Jaroslav Pelikan (1923–2006)

Jaroslav Pelikan concludes volume 5 of The Christian Tradition with the same words with which he begins volume 1: Credo unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam. Covering the period in church history from 1700 to roughly the middle of the 20th century, Pelikan highlights the familiar faces (Harnack, Newman, Schleiermacher, et al.) and the somewhat less familiar (Rauschenbusch, Reimarus, and Zinzendorf, among many others). As I've stated in other reviews of previous volumes, I show more reiterate: now after 1500 pages and five volumes, the biggest surprise is perhaps how much remains unsaid! For that, Pelikan provides an unparalleled bibliography for further research.

The breadth of Pelikan's learning is extraordinary. Chapter 6 it titled "The Sobornost of the Body of Christ." One may think of chapter titles as metaphors or generalizations devoted to common themes, but I admit that there was nothing about "sobornost" that resonated with any of my education to date, Christian or otherwise. Shame on me, it would seem. The following is typical Pelikan:

"A sign of [Eastern Orthodoxy's] increasing influence was the adoption, as almost a technical term, of the Russian word "sobornost" by Western theologians of many linguistic and denominational traditions. The term "sobornaja" had been -- if not, as Aleksej Chomjakov claimed, already in the usage of Cyril and Methodius, "the apostles to the Slavs," then at least as early as the eleventh century -- the Old Church Slavonic rendering of "catholic" in the Nicene Creed; use of the word "sobor" for the church councils to which Eastern Orthodoxy assigned authority in the church helped to make the term a way of distinguishing Eastern ecclesiology from both the "papal monarchy" of Roman Catholicism and the "sola Scriptura" of Protestantism. "Sobornost" in this sense entered the vocabulary and the thought world of the West just as, for reasons that lay in the political and cultural upheavals of the modern era, Western Christianity, whether Roman Catholic or Anglican or Protestant, was, throughout the twentieth century, rediscovering the Christian East, whether Slavic or Greek or Near Eastern, within much of which the nineteenth century had been a period of such intense ecclesiological renewal" (287-288).

Now you know.

If there is a criticism of Pelikan, it is this simultaneous density and prolixity that is characteristic of much of his writing. It does not make for easy reading. But it is rewarding. Maugham said "to write simply is as difficult as to be good": while that may be true, it must also then be true that there is more than one measure of goodness.

Credo unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam eccelsiam: "I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church." These familiar words from the Nicene creed, echoed in the Apostle's Creed, are appropriate bookends for Pelikan's thoughts on the subject. But after 1500 pages, he's not done: I can now read his Credo, which is devoted to explicating the history of these creeds. show less

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

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