Luther and Late Medieval Thomism

Denis R. Janz

Description

A careful analysis of Luther’s thought in the context of his age, this volume examines Luther’s links with later medieval Thomism. The study is organized on the theme of theological anthropology—the state of humans within a theological system. In the course of the discussion, Janz studies parallels and divergences between the thought of Luther and the thought of Thomas Aquinas, Peter Lombard, John Capreolus, Henry of Gorkum, Conrad Koellin, Karlstadt, and Cajetan. Janz suggests that at some crucial points late medieval Thomist teaching misrepresents the teaching of Thomas Aquinas. This, compounding Luther’s lack of direct knowledge of Thomas, helps to explain Luther’s opposition not only to his own nominalist teachers but to the scholastics generally.

Students of late medieval and Reformation theology will find the wealth of primary citation and the detailed readings of the sources invaluable guides to the issues. Students of religion interested in contemporary problems in theological anthropology, in the natural capacity of humanity for good and evil, for example, will find the historical Christian perspective of great interest.

Sujets

• Religión
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Date de parution: 15 décembre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781554587148
• Langue: English

Extrait

Luther and Late Medieval Thomism; A Study in Theological Anthropology
by Denis R. Janz
A careful analysis of Luther s thought in the context of his age, this volume examines Luther s links with late medieval Thomism. The study is organized on the theme of theological anthropology-the state of humans within a theological system. In the course of the discussion, Janz studies parallels and divergences between the thought of Luther and the thought of Thomas Aquinas, Peter Lombard, John Capreolus, Henry of Gorkum, Conrad Koellin, Karlstadt, and Cajetan. Janz suggests that at some crucial points late medieval Thomist teaching misrepresents the teaching of Thomas Aquinas. This, compounding Luther s lack of direct knowledge of Thomas, helps to explain Luther s opposition not only to his own nominalist teachers but to the scholastics generally.
Students of late medieval and Reformation theology will find the wealth of primary citation and the detailed readings of the sources invaluable guides to the issues. Students of religion interested in contemporary problems in theological anthropology, in the natural capacity of humanity for good or evil, for example, will find the historical Christian perspective of great interest.
Denis Janz received the Ph.D. from University of St. Michael s College, Toronto, in historical theology. He teaches in the religious studies department of Loyola University, New Orleans and has published articles on late medieval and Reformation topics in various scholarly journals.
Luther and Late Medieval Thomism: A Study in Theological Anthropology
Luther and Late Medieval Thomism
A Study in Theological Anthropology
Denis R. Janz
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Janz, Denis R. (Denis Raymond), 1949- Luther and late medieval Thomism
Bibliography: p. Includes index. ISBN 0-88920-132-3
1. Luther, Martin, 1483-1546 - Theology. 2. Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, 1225?-1274 - Influence. 3. Man (Christian theology) - History of doctrines. 4. Theology, Doctrinal - Europe - History - Middle Ages, 600-1500. I. Title.
BR333.5.A5J36 1983 233 C83-099166-2
Copyright 1983 WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY PRESS Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3C5 83 84 85 86 4 3 2 1
No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system, translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche, or any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
For Jan
Contents
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
1. The Theologico-Anthropological Question
2. The Configuration of Late Medieval Theology
3. The Luther-Thomas Problem
2. The Development of Luther s Theological Anthropology
1. Introduction
2. The Marginal Notes on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, 1509-10
3. The Dictata Super Psalterium, 1513-16
4. The Lectures on Romans, 1515-16
5. The Academic Disputations of 1516 and 1517
6. The Later Luther
7. Luther s Critique of Late Medieval Thomism
3. The Theological Anthropology of Thomas Aquinas in the Light of Luther s Concerns
1. The Twelfth-Century Background
2. Thomas Aquinas
4. John Capreolus O.P, (ca. 1380-1444)
1. Introduction
2. Interpretation of Thomas in the pre-Capreolus Era (1275-1425)
3. The Contribution of Capreolus to Thomas-Interpretation and to the Fifteenth-Century Renaissance of Thomism
4. Theological Anthropology in the Defensiones
5. Capreolus and Gregory of Rimini
6. Capreolus and St. Thomas
7. Capreolus and the Reformation
5. Henry of Gorkum (ca. 1378-1431)
1. Henry of Gorkum and the Thomist School in Germany (1425-1525)
2. Henry of Gorkum, Peter Lombard, and Luther
6. Conrad Koellin (ca. 1476-1536)
1. Introduction
2. Koellin s Theological Anthropology
7. Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt (ca. 1480-1541)
1. Karlstadt s Early Career
2. Luther s Reaction to Karlstadt s Attack on Thomas
3. Karlstadt s Early Thomism
8. Cajetan (1468-1534)
1. Introduction
2. Theological Anthropology in the Summa Commentary
3. The Question of Development: Did Cajetan s Views Change after the Advent of the Reformation?
4. Cajetan and Thomas
5. Cajetan and Luther
9. Conclusion
Appendix: Towards a Definition of Late Medieval Augustinianisrn
Bibliography
Index of Names
Index of Subjects
Abbreviations
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vienna: Hoelder-Pichler-Tempski, 1866ff.
DS Enchiridion Symbolorum Definitionum et Declamtionum de Rebus Fidei et Morutn. Edited by H. Denzinger and A. Sch nmetzer. 36th ed. Barcelona-Freiburg-Rome: Herder, 1976.
DTC Dictionnaire de th ologie catholique. Edited by A. Vacant, M. Mangenot, and . Amann. Paris: Librairie Letouzey et An , 1930ff.
LTK Lexikon f r Th ologie und Kirche. Edited by J. H fer and K. Rahner. 3rd ed. Freiburg: Herder, I957ff.
NCE New Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
PL Patrologia Latina. Edited by J. P. Migne. Paris: Apud Garnier Fratres, 1844-90.
RGG Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. 3rd rev. ed. T bingen: Mohr, 1957-62.
WA D. Martin Lathers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe. Weimar: H. B hlau, 1883ff.
WABR D. Martin Lathers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe: Briefwechsel. Weimer: H. B hlau, 1930ff.
WATR D. Martin Lathers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe: Tischreden. Weimar: H. B hlau, 1912ff.
Acknowledgements
This study deals with the thought of some of the greatest theological representatives of the Christian tradition: Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, and, at least indirectly, Augustine, whose influence overshadows the whole. It also deals with the representatives of a major theological school in the century preceding the Reformation. To undertake a study of such scope would have been foolhardy, if not impossible, were it not for the generous criticism, encouragement, and advice offered by many. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Harry McSorley who took a keen interest in this project from the outset, read the manuscript at every stage, and, more than once, to my great benefit, sent me back to the sources. His prudent advice is reflected throughout this study. I am also indebted to James A. Weisheipl, O.P., who read an early draft and whose expertise in the history of Thomism proved invaluable to me. For their interest and advice I would like to thank Ulrich Horst, O.P., Heiko Oberman, and Damasus Trapp, O.S.A., with whom I discussed the major theses of this study at some length.
I acknowledge too the assistance of the Canada Council which facilitated my research both in Canada and Germany. I wish to thank Loyola University of New Orleans for generously providing a grant to put the manuscript in its final form, and the Thomist for its permission to reprint the Appendix. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Finally, for her patience and encouragement, I would like to thank my wife Jan, to whom this book is dedicated.
1 Introduction
1 The Theologico-Anthropological Question
Reflection on human nature in the doctrines of creation, the fall, grace and justification, for example, is an essential task of Christian theology. The significance of theological anthropology in the history of Christian doctrine need scarcely be argued. More than once in this history, major turning points have found their focus in reflection on human nature, created, fallen, and recreated. So too in the sixteenth century, as Luther himself acknowledged, anthropology was the cardo rerum -the hinge on which his whole Reformation theology turned.
By 1525 Luther was approaching the problem primarily from the perspective of free will, or, rather, the lack of it in what pertains to justification. But this basic question of theological anthropology with which he was grappling can also be stated and discussed in other terms, and this Luther himself did, at least in his pre-1520 period. In this period, Luther, as a scholastic, posed the problem precisely as the scholastics had posed it since the time of Peter Lombard.
Integral to the medieval discussion of theological anthropology was a whole complex of questions, initially raised by Augustine and then given scholastic form in the Sentences of the Lombard. This complex of questions can ultimately be reduced to one major question which was the focus of virtually the entire discussion, especially in the late Middle Ages: the question of de potentia hominis ex suis naturalibus. What is the capacity of man s natural powers alone (i.e., unaided by grace), and what soteriological significance do these powers have, if any? This is also the primary form which the question took for the early Luther. And Luther s foremost concern in this period of his development was to set himself off from what he saw as the teaching of the scholastics on this issue.
This study is an examination of the relationship, both systematic and historical, between a crucial aspect of Luther s early theological anthropology and that of the leading representatives of the late medieval Thomist school: the question of man s natural powers and their significance for salvation. The Thomists have been chosen for this study for a number of important reasons having to do, first, with the configuration of late medieval theology as modern historiography represents it, and, second, with what has come to be known as the Luther-Thomas problem.
2. The Configuration of Late Medieval Theology
The signif