Table Of ContentTHE CHRISTIAN SCHOLAR
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in the J/ge of the RgO y ation
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E. HARRIS HARBISON, Professor of History at Princeton Uni-
versity, was born in 1907 and received his Ph.D. from Harvard.
His courses on the Renaissance and Reformation are perennial
favorites among undergraduates, and he is ranked high by them
as a teacher and lecturer.
T H E
CH RIST IAN
SCHOLAR
in the <!/.[ge of the Reformation
E. H A R R I S H A R B I S O N
Princeton University
C HA R LE S S C R I B N E R ' S S ON S New York
© Copyright, 1956, by
E. HARRIS HARBISON
A-6.61 [:\IC]
All rights reserved. No part of t!tis book may
be reproduced in any form <ti.:ithout the
permission of Charles Scribner's Som
Printed in tl:e United States of A nurica
Library cf Congress Catafog Card No. 56-1 o 347
Preface
THI S brief book is based on five lectures delivered on
the L. P. Stone Foundation at Princeton Theological Sem-
inary during April 1955. It seemed appropriate for a lay-
man and a historian speaking before such an audience to
choose some subject which lay at the crossroads of his in-
terests and his hearers'. It occurred to me that scholarship
as a Christian calling was a subject relatively neglected by
both historians and theologians and that it was worth in-
quiring into. Rather than to celebrate Christian scholars
in general, it seemed best to focus upon the Reformation,
both because it was the period I knew best and because the
Protestant Reformers were the source of the tradition of a
learned ministry which had produced Princeton Seminary.
So what follows is an attempt to suggest what a Christian
scholar is like, how he comes by a sense of his calling, how
he may reconcile his scholarly zeal with his Christian faith,
and how his work affects the development of Christianity,
V
PREFACE
through a study of a few Christian scholars of the Refor-
mation period and some of their predecessors who influ-
enced them.
The method followed is to talk in particular rather than
in general, to concentrate on a few important and well-
known figures rather than to catalogue the many, to sug-
gest rather than to conclude. A thorough study of the
subject, of course, should go much further. It should ask
what happened in general to Christian scholarship between
the decline of scholasticism and the beginnings of modern
science. It should examine and describe dozens, if not
hundreds, of Christian scholars. It should relate the new
doubts and concerns and conclusions of these scholars to
the changing social conditions and revolutionary move-
ments of their day. The purpose of the present essay is
far more modest. It is to suggest a somewhat fresh perspec-
tive from which the familiar outlines of the age of the
Reformation may be viewed.
This perspective may be described briefly as follows.
The Protestant Reformation began in a scholar's insight
into the meaning of Scripture. It was to a large extent a
learned movement, a thing of professors and students, a
scholars' revolution, as later chapters will suggest. The
Catholic response to the challenge, particularly in the
Council of Trent, partook of the same nature,. The pres-
tige and influence of Christian scholars probably never
stood higher in all of Western history than during the
two generations which embraced the lifetimes of Erasmus,
Luther, and Calvin. In no other period is there anything
quite like the zest for learning, the respect for scholarship,
the confidence in what scholarship might accomplish-and
the revolution it did accomplish-of the age of the Refor-
mation. It was Christian scholars over and over again who
made the sixteenth-century equivalent of the headlines,
vi
PREFACE
and it is the who still crowd the statesmen in the indexes
of our textbooks on the period: :rvn a e, Cranmer, an
Hooker from England, for example; Bude and Lefevre
from France; Reuchlin and Mutian in Germany; Conta-
rini and Valdes in Italy; Ximenez and Vives from Spain.
There were scholarly Popes, and Reginald Pole was by no
means the only scholar in the College of Cardinals. On
all sides of the complex religious controversy, leader after
leader could be described as a "scholar" in some sense of
the word. Sir Thomas More was a statesman with the in-
stincts and equipment of a scholar. Philip Melanchthon_
was a university professor, as was John Eck. Zwingli and
Bucer were writers and teachers as well as preachers. And
among the radicals, Sebastian Franck, Conrad Grebel, Se-
bastian Castelli 0, and Michael Servetus were only a few
of those who could be called scholars. Christian scholars
have probably never been so squarely in the historical lime-
light before or since.
The psychological and spiritual tensions within these
learned Christians are particularly interesting to study dur-
ing the years when men had lost faith in the scholastic
method but as yet knew nothing of "science" in the ·mod-
ern sense. During this interim the interests of scholars in
general turned from what we would call philosophy and
logic to philology and history. The question was what if
anything had these disciplines to do with Christian faith?
Only a few scholars of the time were significantly disturbed
by this problem and became articulate about it. Many of
them had no real personal concern with Christianity as a
religion. Many of the great Christians of the age had no
interest ?Jn scholarship. Some who were both. practising
'Chnst1ans and scholars left us so few records that it is
fruitless to inquire whether they had a sense of vocation
or how they acquired it. A few, however, gained a distinct
vii
PREFACE
and sometimes hard-won consciousness of calling as schol-
ars, as Christian men of learning, and it is with these that
we shall be mainly concerned: with John Colet, who opened
new horizons in his lectures at Oxford on St. Paul; Eras-
mus, who gave his life to "serving God by advancing
knowledge" (in P. S. Allen's memorable phrase); Martin
Luther, who was Professor of Bible throughout his public
career and an indefatigable biblical scholar and translator;
and John Calvin, who always thought of himself as first
of all a scholar. There is no better age than the Reforma-
tion in which to study the Christian scholar and his vocatio,
in the traditionally ambiguous sense of the word as both
divine calling and professional occupation. If modern pub-
lishers were as favorable to lengthy titles as their sixteenth-
century brethren, this book would be called "The Christian
Scholar and His Calling in the Age of the Reformation."
It is a pleasure to acknowledge that this disquisition
about scholars rests squarely upon the scholarship of many
others, all the way from the sixteenth century to the twen-
tieth. The footnotes will suggest my debt to the standard
works of editing and research in the field. Special mention
should be made of one work which reached me after my
manuscript was in the hands of the publisher: W. Schwarz,
Principles and Problems of Biblical Translation: Some
Reformation Controversies and Their Background, Cam-
bridge University Press, 1955. Had it appeared earlier,
my debt to it would have been larger than it has been.
I am grateful to the Faculty of Princeton Theological
Seminary for the invitation to deliver the Stone Lectures,
and to Princeton University for the semester's leave of
absence and the research assistance which enabled me to
commit them to paper. I am also grateful to the U niver-
sity of Southern California for the invitation to deliver
three Arensberg Lectures on this theme in April 1956. My
VIJJ
PREFACE
colleagues, Professors Joseph R. Strayer and Whitney J.
Oates, have generously read the manuscript as has also
Professor Roland H. Bainton of Yale University. Their
help has been invaluable. Friends at Princeton Sem-
inary, particularly Professor Bruce M. Metzger, Professor
Georges A. Barrois, and Dr. Walter G. Hards, have also
been generous with suggestions. My student, Bennett D.
Hill, has helped me indefatigably with numerous details.
Miss Elizabeth D'Arcy, Mrs. Eileen Blumenthal, and
Mrs. Louis E. Gantz have typed the manuscript in various
stages.
To my wife, whose quick understanding and constant
encouragement have meant more to a diffident author than
even she will ever know, the book is dedicated.
E. H. H.
Princeton, N. J.
August 1956
ix
