The Dawn of the Reformation: Essays in Late Medieval and Early Reformation Thought.

Heiko A. Oberman. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1992. 309 pp. $29.95 paper.

The paperback edition of this i986 collection offers twelve articles originally published between 1962-79 by one of the foremost scholars of the Reformation. Many historians and theologians will already be familiar with the common themes of Oberman's work from this period, if not some of the essays themselves. Each of the articles explores a different aspect of The Harvest of Medieval Theology's central thesis, i.e. that nominalist theology--as well as Augustianism, apocalypticism, and German mysticism--provided most of the intellectual material for Luther and others to launch their Reformation of Catholic doctrine. Oberman does not deny any Protestant innovativeness, but rather puts all sixteenth-century theological controversies in the "traditional" context that both Catholics and reformers would have considered self-evident. The result is a series of persuasive and erudite studies of Reformation ideas more from a medieval than a modern perspective.

For Oberman, the nominalist ideas of late medieval scholars such as Gabriel Biel had a profound impact on all sixteenth-century theologians, from Luther

and Calvin on the iustitia Dei to the Council of Trent on the interpretation of grace and merit. The exploration of common nominalist themes in sixteenth-century thought, however, only constitutes the first half of Oberman's undertaking; what interests him almost as much are the points of intellectual divergence, particularly among Protestants. Thus one of the most famous essays of the collection, "Headwaters of the Reformation," looks beyond the common theme of freedom among nominalists and Luther to identify the latter's most significant theological innovation, namely, "the heart of the gospel is that iustitia Dei and iustitia Christi coincide and are granted simultaneously" (120). Calvin, too, is examined from this perspective and, contrary to the frequent scholastic comparisons and obscurantist stereotypes, he is found nominalistic in many respects, including the division between divine/scriptural knowledge and scientific inquiry. Probably the most wide-ranging and stimulating essay comes at the very end of the collection: the 1962 Dudleian lecture at Harvard on the issue of "tradition." Writing at the peak of Vatican II ecumenical excitement, Oberman here demolishes the usual Protestant/Catholic distinction of Scripture or Tradition and skillfully demonstrates the evolution of two versions of "tradition" from Irenaeus and Tertullian through the Reformation to the present. Even here the nominalist preference for a via media prevails, offering both branches of Christianity an alternative to artificial and polarized versions of doctrinal authority.

The only weakness of this book is that it did not receive closer editorial scrutiny. In addition to several typographical errors, it contains many untranslated phrases and extended passages in French, German, Latin, and even Dutch. Surely some of these, particularly theological terms, are inescapable, but it would be truly regrettable if such linguistic barriers unnecessarily limited this important collection to a narrow circle of Reformation scholars.