The Reformation of the Literal: Prophecy and the Senses of Scripture in Early Modern Europe

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Dr Erik Lundeen (Church of Gurnee, USA)

The Reformation of the Literal

Prophecy and the Senses of Scripture in Early Modern Europe

Dr Erik Lundeen (Church of Gurnee, USA)

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English

T.& T.Clark Ltd
23 January 2025

History of religion; Calvinist, Reformed & Presbyterian Churches; Christian theology; Sacred texts

Series: T&T Clark Studies in Historical Theology

What does it mean to read the Bible 'literally'? Recent debates on the Protestant reformers have focused on whether they were stridently literal interpreters or maintained a place for allegorical readings. However, in this nuanced book, Lundeen argues that the question of

what in fact constituted the Bible’s literal sense was also a key

question in early modern debates.

There is no clean binary of literal versus allegorical; instead, reformers subtly produced a variety of competing literalisms. There was not one literal sense in the Reformation, but many.

To make this case, Lundeen comparatively analyzes Reformation-era commentaries on the prophet Isaiah. He further highlights the little-known but influential works of the Basel reformer Johannes Oecolampadius, who was the first Christian to publish commentaries on most of the biblical prophets in the sixteenth century.

By placing Oecolampadius in conversation with a host of his better-known Christian and Jewish predecessors and contemporaries, this book reframes a central aspect of Reformation-era biblical exegesis, while also providing a constructive resource for those who seek to read the Bible’s ancient prophets as Christian scripture today.

By: Dr Erik Lundeen (Church of Gurnee USA)
Imprint: T.& T.Clark Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 238mm, Width: 164mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 560g
ISBN: 9780567718792
ISBN 10: 0567718794
Series: T&T Clark Studies in Historical Theology
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 23 January 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

List of Figures List of Tables List of Abbreviations Acknowledgments Dedication Introduction: The Varieties of Literalism Chapter 1: Biblical Humanism and the Quest for Truth Chapter 2: Deciphering Figures of Speech with the Church Fathers Chapter 3: Establishing Authoritative Readings with Medieval Christians Chapter 4: Finding Coherence and Contemporaneity with Medieval Jews Chapter 5: Harvesting the Tradition with the Reformers Chapter 6: Debating Referentiality with the Reformers Conclusion: The Literal Sense Reconsidered Bibliography

Erik Lundeen is a pastor and church planter in Milwaukee, WI. He holds a PhD in the history of Christianity from Baylor University, USA, and an M.A. and M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, USA.

Reviews for The Reformation of the Literal: Prophecy and the Senses of Scripture in Early Modern Europe

Erik Lundeen’s magisterial study of the way the Protestant Reformers read Old Testament prophecy brings both clarity and order to what might otherwise resemble a Babel-like confusion of sixteenth-century opinions as to what counts as literal interpretation. The Reformation of the Literal accomplishes something the Reformers themselves could not: make explicit the implicit assumptions about meaning and interpretation that they, and we, inevitably bring to the all-important task of reading the Bible as the church’s authoritative Scripture. * Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, USA *