Human Freedom, Christian Righteousness: Philip Melanchthon's Exegetical Dispute with Erasmus of Rotterdam
This book argues the provocative thesis that Philip Melanchthon, so often pictured as hopelessly caught in the middle between Erasmus and Luther, and more "Erasmian" than Lutheran in his thought, was, at least in his theological methods and views, not Erasmian at all, but in fact sharply opposed to Erasmus. Author Timothy J. Wengert builds his case largely on the basis of Melanchthon's Scholia on the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians, employing the critically important but seldom used second...
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This book argues the provocative thesis that Philip Melanchthon, so often pictured as hopelessly caught in the middle between Erasmus and Luther, and more "Erasmian" than Lutheran in his thought, was, at least in his theological methods and views, not Erasmian at all, but in fact sharply opposed to Erasmus. Author Timothy J. Wengert builds his case largely on the basis of Melanchthon's Scholia on the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians, employing the critically important but seldom used second edition of 1528, which was produced in the aftermath of Luther and Erasmus's famous debate over the free will. Wengert also draws on a wide range of other contemporary sources, many of them well known but, as he argues, frequently misunderstood. Throughout this analysis he subjects a wide range of the secondary literature to sharp critical review. From the vantage point of a relatively narrow exegetical dispute, the book deals with a number of important topics: the complicated and elusive relationships between humanism and the Reformation, Erasmus and Luther, Erasmus and Melanchthon, and Melanchthon and Luther; the theological issues of proper biblical interpretation, of free will, and of divine and human righteousness; and the hotly contested social problem of political order. Human Freedom, Christian Righteousness will be of interest not only to students and scholars of Reformation theology, but to a broader audience of those concerned with Renaissance and Reformation history and literature.
PrefaceAbbreviationsIBackground to the Dispute1Philip Melanchthon: Alien to or Ally of Erasmus?5The Current Debate7The Printing History of Philip Melanchthon's Lectures and First Commentary on Colossians142Melanchthon's Relation to Erasmus, 1519-152421IIGround Rules for an Exegetical Debate3Text and Tradition31The Biblical Text32The Sources364Ratio seu Methodus Melanchthonis48The Pauline Grammar49Paulus Rhetor50Argumentum Magistri Pauli52Contextus Pauli: The Locus communis56IIIThe Controversy over Human Freedom and Christian Righteousness5Melanchthon's Controversy with Erasmus as Reflected in Their Correspondence, 1524-1528676Colossians against Erasmus on the Freedom of the Will80The Dissertatio on Col. 2:8: Origins of an Argument82The Scholia of 1527: Undercutting Erasmus's Position87The Scholia of 1528: Broadening the Attack96The Translated Scholia of 1529: Revealing the Opponent101Melanchthon contra Erasmum104Luther neben Melanchthon1067Colossians 2:23 as Melanchthon's "Politics"110The Text: Colossians 2:23113The Scholia of 1527: An Exegetical Debate over Romans 13114The Scholia of 1528: Melanchthon's Christian "Politics"123IVThe Aftermath8Melanchthon at Erasmus's Funeral: 1528-1560139The Doctrines of the Will's Freedom and Civil Authority139The Changing Assessment of Erasmus148After 1536: Not to Speak Ill of the Dead153The Origins of Melanchthon's "Erasmianism"156AppThe Printing History of the Scholia159Notes163Select Bibliography219Index227
