Problems of Authority in the Reformation Debates

Author： G. R. Evans  

Publisher： Cambridge University Press‎

Publication year： 1992

E-ISBN: 9780511880643

P-ISBN(Paperback): 9780521416863

Subject： B978 Analysis and Study of Christianity

Keyword： 宗教史、宗教地理

Language： ENG

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Problems of Authority in the Reformation Debates

Description

Problems of Authority in the Reformation Debates shows that in the early sixteenth century much was seen to be wrong with both the doctrine and the practice of authority in the Western Church. A great deal of scholarly effort was devoted at the time to trying to understand the nature of the problem, but this, as the author points out, was largely a piecemeal endeavour. No one succeeded in providing a comprehensive account of the complex 'authority' questions which were being raised about absolute divine sovereignty, the centrality of Christ, the primacy of scripture, the necessity of grace, and so on. Dr Evans aims here to piece together underlying connections in the theology of the Reformation period, as a contribution to ecumenical dialogue. She shows how, as theologians struggle today about words and meanings, the detailed texture of semantic debate similarly underlies many of the Reformation controversies.

Chapter

Cover

Half-title

Title

Copyright

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Principal collections of articles and theses mentioned in the text

Introduction

i. The agenda

ii. The instruments of Christian scholarship

PART I AUTHORITY FOR THE TRUTH OF THE FAITH

1. The authority of the text

i. The true text?

ii. The real meaning

2. Authoritative testimony

i. The witness and the judge

ii. * Still he was only a man': attitudes to authorities

3. Authoritative proof

i. Formal reasoning

ii. Fallacies, paradoxes

iii. Authority in debate

PART II SAVING AUTHORITY

4. Powerlessness before sin

5. Justification

i. Acceptance, love and faith

ii. The softening of God's wrath

iii. The language and logic of justification

iv. The limits of justification

6. The empowering of the will for good

PART III AUTHORITY IN THE CHURCH TO RECONCILE

7. The saving power of the sacraments

8. The penitential system and 'power to bind and loose'

i. Forgiveness sealed and renewed

ii. Poenitentia

iii. Contrition and satisfaction

iv. Absolution: the priest as judge

9. The Eucharist and authority to forgive

i. Human innovations and man' s usurpation of Christ's priesthood

ii. The problem of repetition: the Last Supper, the Passion and the Eucharist

iii. The presence of Christ

iv. In the person of Christ

v. Applying the work of Christ

vi. Receiving

PART IV AUTHORITY IN THE VISIBLE COMMUNITY

10.Visible and invisible

11. The two swords and the political analogy

i. Order

ii. Two swords

12. Making ministers

i. The priesthood of all believers

ii. Making ministers

iii. Episcopal ordination

13. Higher Authority

i. Oversight and discipline: office or power?

ii. Headship on earth

PART V THE AUTHORITY OF COMMON SENSE

14. A decision-making body

i. Inerrancy

15. Decision-making in a divided Church

i. The problem of the mixed community

ii. The failure of communication

iii. Decision-making

Conclusion: the unity we seek

Select bibliography

Index

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