Peter Martyr Vermigli: Humanism, Republicanism, Reformation.

Emidio Campi, Frank A. James III, and Peter Opitz, eds. Peter Martyr Vermigli: Humanism, Republicanism, Reformation.

Travaux d' Humanisme et Renaissance 365. Geneva: Librairie Droz S.A., 2002. 326 pp. index. [euro] 80. ISBN: 2-600-00653-2.

The conference papers collected in this volume were prepared by admirers of Peter Martyr Vermigli to support their contention that he deserves more attention than he has received. A review of recent Reformation textbooks confirms that he is seldom mentioned and, when his name appears, it is often in the context of the Italian Reformation. These essays emphasize his contributions to Reformation thought after his flight from Italy in 1542. The authors acknowledge the difficulties they face. He founded no church and his life north of the Alps was itinerant. Although his wide-ranging education in Italy enabled him to engage in learned debates, he did not write popular treatises in vernacular languages. The argument of the contributors can be summarized as follows. Vermigli was superbly educated as a philosopher, theologian, and scriptural commentator before his flight to Zurich. Active as a teacher and exegete in Strasbourg, Oxford, and eventually in Zurich, he tied together the embryonic Italian Reformation with the Protestant theologies of northern Europe. His knowledge of biblical languages together with his command of the early fathers and Aristotle enabled him to make important contributions to Protestant thought and to serve as a formidable opponent of Catholic critics.

Some specific examples illustrate the tone of the volume. McClelland suggests that Vermigli's preference for Zwinglian theology over Calvinist thought might be taken as evidence that Zwingli rather than Calvin was the true "father" of Reformed thought. Schindler observes that Vermigli used the early fathers to argue that the Reformation was not innovation but was based on ancient authorities. Kingdon elaborates Vermigli's views on church discipline, especially his advocacy of a carefully defined use of excommunication. Bravi's essay on Vermigli's political theories offers a striking example of his blending of Italian political thought with northern Protestant ideas. In his Old Testament exegesis, Bravi notes, Vermigli drew on Aristotle and Florentine political discourse to describe Israel under the rule of the Judges as an idea republic. In this ideal republic, Vermigli envisioned a very limited right of resistance to tyrants. Muhling cites yet another example of the usefulness of Vermigli's Italian background. At the Colloquy of Poissy, Catherine de Medici invited him to join her for private conversations in her native language. MacCulloch outlines Vermigli's close collaboration with Thomas Cramner in shaping Protestant teachings--especially regarding the eucharist--in Edwardian England.

Finally, Bauman's essay places Vermigli's political thought in a wider historical context. He takes Vermigli beyond the lecture room to the chambers of the city council of Zurich. Bauman notes that Zurich offered him very favorable terms to replace Conrad Pallican as the Hebraist in the Zurich seminary even though he was not a native son and could not speak German. Why was he so attractive to the council? Zurich, Bauman declares, still heard echoes of the turmoil in the countryside stemming from the turbulence of previous decades. The Zurich seminary, the Schola Tigurna, was the training ground for clergy who would serve in Zurich and its environs. Bauman suggests that the city fathers knew about Vermigli's political views, and that his defense of a republican government would help create a clergy loyal to their authority.

Bauman's wider perspective takes the discussion beyond exegesis and theology, Aristotle and the early fathers, and suggests another way to describe Vermigli's significance. Perhaps the importance of Vermigli for historical writing emerges as much from his biography as from his theology. His wanderings in northern Europe vividly illustrate the ever-firmer religious and political borders that were developing. Protestant scholars celebrate his flight from Italy but confessional conflicts kept him moving in northern Europe. He left Strasbourg twice because of confessional conflicts and fled England after Mary's ascent to the throne. Finally, in Zurich he found repose in the setting most congenial to his own views. Vermigli is not only an ornament of Protestant erudition but he is a symbol of the boundaries, ideological as well as political, which no amount of learned discourse could overcome.

PAUL L. NYHUS

Bowdoin College