotius, Hobbes, Locke, and von Pufendorf transformed the political philosophy and learned architecture of Latin Europe. It examines how confessional revelation theology on the will of God, as revealed in scripture, was marginalized by jurists and philosophers and goes on to discuss the role of civil authority as obligating agency within each sovereign state; natural law’s emphasis on rights and obligations; and the arguments of Aristotle and Cicero. It explores three interrelated developments seen as responsible for the rise of natural law during the early modern period, and concludes with an analysis of its further development in relation to the philosophical scene and political environment in each polity during the eighteenth century.

Church and Church/State Relations in the Post-Reformation Reformed Tradition

This chapter outlines Reformed positions on the church, church-state relations, and the sacraments. The first section introduces perspectives in relation to predestination and covenant theology, and in contrast to the Church of Rome; considers the definition of the church and the relationship between a congregation and the church catholic; illustrates how the visible church was identified; shows how church authority was understood; examines the ministerial order, and then depicts the rationale for presbyterial polity. The church-state relations portion highlights the contrast between some who stood for a distinct, autonomous spiritual jurisdiction alongside the civil sphere and others who surrendered responsibility to the state; issues of obedience, disobedience, and active resistance to tyrannical rule are also indicated. The section on the sacraments deals with them generally and then in relation to baptism and the Eucharist. It is demonstrated that on many matters there was no seamless homogeneity within the Reformed world.

Western Theologies and Judaism in the Early Modern World

This article examines how Western theologians of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries perceived Jews and Judaism compared to their predecessors. It considers how Judaism was portrayed by Christian Hebraism during the period, before discussing Western theological references to Jews under the doctrine of scripture, controversial theology (including theological books written for missionary outreach to Jews), and eschatology. It also explores the challenges faced by theologians of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with respect to writing anti-Jewish polemics, with particular emphasis on how their works were influenced by the need to establish clear theological boundaries between themselves and Judaism, as well as other confessional churches, schismatics, anti-Trinitarians, and atheists. It comments on the thinking by most confessional theologians that a mass conversion of the Jews in the future would be one of the signs of the impending Last Judgment.

Early Modern Pietism

Pietism became the most important Protestant renewal movement in central Europe after the Reformation. This essay surveys the origins and theological consequences of the movement in the context of the crises of the seventeenth century and the rise of the Enlightenment. Pietists concerned themselves primarily with reform of the Christian life rather than doctrine, but Pietism presented new challenges for ecclesiology, Biblical authority, eschatology, regeneration, and the conception of theology. The various streams of Pietism remained heterogeneous and could differ significantly on issues such as millenarianism, prophecy, and ecclesiology. Where early Pietists could be innovative and progressive, later Pietists reacted strongly against the rise of rationalism and the Enlightenment, increasingly emphasizing Biblicism and allying themselves with conservative tendencies.

Descartes, Cartesianism, and Early Modern Theology

While insisting on the need to separate theology from philosophy, Descartes developed a philosophical theology that was intensely debated in the early modern period. This article asks the question how the receptions of Cartesian philosophy were related to different confessional profiles. Confessional controversies certainly played a role: some feared that Cartesian philosophy was inspired by Jesuits, while others accused it of supporting Calvinism. Descartes’s theory of transubstantiation could never obtain trans-confessional consent. Still, the reactions to Cartesian philosophy reveal significant trans-confessional agreements. Cartesianism, it seems, was only loosely related to confessional specifics. Jansenists and Cocceians apparently had only few specifically theological reasons for espousing Cartesianism. Supporters of Cartesian ideas were found across the confessional spectrum. In a parallel way, critics of Descartes from Roman Catholic, Lutheran, or Reformed backgrounds alike made theological objections against Cartesian notions such as doubt, the dualism of thinking and extension, and an indefinitely extended world.

Early Modern Reformed Eschatology

Reformed Christians developed their eschatological thinking in reaction to the claims of both Roman Catholic and Anabaptist theologians, both in rejecting the doctrine of purgatory and in rejecting the doctrine of a future millennium. The Reformed elaborated upon their eschatological convictions in a series of confessions of faith, which were frequently expanded upon, and sometimes entirely rejected—and especially in the seventeenth century, when the adoption by English Puritans of millennial expectations challenged the purpose and authority of a European creedal consensus. Time-bound and geared toward the historical moment, it is in discussions of eschatology that early modern Reformed theologians seem least likely to meet the expectations of their modern readers.