The great Florentine Protestant reformer Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499-1562) made a unique contribution to the scriptural hermeneutics of the Renaissance and Reformation, where classical theories of interpretation derived from Patristic and Scholastic sources engaged with new methods drawn from Humanism and Hebraism. Vermigli was one of the pioneers of the sixteenth century in acknowledging and harnessing the biblical scholarship of the medieval Rabbis. His eminence in the Catholic Church in Italy (until 1542) was followed by an equally distinguished career as theologian and exegete in Protestant Europe where he was professor successively in Strasbourg, Oxford, and finally in Zurich. The Companion consists of 24 essays divided among five themes addressing Vermigli’s international career, hermeneutical method, biblical commentaries, major theological topics, and his later influence.
Contributors include: Scott Amos, Michael Baumann, Jon Balserak, Luca Baschera, Maurice Boutin, Emidio Campi, John Patrick Donnelly SJ, Max Engammare, Gerald Hobbs, Frank James III, Gary Jenkins, Robert Kingdon, Torrance Kirby, William Klempa, Joseph McLelland, Charlotte Methuen, Christian Moser, David Neelands, Peter Opitz, Herman Selderhuis, Daniel Shute, David Wright, and Jason Zuidema.
W.J. Torrance Kirby, DPhil (1988) in Modern History, University of Oxford, is Professor of Ecclesiastical History at McGill University. He has published extensively on the thought of Richard Hooker, including his editing of the recent Brill Companion to Richard Hooker (2008).
Professor Emidio Campi is Director of the Institute for Swiss Reformation History and occupies the chair in Church History at the University of Zurich. He jointly edited Vermigli’s Commentary on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (2006) and Petrus Martyr Vermigli: Humanismus, Republikanismus, Reformation (2002).
Frank A. James III is President and Professor of Historical Theology at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. His books include Peter Martyr Vermigli and Predestination (1998) and a translation of Vermigli titled Two Theological Loci: Predestination and Justification (2003).
“While the size and subject matter might intimidate some readers at first glance, the collection is quite engaging […]. It will be of interest not only to biblical scholars and professors of theology, but also to historians, philosophers, philologists and those interested in the history of higher education. […] This volume certainly reveals for readers the dynamism of Peter Martyr Vermigli’s thought and makes a convincing argument that a better understanding of the hermeneutics of this Italian-born Protestant reformer will lead to a better understanding of the Renaissance and the Reformation and the relationship between the two.”
Carrie Euler, Central Michigan University. In: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 62, No. 2 (April 2011), pp. 397-398.
"Der Companion to Peter Martyr Vermigli lässt sich sowohl als Einleitung zu einzelnen Aspekten als auch als Darstellung des Forschungsstandes nutzen […].Das Buch gibt einen sehr guten Überblick über die wesentlichen Aspekte der Theologie und des Wirkens Vermiglis.“
Christoph Strohm, Heidelberg University. In: Zwingliana, Vol. 37 (2010), pp. 205-209.
‘’Après les colloques de 1977 et de 1999, ce symposium fera date dans les études sur Vermigli, comme ce volume, outil désormais indispensable, par la somme des informations, la qualité des contributions et le soin apporté à sa confection, à quiconque voudrait consacrer ses talents de chercheur à ce Réformateur novateur et prolixe, ou s’initier
simplement à l’herméneutique de Vermigli.’’
A. Noblesse-Rocher, Université de Strasbourg. In: Revue D’histoire et de Philosophie, 2011, Tome 91, n° 4, p. 587.
List of Illustrations
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Introduction
Convocation Oration, Emidio Campi
Part I International Career
1. Italy: Religious and Intellectual Ferment, Joseph McLelland
2. Strasbourg: Vermigli and the Senior School, Gerald Hobbs
3. Oxford: Reading Scripture in the University, Charlotte Methuen
4. Zurich: Professor in the Schola Tigurina, Emidio Campi
Part II Learning Sacred and Profane
5. Exegesis and Patristic Authority, David Wright (†2008)
6. Aristotle and Scholasticism, Luca Baschera
7. Humanism, Hebraism, and Scriptural Hermeneutics, Max Engammare
8. Exegesis and Theological Method, Scott Amos
9. Ex parte videntium: Hermeneutics of the Eucharist, Maurice Boutin
Part III Biblical Commentaries
10. Genesis Commentary: Interpreting Creation, Emidio Campi
11. Judges Commentary: Patristic and Medieval Sources, Gary Jenkins
12. Expounding Psalms: the Preces Sacrae, Herman Selderhuis
13. Lamentations Commentary: Theodicy, Daniel Shute
14. First Corinthians Commentary: Exegetical Tradition, Jon Balserak
15. Romans Commentary: Justification and Sanctification, Frank James III
Part IV Theological Loci
16. Classical Christology, William Klempa
17. Predestination and the Thirty-Nine Articles, David Neelands
18. Ecclesiology: Exegesis and Discipline, Robert Kingdon
19. Eucharistic Theology, Peter Opitz
20. Political Theology: the Godly Prince, Torrance Kirby
21. Prayers and Sermons, John Patrick Donnelly
22. Epistolary: Theological Themes, Christian Moser
Part V Nachleben
23. Josias Simler’s hagiography, Michael Baumann
24. Vermigli and French Reform, Jason Zuidema
25. History of the Loci Communes, Joseph McLelland
Conclusion: Vermigli’s ‘Stromatic’ Theology, Joseph McLelland
Bibliography
General Index
Index of Names
Scholars of Reformation and Renaissance thought; students of historical exegesis, Reformation history, and Protestant scholasticism; theological students; educated laypeople. Of interest to students taking courses in Church History, Reformation thought, and English Renaissance.