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This study describes the origins of early Reformed confessional development using the example of those congregations of religious refugees most heavily influenced by John Laski: the congregation at Emden and the Dutch and French Strangers’ Churches in London. At its center are questions about the congregation as the location of ecclesiology. The outlines of Laski’s theology--which viewed the congregation as the communion of the body of Christ--are described in comparison to the approaches of other Reformers and in relationship to daily reality in the second half of the sixteenth century. Working from a rich base of source materials, the author discusses the development of teachings on church offices and the practice of church discipline, thus illuminating the self-understanding of the three congregations. Becker shows how reciprocal influences and attempts to conform led to the unification of doctrine and community life within these congregations.
Price: $179.00
Pages: 592
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions
Publication Date:
22 June 2007
ISBN: 9789004157842
Format: Hardcover
‘(...) her mastery of historical theology here is evident.
(...) in Becker's version of this story, a Lasco's more loving, communal and even "democratic" church gave way over forty years to a more punitive and hierarchical one. Even those hesitant to accept this clear dichotomy will appreciate her reminder that ecclesiological forms, liturgical practices, and even basic theology were all still very much in flux within confessions, even though scholars often adopt static definitions of these confessions when discussing them in relation to their rivals.
(...) One implication of Becker's fascinating study is that a Lasco's ecclesiology constituted "the reformation of the refugees" as a distinct phase of Reformation history. In its focus on congregational activism, voluntarism, and the equality of all church members, a Lasco's vision fit well the needs of refugee churches, which often began clandestinely and whose members found themselves reliant on each other and without a cadre of well-trained leaders. Once Reformed Protestants established public churches, however, they adopted a state-sponsored church system that, while still showing traces of a Lasco's influence, was much more like the system that developed in Geneva.
(...) Becker's book offers a persuasive range of evidence that traces the rise of an increasingly uniform Reformed confession or rather, inversely, the corresponding decline of a viable alternative.’
Jesse Spohnholz, H-German.
(...) in Becker's version of this story, a Lasco's more loving, communal and even "democratic" church gave way over forty years to a more punitive and hierarchical one. Even those hesitant to accept this clear dichotomy will appreciate her reminder that ecclesiological forms, liturgical practices, and even basic theology were all still very much in flux within confessions, even though scholars often adopt static definitions of these confessions when discussing them in relation to their rivals.
(...) One implication of Becker's fascinating study is that a Lasco's ecclesiology constituted "the reformation of the refugees" as a distinct phase of Reformation history. In its focus on congregational activism, voluntarism, and the equality of all church members, a Lasco's vision fit well the needs of refugee churches, which often began clandestinely and whose members found themselves reliant on each other and without a cadre of well-trained leaders. Once Reformed Protestants established public churches, however, they adopted a state-sponsored church system that, while still showing traces of a Lasco's influence, was much more like the system that developed in Geneva.
(...) Becker's book offers a persuasive range of evidence that traces the rise of an increasingly uniform Reformed confession or rather, inversely, the corresponding decline of a viable alternative.’
Jesse Spohnholz, H-German.
Judith Becker, Dr. (2006) at the University of Bochum, teaches church history at the University of Heidelberg.