Theology in Reformation and Counter Reformation

Theme:	Traditioning
ECTS:	5
Module Code:	SF2
Contact Hours	22 (3 hours of reading per week is required to cover the material)
Mode of Delivery	Two thirds Lectures and one third seminars, one of which will be focused on the art of Caravaggio
Lecturer:	Loyola Professor of Catholic Theology

Module Description:

The purpose is to survey the political, cultural and religious context in which Catholic theology in the Reformation and Counter Reformation period. An important aim will be to introduce the student to some representative figures in the theology of the period. The module includes a seminar-study of representative works from the period, (comprising one third of the contact hours).

The Reformation must be considered in its historical and social context of late medieval Europe and the beginnings of the ‘new learning’ of the renaissance. The contribution of the major figures of the European Reformation such as Luther and Calvin will be evaluated critically. Crucial to any understanding the Reformation is an appreciation of the role of the bible, its translation and commentary both by the Reformers and by Catholics.

 The Catholic response to the Reformation (‘the Counter Reformation’) was both a renewal of church structures and a clearer statement of Catholic theology in which a critical role was played by the Council of Trent. The module will include a careful reading of some of the documents of the Council of Trent, principally those on justification and Catholic Eucharistic theology The Counter Reformation saw the emergence of new forms of religious life (e.g. Ignatius Loyola and the Jesuits), of pastoral reform (e.g. the work of Charles Borromeo) and a re-invigorating of the mystical tradition (especially in the works of Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross and the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola) which deeply influenced the spiritual life of individuals, lay and religious, and also saw a vigorous visual restatement of Catholic beliefs in the work of artists like Michelangelo Caravaggio. Particular attention will be given to the Reformation and Counter Reformation in Ireland.

 

Indicative bibliography

Bagdic, David (Ed), The Cambridge Companion to Reformation Theology, CUP, 2004.
Dickens, A.G., Counter-Reformation, Thames and Hudson, London: 1968
Duffy, E., The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400–1580 (Yale University Press: 1992, second edition 2005)
Graham-Dixon, A.,  Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane (London: Allen Lane, 2010)
Hazlett, Ian. The Reformation in Britain and Ireland (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004) The Cambridge History of Christianity: Vol 6: Reform and Expansion (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
Hung, Hans, Justification, Burns and Oates, 1964
O’Malley, J., Trent and All that: Renaming Catholicism in the Early Modern Era, Cambridge MA, 2002
Tavard, George, Justification: An Ecumenical Study, Paulist Press: New York, 1983

 

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module a student will be able to:

• Assess the importance of the ‘new learning’ of the Renaissance in the theological developments of the period.
• Evaluate the crucial role of the Bible and its commentaries in the controversies of the period.
• Explain the importance of the Council of Trent in the reshaping of Catholicism in this period.
• Analyse with critical sympathy some examples of the theological work of the Reformers (e.g. Luther’s On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion) and of the Catholic mystics (e.g. Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, Ignatius Loyola, Spiritual Exercises).
• Apply skills from their learning to reassess the contemporary relations between the churches in the light of a critical study of this period.
• Illustrate how the art of this period can be an illuminating source of understanding the theological debates

 

Methods of Assessment

1,500 word essay or theology-through-art assigned project (40%) 60% on end of year examinations.