Luther in English: The Influence of His Theology of Law and Gospel on Early English Evangelicals (1525-35)
by Whiting, Michael S.
•Pickwick Publications 2010
Overview
Recent studies have increasingly downplayed, and in a few cases even wholly denied, the influence of Martin Luther’s theology of Law and Gospel on early English evangelicals such as William Tyndale. The impact of a late medieval Augustinian renaissance, Erasmian Humanism, the Reformed tradition, and Lollardy have all but eclipsed the more central role once attributed to Luther. In this text Michael Whiting examines these claims with a thorough reevaluation of Luther’s theology of Law and Gospel in its historical context—spanning twenty-five years, something entirely lacking in all previous studies. Using extensive research of primary sources, paying acute attention to the larger historical narrative, and remaining in dialogue with secondary scholarship, Whiting argues that scholars have often oversimplified Luther’s theology of Law and Gospel. His argument continues that scholars have thus wrongly diminished Luther’s very significant, even principal, influence upon first-generation evangelicals William Tyndale, John Frith, and Robert Barnes during the English Reformation of the 1520s and 1530s.
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Key Features
- Examines Luther’s influence in England
- Brings differing strains of the Reformation together
- Focuses on Law and Gospel as a key theological construct for early evangelicals
Praise for the Print Edition
Martin Luther, the theological giant of the sixteenth century, has almost been written out of the English Reformation. Whiting’s book restores him to his proper place, not least by showing that Luther’s early English interpreters often understood his paradoxical theology better than modern commentators have done. He reminds us of what we should always have known: that a Reformation without Luther is simply unimaginable.
—Alec Ryrie, Durham University
Whiting’s fresh look at the works of three of the most significant inaugurators of the Protestant Reformation in English casts aside the prejudices of the previous generation of scholars and thus opens a new discussion of how the earliest English reformers read and digested Luther’s core insights within the framework of his distinction of law and gospel.. . . This book will command attention from the coming generation of interpreters of the Reformation in the wider European context and specifically in England.
—Robert Kolb, Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis, Missouri
This excellent study shows how Luther’s theology of Law and Gospel greatly influenced the work of Tyndale, Frith, and Barnes. It examines the concept of the Tertius Usus Legis and traces its development in Luther’s own work. Michael Whiting has produced an extremely comprehensive, persuasive, and well-informed study, a high quality work which amply justifies careful attention.
—George Newlands, University of Glasgow
Product Details
- Title: Luther in English: The Influence of His Theology of Law and Gospel on Early English Evangelicals (1525-35)
- Author: Michael S. Whiting
- Series: Princeton Monographs
- Publisher: Pickwick
- Publication Date: 2010
- Pages: 378
- Christian Group: Lutheran
- Resource Type: Monographs
- Topic: Reformation
About Michael S. Whiting
Michael S. Whiting has taught history of Christianity and the Reformation at Wheaton College and earned his PhD with his thesis: Luther in English.