The Reformation: A Brief History (review)

IF 0.2 3区 历史学 Q2 HISTORY CATHOLIC HISTORICAL REVIEW Pub Date : 2012-10-01 DOI:10.1353/CAT.2012.0261
T. Brady
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Abstract

Early Modern European The Reformation: A Brief History. By Kenneth G. Appold. [Blackwell Brief Histories of Religion Series.] (Maiden, MA:Wiley-Blackwell. 2011. Pp. xi, 203. $84.95 clothbound, ISBN 978-1-4051-1749-4; $29.95 paperback, 9781-40511750-0.)Not long ago, a prominent German historian of the Reformation lamented that "we have lost the Reformation." In fact, a search for new books on the subject reveals that it is more than holding its own. At least nineteen general studies have appeared in English since the mid-1990s, plus another thirteen in German. Most eschew both the nineteenth-century elevation of Martin Luther as the godfather of Western civilization and the twentieth-century defense of Luther's theology as a metahistorical vision. In 1995 Bernd Moeller reminded theologians that "history makes no somersaults, and Luther was no miracle-worker who fell to earth."1Many of the new works share a view of Luther and his Reformation as not the dawn of modernity but the fruition of medieval Christendom. Just as prominent is the tendency to replace the classic (Protestant) singular- "The Reformation"- with a concept of plural reformations- Lutheran, Reformed, and Catholic. These changes reveal a shift of focus from theological ideas to religious practice and a setting of the Reformation less in European history and more in the general history of Christianity.Each of these shifts is visible in The Reformation: A Brief History by Kenneth G. Appold of Princeton Theological Seminary. The Reformation occurred, he writes, "within a larger dynamic driven by the Christianization of Europe" (p. ix). Its agent was a church that was neither static nor backward, driven by the dialectical movements of its two heritages: the Roman legacy of hierarchical institutionalization and the Celtic "ethical" drive toward "the moral and spiritual transformation of individual lives and communities" (p. ix). Medieval Christendom experienced an immense evolutionary dialectic between an aim to manage the world and a desire to overcome it.The downshift from such great landscapes to the person and thought of Luther is a stock device of general works on the subject. Here Appold does not disappoint, as his second chapter bores into Luther as a "phenomenon" (p. 43) composed of heritages, actions, personality, and theological and other ideas. Although its rhetorical color and strong narrative make chapter 2 the book's liveliest chapter, there is no appeal to Luther's "genius" as the moving force. Rather, Luther's reformation comes as an acceleration, not a negation, of the medieval dialectic and brings both successes and failures. Appold explains the most fateful of the latter, the German Peasants' War, by Luther's formation in an urban world that was climbing for economic hegemony over the vast landscapes of traditional, rural Europe. …
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宗教改革简史(回顾)
近代早期欧洲宗教改革简史。肯尼斯·g·阿波德著。布莱克威尔宗教简史系列。[麻萨诸塞州梅登:威利-布莱克威尔。2011. 第11页,第203页。精装本84.95美元,ISBN 978-1-4051-1749-4;平装版售价29.95美元,9781-40511750-0。)不久前,一位研究宗教改革的著名德国历史学家哀叹道:“我们已经失去了宗教改革。”事实上,搜索一下关于这一主题的新书就会发现,它不仅仅是在坚持自己的观点。自20世纪90年代中期以来,至少有19篇一般性研究论文用英语发表,另外还有13篇用德语发表。大多数人都避开了19世纪马丁·路德作为西方文明教父的地位,以及20世纪对路德神学作为一种超历史观点的辩护。1995年,Bernd Moeller提醒神学家:“历史不会翻跟头,路德也不是降临人间的奇迹创造者。”许多新著作都认为路德和他的宗教改革不是现代的黎明,而是中世纪基督教世界的成果。同样突出的趋势是用多元改革的概念——路德教、改革宗和天主教——取代经典的(新教的)单一的“宗教改革”。这些变化揭示了焦点从神学思想到宗教实践的转变,以及宗教改革在欧洲历史上的影响较少,而在基督教的通史上的影响更多。在普林斯顿神学院的肯尼斯·g·阿波德所著的《宗教改革简史》一书中,我们可以看到这些变化。他写道,宗教改革发生在“由欧洲基督教化推动的更大的动态中”(第ix页)。它的代理人是一个既不静止也不落后的教会,由其两种遗产的辩证运动驱动:罗马的等级制度遗产和凯尔特的“伦理”驱动,以“个人生活和社区的道德和精神转变”(第ix页)。中世纪的基督教世界经历了一场巨大的进化辩证法,在管理世界的目标和克服世界的愿望之间。从这些伟大的风景到路德的个人和思想的转变是关于这个主题的一般作品的一个固定的方法。在这里,阿波德没有让人失望,因为他的第二章将路德视为一种“现象”(第43页),由遗产、行动、个性、神学和其他思想组成。虽然它的修辞色彩和强烈的叙述使第二章成为本书最生动的一章,但它没有吸引路德的“天才”作为推动力量。相反,路德的改革是对中世纪辩证法的加速,而不是否定,它带来了成功和失败。阿波德解释说,后者中最具决定性的是德国农民战争,路德在一个城市世界中形成,这个城市世界正在攀登经济霸权,超越传统的欧洲农村的广阔景观。…
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