Are You Alone Wise?

1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-0-19-531342-0
Verlag: ACADEMIC

Buch, Englisch, 512 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 910 g

Reihe: Oxford Studies in Historical Theology

Explores how the obesession with ceritude is reflected in theology, polemics and literature from the Reformation

In present-day America, the topic of certitude is much debated. On one side, commentators like Charles Krauthammer urge us to achieve "moral clarity." On the other, those like George Will contend that the greatest present threat to civilization is an excess of certitude. In this book Susan Schreiner points out that Europe in the sixteenth century was preoccupied with similar concerns. Both the desire for certainty, especially religious certainty, and warnings against certainty permeated this earlier era. Schreiner analyzes the pervading questions about certitude and doubt in the terms and contexts of a wide variety of thinkers during this time of competing truths. The Protestant Reformation was the wellspring of this debate, which expressed itself in terms of questions about salvation, authority, the rise of skepticism, the outbreak of religious violence, the discernment of spirits, and the ambiguous relationship between appearannce and reality. Repeatedly, Schreiner says, we find the recurring fear of deception. She examines the history of theological polemics and debates as well as other genres to shed light on the progress of this controversy. Among the texts she draws on are Montaigne's Essays, the mystical writings of Teresa of Avila, the diary, letters, and treatises of St. Ignatius, and the dramas of Shakespeare. The result is not a book about theology, but rather about the way in which the concern with certitude determined the theology, polemics and literature of the age.

Zielgruppe

Students and scholars of the Reformation

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schreiner

Schreiner, Susan

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religion & Wissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie Geschichte der Theologie, Einzelne Theologen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Mittelalterliche & Scholastische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie Christliche Theologie und die Wissenschaften
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1.: Beginnings: Questions and debates in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
2.: "Abba! Father!": The Certainty of Salvation
3.: "The spiritual man judges all things" the Certainty of Exegetical Authority
4.: Are You Alone Wise?: The Catholic Response
5.: Experientia: The Great Age of the Spirit
6.: Unmasking the Angel of Light: the Discernment of the Spirits
7.: "Men should be what they seem": Appearances and Reality

Über Autor(innen)

Susan Schreiner, Associate Professor of the History of Christianity and Theology, The Divinity School, University of Chicago