Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Approaching 2017

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 65; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/0039338x.2011.632439

1502-7791

Anna Vind,

Abstract This article consists of two parts: first, a methodological part and secondly, a historical example. The aim is to discuss the understanding of the theological study of church history in comparison to historical study in general. This is done through the example of two influential Danish scholars on Luther from the 20th Century. Secondly the article gives an introduction to the Danish reformer Hans Tausen in order to point to two things: an example of the method presented in the first part and an area of research in progress. Strangely enough, Hans Tausen has not been subject to profound scholarly investigation for many years, even though he is one of the most important persons in Danish Reformation history. Notes 1. For Wittendorf's view see his article "Popular Mentalities and the Danish Reformation," in Die Dänische Reformation vor Ihrem internationalen Hintergrund (ed. Grane and Hørby; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1990). 2. Ingela Kyrre and Alex Wittendorf, "Historiesyn og Lutherforskning: Betragtninger over Leif Granes Lutherbog," Historisk Tidsskrift 86 (1986): 103-130. 3. Leif Grane, "Metahistorie og Lutherstudium: Svar til Ingela Kyrre og Alex Wittendorf," Historisk Tidsskrift 86 (1986): 130-140. 4. Suggestions by Steffen Kjeldgaard-Pedersen, "Reformationen" Fønix (2003): 99. 5. Leif Grane, "Luther's Cause," Lutherjahrbuch (1995): 62. 6. Grane, "Luther's Cause," 57. 7. Grane, "Luther's Cause," 60, cf. the Wartburg Postil,WA10,I,6-8. 8. Grane, "Luther's Cause," 57. 9. Grane, "Luther's Cause," 60. 10. Grane, "Luther's Cause," 60. 11. Walter Mostert, "Scriptura sacra sui ipsius interpres: Bemerkungen zu Luthers Verhältnis der Heiligen Schrift," in Glaube und Hermeneutik: Gesammelte Aufsätze (ed. Pierre Bühler and Gerhard Ebeling; Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 1998). 12. I am aware of the difficulties in and possible interpretations of this distinction, for example concerning the question about the relation between the two clarities. To go further into that would nevertheless take us too far in this context. 13. When Grane looks at the confessions to find Luther's "cause" formulated there, he notes: "It is significant that he makes no attempt to forward his own theology, i.e. his own specific way of formulating Christian doctrine. Both Confessions (Vom Abendmahl Christi and The Schmalkaldian Articles) are meant to express the faith of all Christians, not to explain anything private … He is just retelling the great works of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit," see Grane, "Luther's Cause," 59. 14. Walter Mostert, "Luthers Verhältnis zur theologischen und philosophischen Überlieferung," in Leben und Werk Martin Luthers von 1526 bis 1546: Festgabe zu seinem 500. Geburtstag (ed. Helmar Junghans; vol. 1; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1983), 355. 15. Johannes Horstmann, "Reformationens kirke og den dynamiske reformisme," Tidehverv (1968): 35 16. WA 18,626,8-10;22-24. "[…] hanc esse fortunam constantissimam verbi Dei, ut ob ipsum mundus tumultuetur […]. Mundus et Deus eius verbum Dei veri ferre non potest nec vult, Deus verus tacere nec vult nec potest; quid iam illis duobus Diis bellantibus nisi tumultus fieret in toto mundo?" 17. The relation to Gerhard Ebelings thoughts in "Kirchengeschichte als Geschichte der Auslegung der Heiligen Schrift" is quite obvious, cf. f.ex. the article on this by Albrecht Beutel in Historiographie und Theologie: Kirchen- und Theologiegeschichte im Spannungsfeld von geschichtswissenschaftlicher Methode und theologischem Anspruch (ed. Wolfram Kinzig, Volker Leppin and Günther Wartenberg; Leipzig: Evangelische, 2004), 103-118. 18. Cf. note 13. 19. Kjeldgaard-Pedersen, "Reformationen," 108. Kjeldgaard-Pedersen's work with these distinctions can also be seen in his article "Freiheit und Gerechtigkeit," in Lutherjahrbuch (1995): 67-80, and can be traced further back to his doctoral dissertation Gesetz, Evangelium und Busse: Theologiegeschichtliche Studien zum Verhältnis zwischen dem jungen Johann Agricola (Eisleben) und Martin Luther (Leiden: Brill, 1983). Especially in Luther's discussions with Agricola (the antinomian controversy), the focus upon the ability to distinguish is conspicuous. The emphasis upon Luther's "Unterscheidungslehre" is inspired by Ebeling's interpretations (as is the case with the methodology, cf. note 17) as they are set out in, for example, Luther: Einführung in sein Denken (Tübingen: Mohr, 1964), and more explicitly in "Das rechte Unterscheiden: Luthers Anleitung zu theologischer Urteilskraft," in Theologie in den Gegensatzen des Lebens (vol. 4 of Wort und Glaube; Tübingen: Mohr, 1995), 420-459. 20. Kjeldgaard-Pedersen, "Reformationen," 108. 21. WATR 2,4,8-16; nr. 1234. Quoted in Steffen Kjeldgaard-Pedersen, "Reformationen," 109. 22. Even though there are great similarities between the two (Grane was strongly influenced by dialectic theology also), differences are to be seen. In his article, Kjeldgaard-Pedersen criticizes Grane's approach as too substantial. 23. This has long been discussed, for example by Niels Knud Andersen in his book Confessio Hafniensis: Den københavnske Bekendelse af 1530 (Copenhagen: Gad, 1954) and by Jørgen Ertner in his Peder Palladius' Lutherske Teologi (Copenhagen: Akademisk, 1988). I return to this question below. 24. Recently, two historians in Copenhagen, Associate Professor Dr.phil. Charlotte Appel and Associate Professor, PhD Morten Fink-Jensen have studied the thoughts and life of the Danish pastors in 1550-1750 in the book Når det regner på præsten: En kulturhistorie om sognepræster og sognefolk 1550-1750 (Højbjerg: Hovedland, 2009). 25. Furthermore, he has written a general introduction to the Danish Reformation and a church history of Denmark – the former appeared in German in 2008: Die Reformation in Dänemark (Schriften des Vereins für Reformationsgeschichte 208; Heidelberg: Gütersloh, 2008). The second came out in English in 2002: Martin Schwarz Lausten, A Church History of Denmark (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002). 26. In Copenhagen, two unpublished prize theses dealing with Hans Tausen were written in 2010 and this year PhD student Rasmus H. C. Dreyer has begun a research project on Tausen's relationship to Luther. Dreyer's project is timely, since he is the first for a long time to undertake an examination of the quite extensive source material. 27. See Hal Kochs "Epilog," i Tro og Tale: Studier over Hans Tausens Postil (ed. K. E. Bugge; Copenhagen: Gad, 1963), 215 ff. 28. Andersen, Confessio Hafniensis, 437. 29. Andersen, Confessio Hafniensis, 51. 30. Andersen, Confessio Hafniensis, 437. 31. The general historical and biographical information in what follows stems from the article by Martin Schwarz Lausten, "Hans Tausen" in Dansk Biografisk leksikon 378 ff. and Schwarz Lausten, A Church History, 94-120. 32. Cf. Schwarz Lausten, "Hans Tausen," 380. The Skibby Chronicle was a strange document about the years of the reformation found in 1650 in a wall in the Church of Skibby and clearly written by the Carmelite monk Povl Helgesen. Helgesen can in many respects be compared to Erasmus: Like Erasmus he was fond of Luther in the beginning (he translated his Bethbüchlein in 1526), but he was never convinced as to Luther's cause when matters became serious, and he ended his days being accused of opportunism from the Catholic side and seen as an antagonist from the evangelical side. Helgesen was a professor at the theological faculty in Copenhagen and many of his pupils, including Hans Tausen, were the later reformers in Denmark. More information about Povl Helgesen can be found in Sten Haarløv, Poul Helgesens teologiske standpunkt og placering i den europæiske humanismebevægelse – set på baggrund af en præsentation af Erasmus af Rotterdams teologiske programskrifter (Copenhagen: Det Teologiske Fakultet, 2007). 33. Hans Tausen, "Edt kort antswor til bispenss sendhæbreff aff Othense," i Smaaskrifter af Hans Tausen (ed. H. F. Rørdam; Copenhagen: n.p., 1870). The answer was printed in 1529. 34. For the following cf. Oluf Friis, Den Danske Litteraturs Historie (vol. 1; Copenhagen: Hirschsprungs, 1945), 245ff. 35. Oluf Friis, Den Danske, 247: "Verden er ond, 'saa wnd, som hwn haffwer nogher tiidh werith, ia fast verræ.'" Og "mennesket fødes hid til Verden 'i sønd och gudz vredhæ, wndher diefflzens weldighe herredom och tyranni.'" 36. Oluf Friis Den Danske, 247: "samtidigt lærer han, at Frelsesvisheden, den indvortes Fred 'som goer offwer aldhæ menneskelighe tancker, sind och forstand,' kun vindes gennem idel Kamp og Trængsel." This line of thought ought to be followed more closely through studies of Tausen's texts: a task which, however, lies beyond the scope of the present paper. 37. "Tha haffuer ieg end nu her til dagss holdet alle vanlige ceremonier y messen, oc inted foruandledh enten y messeklæder, lyusstending eller sacramentens opløfftelse" ("Suor til then falske oc uchristelige vnderuissning som lector Powell screff til Raadet y Københaffn om then papistiske Messe, 1531," i Smaaskrifter [Rørdam], 161). Quoted in Ole Rydal Kristensen, "Hans Tausens nadverlære," i Tro og Tale (Bugge), 226. 38. Friis, Den Danske, 245. 39. Friis, Den Danske, 246. 40. Tausen, Edt kort antswor, 57-58: "Stoo Christi oerd ald tiddh fast, och aldrigh endthen moo eldher schulle forwanless eldher forwendhess, haffwer ey Pawen tha met syn kircke wredt som haffwer forwandleth och forwend Christi oerd? Sighe i hand haffwer icke giordtheth? Lydhe Christi oerd ey saa, ath wii schulle forladhæ oss paa hanss dødh och werdskyld och icke paa pawenns affladh eldher noghen menneskeligh formvæ? Lydhe Christi ord ey saa, ath aldhæ christnæ schulle drickæ Christi bloedh i thet helighe sacrament? Lydhe Christi oerd ey saa, ath inghen schall twinghess til iomfwreligh kiyskheedh, ehuad stadt hand eldher hwn er wdi? Lydhæ Christi oerd ey saa, ath mand schall paamindhæ och fly en kiettheræ, och huercken brendhæ eldher fanghæ hannum? Paa thessæ och andhræ fleeræ articler haffwe wii Christi oerd , huilcke Pawen then antichrist haffwer met syn forderffweligh kirckelogh forwandleth och forwend, wtalighæ sielæ till ewigh skadhæ och forderwing. efftherthii Christus haffwer nu saa tald synæ oerd, ath thet kondhe icke ryggess eldher forwandless, och hwadh pawen haffwer giordt her emodh haffwer ther inghen befalling paa aff Christo, saa stoo iaa Christi oerd endnu fastæ, och aldh Pawens løghn bliffuer løghn och en wreeligh forwandlingh, och bøer ath acktess aff hwer christen menneske for sodan en antichristeligh logh, som ghiernæ wildhe fløyæ offwer aldhæ hymblæ och svømæ offwer gwds logh, men haffwer thess inghen mackt, therfor beplickther hwn inghen, men hwer moo och schall forackthæ och forsmoo then wchristeligh logh met then antichristligh loghgiffweræ." Quoted in Friis, Den Danske, 246. 41. Schwarz Lausten, "Hans Tausen," 380. 42. Schwarz Lausten, "Hans Tausen," 381. 43. Friis, Den Danske, 253: "ladt Køpenhagen ett stycke brød oc een slug vin igen." Povl Helgesen's pamphlet is lost, but can be reconstructed through Tausen's answer. Concerning Hans Tausen's view of the eucharist, see L. Koch, "Hans Tausens Postil" Theologisk Tidsskrift (1880), where Tausen is deemed to be a Philippist, and Bjørn Kornerup, "Indledningen," i Det Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskabs Udgave af Hans Tausens Postil (2 vols.; Copenhagen: n.p., 1934), where Tausen's view is judged to be the same as the young Luther's. For the following cf. Kristensen, "Hans Tausens nadverlære," and Andersen, Confessio Hafniensis, 294f. 44. Rørdam, Smaaskrifter, 103-104: "O titt papistiske creatur huo haffuer giffuit teg then dristighed att tu tørst saa rundelig raade offuer Gud, oc Guds dyre Guddommelige gerninger, Oc kalle thennom wedt andet naffu, end Gudt haffuer selff giffuit thennom, besynderlige saadanne som betegne een foruandling y theris artt oc medgiffne nature … Thet er yo fast oc wryggeligt, att Gud haffuer altid indskicked sine Sacramenter hooss sitt hellige ord til att bestyrcke oc stadfeste menniskene y troen paa samme guds ordt, att menniskene motte haffue een dierffhed oc driistelse aff sodanne wdvortis tægen, att forlade seg thess ydermere paa thet som gud hafuer loffuett oc tilsagt Saa att mand skulde brughe thennom til sielff nøtte oc troens forbedring, oc icke till noget offer som skulde offris gud." Partly quoted in Kristensen, "Hans Tausens nadverlære," 227. 45. See Kristensen, "Hans Tausens nadverlære," 232, Rørdam, Smaaskrifter, 104-105 and Andersen, Confessio Hafniensis, 297-298. 46. Rørdam, Smaaskrifter, 104: "oc haffue ther mett en synlig ihukommelse oc amindelse, til att betencke oc idelige betrackte, att Christus haffuer ther fore told død, paa thet wy motte vorde synden quitt … " 47. Rørdam, Smaaskrifter, 161: "ieg holder icke sacramentet for ett blott oc bart tægn alene oc indtiid andett, men for saadantt ett tægn, som fører mett sig liige thet samme som thett betegner, att wnder thet siunligee brød oc win anammiss Jesu Christi sande legomme oc blod, met uskyldighed oc retferdighed, formiddelss troen til thet ordt som Christus haffuer hoss thet samme sacramente bestillet." Partly quoted in Kristensen, "Hans Tausens nadverlære," 232. 48. See Friis, Den Danske, 252. 49. Friis, Den Danske, 253-254. 50. Schwarz Lausten, "Hans Tausen," 382. 51. Schwarz Lausten, "Hans Tausen," 382. About the scholarly research of the Postil, see K. E. Bugge "Tidligere vurderinger af teologien i Hans Tausens Postil," i Tro og Tale (Bugge), 9 ff. 52. For all this, see the book edited by Bugge, Tro og Tale. 53. Schwarz Lausten, "Hans Tausen," 383. 54. Martin Schwarz Lausten, Christian 3. og kirken (1537-1559) (Copenhagen: Akademisk, 1987), 202.