Jaroslav Pelikan (1923–2006)

Pelikan's History of the Development of Doctrine is a magisterial five volume labour of love, and this, volume four, is no exception. Intricately woven narratives tracing, it must always be remembered, the development of doctrine, not politics or sociology or, in the narrowest sense of the word, church history. Do not read this book to discover what Johannes Œcolampadius had for breakfast or to sus out Zwingli's school record. Don't read it either if you want a light brouse through the show more period: this is demanding, as all these volumes of Pelikan are. Ideally it should be read with pen and paper: so many notes to take, questions to answer of - and have answered by - the text. Again Pelikan generates a sort of spiral across doctrines and across time, so the book has, effectively (as the series title indicates) two axes: doctrine and time. Early developments in Reformation eucharistic theology for example, come, go, and reappear a century or half a century later attached to new names, new refinements of argument. Don't expect much mention of' 'followers' - this is a story of the theological cutting edge, leaving little room for mention, for example, of the tardy English Reformers or Anglicanism itself, piggy-backing as they did on the European intellectual maelstrom.

I have read this book twice now (it seems I am a slower reader now than I was 15 years ago, though perhaps I can claim I am busier!). It stretched me, pummelled me tormented me - yet each time I feel I barely scratched the surface. My own impression, each time, has been that the Reformation was a tragic accident - that the Catholic Reformers, rather than the Protestant ones, nailed the issues only to be brushed aside for 200 years by the bigger, brasher (and politically more belligerent) figures such as Calvin and Luther. More is the pity. Figures like Jean Charlier de Gerson or the later Girolamo Seripando emerge, for me, as the heroes of this torrid intellectual tale. Since Pelikan was a Lutheran (until the last few years of his life, when he became Orthodox) and I am an Anglican this subtle facet of Pelikan's writing stands as tribute to his intellectual genius and authorial integrity - no bias to his pen! show less

It’s been maybe a year since I read this book, but I recently dug it out again for a bit of research. I was looking into the Comma Johanneum, that controversial little verse in the first epistle of John that got a facelift in the Middle Ages: http://www.dubiousdisciple.com/2011/03/1-john-57-8-comma-johanneum.html .

In this book, Pelikan discusses how the Bible came to be, how it was interpreted through the ages, and how Christianity built its own message atop the Tanakh (the Torah, the show more prophets, and the Writings). But the Bible didn’t stop growing 2,000 years ago; it continues to be interpreted, modified, translated through the ages.

Did Christianity steal the Bible from the Jews? Pelikan has a way of uniting Christian and Jew even while recognizing an impenetrable rift. His writing is wonderfully readable and occasionally funny, as he points out how contradictory religions can read the same words and be inspired in different ways. He sees diversity as something to be appreciated, not condemned.

One cannot help but appreciate the Bible more as a living, growing, entity after reading this. The Word is alive! And ultimately, in the search for who owns the Bible, we must conclude as Pelikan does: To speak of possessing the Bible or even to ask “Whose Bible is it?” is … not only presumptuous but blasphemous. show less

If, as Bacon said, "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested," then volume 2 of Pelikan's history of Christian doctrine -- like the other volumes in the series -- defines the latter appellation. This is a book that should occupy a place in every Christian's library; combined with the other volumes, one could spend a lifetime alone going over the hundreds of primary and secondary sources that each volume references.

It is is a humbling show more undertaking to write a review, or even a synopsis, of any of Pelikan's books: what more possibly could be said? One has the feeling of sacrilege, as if trying to add a book to the Bible. Volume 2 addresses the growing importance the church placed on tradition; iconography; the Filioque controversy; the Trinity; the rise of Islam; and "the final break with Western doctrine," amongst other topics. Like volume 1, there is a density of prose that somehow seems necessary given the prolix subject matter -- perhaps akin to the necessity of force-feeding geese for foie gras (minus any of the negative connotations).

There are authors whom one simply must read when presented with one of their books, and Pelikan is one of them. While the firehose of information is not what one would call "easy reading," continued chewing and digestion will reward the reader for years to come. show less

Pelikan's 4th volume in his 5-volume Christian Tradition focuses on perhaps the most familiar topic of historical Christianity (at least after the life of Jesus and the Resurrection): The Reformation. And scholar that he is, Pelikan has a nine-page "Preface" of sorts titled "Reformation Defined" -- as if the 400-plus pages that follow weren't enough. Pelikan is nothing if not thorough.

For Pelikan -- one can reasonably substitute "truth" for his exhaustive research -- the Reformation is much show more more than Luther's rabble-rousing. He traces a "pregnant plurality of fourteenth-century thought" that predated Luther by a century and a half, including names both familiar and unfamiliar. If one can critique Pelikan's work to this point, it would ironically be the lack of it: corners actually had to be cut to get the text down to the 400-plus pages in volume 4. The reader is invariably left wanting more information; but of course, Pelikan's expansive bibliography and notes offer more than enough opportunity for further research.

What higher praise can I offer than this: I will be learning from these volumes for the rest of my life. They will be among the most important books in my library. But it is not easy reading; what good has been accomplished without significant effort? And now off to begin volume 5! show less