Review

Reviewed Work(s): The Radical Reformation. by George Huntston Williams

Review by: Joyce L. Irwin
Source: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Summer, 1994), pp. 414-416
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Renaissance Society of
America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2862931
Accessed: 05-06-2018 03:39 UTC

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414 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY

trial,
trial,the
the victim's
victim's
voices
voices
-underrepresented
-underrepresentedin his source,
in hiswhich
source,
is
is by
bynonomeans
meansa complete
a complete
trial transcript-are
trial transcript-are
amplifiedamplified
through t
ingenious
ingenious speculation.
speculation.
ThoseThose
of theof persecutors
the persecutors
remain faint
remain
and fai
stereotypical.
Apparently assuming that readers will have total recall of The
Myth of Ritual Murder (a dubious expectation, for part of his in-
tended audience is non-specialists), Hsia alludes to numerous fea-
tures of the antisemitic discourse without adequately explaining
them. Worse, he does very little to contextualize this case. Why
Trent? Why I475? How did antisemitism of the longue duree, ru-
mors about trials conducted further to the north in previous de-
cades, and factors (about which he says almost nothing) in their
socioeconomic and judicial milieu combine to shape the actions of
the Trentini, BishopJohannes Hinderbach, and his agent? To what
extent was the prosecution triggered by that notorious Jew-baiter
Bernardino da Feltre, Lenten preacher in the city during the weeks
preceding little Simon's death? Though Hsia mentions some of
these background phenomena, he fails to marshal them in a well-
constructed causal argument.
Contrary to what this book suggests, historians who endorse
"the revival of narrative" and "the linguistic turn" are not absolved
of their traditional responsibility to mediate and elucidate the past.
Trent 1475, an opaque protest against antisemitism in general, is far
from being a persuasive attempt to account for one specific instance
thereof.
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Anne Jacobson Schutte

George Huntston Williams. The Radical Reformation. 3rd ed. (S

teenth Century Essays & Studies, I5.) Kirksville, MO: Sixteent
Century Journal Publishers, 1992. xlvi + 1513 pp. $I25.

This greatly expanded edition of the standard survey of the Rad

ical Reformation incorporates the results of other scholars' exte
sive research as well as Williams' own further studies in the field
from the last thirty years. Although a second edition appeared in
Spanish ten years ago, it is unlikely that many whose first language
is English will have consulted it, and the following comparison
bypasses that edition.

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 REVIEWS 4I5

While many of the chapters and subchapters retai

titles, new sections were added to some chapters
new foci of scholarly interest. One example is chapt
includes not only sacramentism but also mysticism
of which, as Williams notes, the heirs of both Lu
had been reluctant to admit. The more recent schola
Williams now draws has brought recognition of t
mystical sources for the Radical Reformation. H
other topics also reflects the increased attention
background of the Reformation which has charac
in recent decades. Changing beliefs concerning sacra
diatorship of Mary and Christ, and eschatology are
extensively than in the first edition.
Other new sections result from Williams' own more recent re-
search, particularly in the history of the Polish Reformation. Al
though Eastern Europe was by no means neglected in the first edi-
tion, the chapters focusing on these countries have been most
extensively reshaped for this edition. Not only does he trace the
origins of Polish Unitarianism, but he provides more informatio
on the Reformed churches of Eastern Europe than is available in
other histories of the Reformation. It will surely be one of Williams
lasting contributions to have revealed the limitations of scholar-
ship shaped by post-World-War-II boundaries. As those politica
boundaries are being relaxed and reconfigured, his work should
direct attention to neglected areas of research.
Another greatly expanded chapter reflects the dramatic increase
in scholarly attention to gender and family issues since the first ed
tion. Integrating the results of research not only on radical reform-
ers but also on humanists and magisterial reformers, Williams
modifies his earlier views to recognize that Puritans and Pietists
may have contributed more than Anabaptists to companionate
marriage. An added excursus into the area of conception and em
bryology also favors the magisterial reformers' position on thos
topics as enhancing the status of the fetus.
Williams' general predilection for the radicals, then, is carefully
nuanced. He admits the excesses and failures of the movement, yet
urges us, at the very least, to respect the courage of these deep-
ly committed men and women. Moreover, he credits them wit
significant contributions toward the principles of democracy and

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4I6 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY

separation
separation ofof
church
churchand state
and state
as wellasaswell
the largely
as theunrealized
largely unrealized
ideals
of
of pacifism
pacifism and
andtoleration.
toleration.
The
Themajor
majordrawback
drawback
of the
of book
the is
book
stylistic:
is stylistic:
in contrast
in to
contrast
the
material
materialtaken
taken
verbatim
verbatim
fromfrom
his earlier
his earlier
version, version,
many of the
many
newof th
paragraphs
paragraphs consist
consist
of aof
single
a single
complex
complex
sentence,
sentence,
resembling
resemblin
Ger-
manic
manicconstructions
constructionsbut but
oftenoften
surpassing
surpassing
them in them
length in
andlength
intri- and
cacy.
cacy.Even
Evenafter
after
several
several
readings
readings
I was unable
I was occasionally
unable occasionally
to dis-
entangle
entanglethe
the
clauses
clauses
or to
orbeto
certain
be certain
that whatthatwas
what
printed
waswas
printed
what wa
was
wasintended.
intended.
It is
Itunfortunate
is unfortunate
that, as
that,
it seems,
as itno
seems,
editor no
assisted
editor ass
in
in helping
helpingWilliams
Williamscommunicate
communicate
his vast
his
knowledge
vast knowledge
to a wider to a
audience.
In contrast to the first edition, which had no separate bibliogra-
phy, this volume contains 60 pages of bibliography (mostly sec-
ondary literature), a 24-page index of source documents and I 14
pages of other indexes. Because few readers will want to read the
work in its entirety, these extensive aids will greatly increase the
book's usefulness.
COLGATE UNIVERSITY Joyce L. Irwin

Heiko A. Oberman. The Dawn of the Reformation:

dieval and Early Reformation Thought. Grand Rapi
mans, I992. 309 pp. $29.95 paper.
The paperback edition of this 1986 collection off
cles originally published between 1962-79 by on
scholars of the Reformation. Many historians a
already be familiar with the common themes o
from this period, if not some of the essays them
articles explores a different aspect of The Harvest
ology's central thesis, i.e. that nominalist theo
gustianism, apocalypticism, and German my
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

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