Balthasar Hubmaier's Doctrine of Salvation in Dynamic and Relational Perspective

Kim

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781621898276
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

This book aims to explore the meaning of salvation in Balthasar Hubmaier's theology. Previous research has tended to explain and evaluate his theology by locating his identity among contemporary Anabaptists. Moreover, Hubmaier's theology has been variously labeled as Catholic Anabaptist, Magisterial Anabaptist, or as a bridge between the Radical and Magisterial branches of the Reformation. These approaches to Hubmaier's theology essentially depend on a static and transactional perspective where the result comes from the cause. Such an approach cannot fully explain the distinctive features of Hubmaier's theology, because his theology had multiple rather than single influences. To understand Hubmaier's theology, we need to focus on his motive and purpose in writing rather than external influences. This volume attempts to explore a new understanding of Hubmaier's theology reflecting a necessary change in our paradigmatic methodologies. This fresh perspective helps us see that Hubmaier's theology was not static and transactional but dynamic and relational. As Hubmaier's main purpose was to give readers a proper understanding of soteriology, his writings were written from this perspective, concentrating on salvation. This volume aims to enable the reader to access this unique understanding of soteriology by examining his primary texts in three categories: free will, baptism, and the Lord's Supper. To understand Hubmaier's theology through a new methodology leads us to rethink the meaning of salvation.

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Introduction

Balthasar Hubmaier has been recognized as one of the most creative writers of the early sixteenth-century Radical Reformation. Although his rejection of infant baptism and embrace of believers’ baptism give sufficient grounds for classifying him as an Anabaptist,1 there are still debates about his identity in the origin of the early Anabaptism movement. This is because distinctive theological features in his writings, such as tripartite anthropology, Christology, the Lord’s Supper, and threefold baptism, appear peculiar from the point of view of other Anabaptists’ theology. Previous researchers on Hubmaier’s theology have tended to explain his theological characteristics by forming a link with some of the most influential sources of his theology. Although they have attempted to show possible influences resulting in the particular characteristics of Hubmaier’s theology, there is a distinct lack of explanation of the detailed reasons why Hubmaier deemed it imperative to assert them, nor is there any consideration of the way in which these theological characteristics are related to his soteriology. Hubmaier’s main motive in writing his theses on free will, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper comes from the desire to clarify the meaning of salvation by faith to those using the term “justification by faith” to rationalize their immorality. This does not mean that Hubmaier denied the motto of the Reformation, “justification by faith,” but rather that he reinforced the meaning of salvation within the same terms. Such a context means that the unique characteristics of Hubmaier’s theology need to be understood within the milieu of his soteriological perspective. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze and illumine Hubmaier’s meaning of salvation as it appears in his theses.

The significance of Hubmaier’s doctrine of salvation will be better understood when set against his biographical background. Therefore, in this chapter, I shall first summarize his life and examine the theological influences on him and his own contributions to the early Anabaptist movement. Second, I shall survey the trends in the studies thus far on Hubmaier and his theology. Such an exploration into the previous studies will aid readers in appreciating the significance of this study on Hubmaier’s soteriology, for it will reveal the errors and failures of former researchers in basing their studies on incorrect methodology. To understand Hubmaier’s doctrine of salvation, finally, I shall present a new methodology, one which enables the study not only of the doctrine of salvation but of Hubmaier’s theology in its entirety.

1. Hubmaier’s Career and His Theological Background

Balthasar Hubmaier was the only early Anabaptist leader who had a doctorate in theology and a public career as a Catholic priest. Although the period of his participation in the Anabaptist wing of the Reformation was less than three years,2 he left a number of writings and had a well-earned reputation as the most gifted communicator among the Anabaptists.3

Hubmaier was born in Friedberg near Augsburg, in either 1480 or 1481,4 but there is no evidence of the exact date of his birth or of his family. He seemed to have received good religious training at home from his mother who was devoutly Christian.5 He attended the Latin school of Augsburg, and entered the University of Freiburg in 1503 where he studied under the great Catholic scholar John Eck, who was the opponent of Karlstadt and Luther at the Leipzig disputation and who had powerful influence over Hubmaier’s theological studies.6 After he received his master’s degree in 1505 or 1506, Hubmaier taught as a school-teacher in Schaffhausen for a brief time because of a lack of funds.7 He subsequently returned to the university and was ordained as a priest.8

In 1512, Hubmaier followed John Eck to the University of Ingolstadt. Hubmaier earned a doctorate in theology there and then became a professor of theology. He was also appointed as university preacher and chaplain of the Church of the Virgin, the largest parish church in the city.9 In January of 1516, he left Ingolstadt, accepting a call to become the Cathedral Preacher at Regensburg.10 At that time, the people of Regensburg were involved in an anti-Jewish movement. Hubmaier incited the citizens against the Jews of the city and led to the expulsion of all Jews from the city.11 The Jewish synagogue was destroyed and in its place was erected a Catholic chapel “zur Schönen Maria” (to the beauteous Mary).12 Because of Hubmaier’s preaching and the reputation for miracles at the statues of Mary in the chapel, a number of pilgrims visited the chapel, bringing economic benefits to the city. However, the offerings of pilgrims caused local monks to suffer from the loss of income and prestige, and they became jealous of Hubmaier and his chapel. Consequently, Hubmaier was caught between the city authorities and the Dominican monks, and at the end of 1520 he left Regensburg and went to Waldshut.13 During his time at Regensburg, Hubmaier had a close relationship with Rychard, a humanist scholar who introduced him to the new thinking.14 In June of 1522, this interest in humanism compelled him to go to Basel, where he made the acquaintance of Glareanus (Grebel’s old teacher), Erasmus, and Pelikan.15

During his first year at Waldshut in 1521, Hubmaier remained a zealous Catholic and observed all the duties of a typical medieval parish priest but his thoughts began to change after studying the Scriptures, in particular the Pauline epistles. While studying the Pauline epistles, Hubmaier journeyed to Basel and other Swiss cities where the Reformation was underway.16 After he returned to Waldshut and became more immersed in the study of the Pauline epistles,17 there was a new call from Regensburg in late 1522. However, given that Hubmaier’s mind and attitude were now committed to the Reformation, he could stay in Regensburg for only a short time because the people there were not ready to accept the new theology. He was glad to return to Waldshut in the spring of 1523, where he then became interested in the Swiss reformers. Hubmaier went to Zurich to visit Zwingli, and on this visit, he also met Conrad Grebel and other Swiss reformers who would become the leaders of the Zurich Anabaptists.18 After contacting Zwingli, he attended the second religious disputation in Zurich in October 1523 as an ally of the Swiss reformer.19

When he returned to Waldshut, committed to the work of reform, Hubmaier invited all the clergy of the district to a disputation, and presented Achtzehn Schlußreden (eighteen articles concerning the Christian life). This document was Hubmaier’s first published work and was available in print by June 1524.20 This was the document in which he argued for the introduction of the German service, banished pictures and images from the church, and abolished fasting regulations. Following the decision for reform, he married Elizabeth Hugline, the daughter of a citizen of Reichenau.21 Hubmaier’s endorsement of the Reformation disturbed the Austrian government which belonged to a Catholic territory. The Catholic party sent two commissioners with official letters dismissing Hubmaier from his positions at the chapel and as the senior priest of the city, requiring that it be turned over to the bishop of Constance.22 However, the city council and parishioners at Waldshut rejected the commissioners’ request and protected Hubmaier. Nevertheless, the pressure to remove Hubmaier continued to mount from both the civil authorities and the bishop of Constance. In order to protect the community from the danger of armed intervention...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Hubmaier’s Doctrine of the Freedom of the Will
• Chapter 3: Hubmaier’s Doctrine of Baptism (I)
• Chapter 4: Hubmaier’s Doctrine of Baptism (II)
• Chapter 5: Hubmaier’s Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper
• Chapter 6: Conclusion: A Fresh Perspective on Hubmaier’s Doctrine of Salvation
• Bibliography