Justified in Christ

The Doctrines of Peter Martyr Vermigli and John Henry Newman and Their Ecumenical Implications

Castaldo

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781532601248
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Analyzing and comparing the doctrines of justification held by a legendary nineteenth-century Catholic, John Henry Newman, and an Italian hero of the Reformation, Peter Martyr Vermigli, this book uncovers abiding opportunities, as well as obstacles at the Catholic-Protestant divide. These earnest scholars of the faith were both converts, moving in opposite directions across that divide, and, as a result, speak to us with an extraordinary degree of credibility and insight. In addition to advancing scholarship on several issues associated with Newman's and Vermigli's doctrines, and illuminating reasons and attendant circumstances for conversion across the Tiber, the overall conclusions of this study offer a broader range of soteriological possibilities to ecumenical dialogue among Roman Catholics and Reformed Protestants by clarifying the common ground to which both traditions may lay claim.

Chapter 1: Background to Peter Martyr’s Doctrine of Justification

A. The Study of Peter Martyr Vermigli1

Vermigli’s first biography originated as his eulogy. Josiah Simler (1530–76)—a disciple, colleague, and confidant of Vermigli—expanded his funeral oration for his mentor, which he had delivered on November 12, 1562, into the earliest and definitive biography of Peter Martyr’s life. 2 A striking feature of Simler’s Oratio is its tone. Earnest affection for Vermigli breathes from its pages, infusing the narrative with gravitas.

While sometimes described as “hagiography,”3 Simler’s Oratio, first published in 1563, is generally recognized as a carefully constructed historical record.4 As such, it has been commonly employed as the starting point for subsequent biographies.5 Part of its hagiographic feel is due to both its original purpose and the context in which it was written. As the fledgling Reformed movement of Simler’s Zürich was plagued, in his description, with news of the “despoiling of churches . . . the sacking of cities, the terrible battles, the imprisonment and slaughter of good men,”6 Simler applied the conviction and fidelity of Peter Martyr to the manifold challenges facing his Reformed brethren. According to Michael Baumann, Simler’s goal for the Oratio was “not only preserving the remembrance of Peter Martyr, but at the same time posthumously incorporating him into the process of legitimizing the young Reformed church.”7 Inspiration, as much as instruction, was his goal.8

Simler was well suited to compose the Oratio. His relationship with Vermigli as a colleague at the academy in Zürich, and then as his successor in that institution, afforded him insight into the reformer’s personal and professional life. He also had access to Vermigli’s letters and commentaries, which he eventually helped to publish.9 The closeness of Simler’s association and the accuracy of his remembrances are affirmed by his sixteenth-century contemporaries. John Jewel, for instance, protégé of Vermigli at Oxford and Strasbourg (where Jewel lived in Martyr’s house before taking the Bishopric of Salisbury), said of Simler’s work, “I seemed to myself to behold the same old man with whom I had formerly lived upon such affectionate terms; and to behold him too, I know not why, more nearly and thoroughly, than when we were living together.”10 Likewise, modern historians support the reliability of Simler’s account. Philip McNair marshals evidence to this effect on the basis of monastic records that he discovered in Ravenna in 1956.11 John Patrick Donnelly, editor of Peter Martyr’s Life, Letters and Sermons (which features a modern translation of the Oratio), also agrees with this assessment, pointing to the “excellence” of Simler’s work.12

Other accounts of Vermigli’s life appeared between the years 1562 and 1809, particularly in the writings of John Sleidan,13 Jon Strype,14 and Anthony Wood.15 The nineteenth century produced a modest number of studies.16 Charles Schmidt’s Peter Martyr Vermigli: Leben und ausgewählte Schriften nach handschriftlichen und gleichzeitigen Quellen is considered to have been the “fundamental and most solid authority for the life of Peter Martyr in exile” written in the nineteenth century.17 Schmidt relied considerably upon Simler’s Oratio, while also giving attention to German and Swiss Reformation sources. These documents, alongside writings by Celio Curione18 and Girolamo Zanchi,19 helped to develop the portrait of Vermigli. McNair describes Schmidt’s work in the Leben as “sober, painstaking, usually well documented, thorough with Teutonic “Gründlichkeit” and a “balanced work of scholarship, despite its ‘confessional tone.’” But the need for research continued. 20

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Vermigli remained in the shadows of obscurity apart from a few brief articles.21 New light diminished the shadows with Mariano Di Gangi’s Bachelor of Divinity thesis at Presbyterian College, Montreal in 1949, entitled “Pietro Martire Vermigli (1500-1562): An Italian Calvinist.” Eight years later, in 1957, Joseph C. McLelland published The Visible Words of God: An Exposition of the Sacramental Theology of Peter Martyr Vermigli A.D. 1500–1562, the first full-length volume since Charles Schmidt’s work in 1858.22 In 1967, McNair published the next monograph dedicated exclusively to Vermigli, Peter Martyr in Italy: Anatomy of Apostasy.23 In hindsight, this volume served as a veritable beacon, drawing scholars from various quarters to recognize the fertile opportunity in Vermigli study. S...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Background to Peter Martyr’s Doctrine of Justification
• Chapter 2: Peter Martyr Vermigli’s Doctrine of Justification
• Chapter 3: Newman’s Historical Background
• Chapter 4: John Henry Newman’s Doctrine of Justification
• Chapter 5: A Comparison of Newman and Vermigli on the Doctrine of Justification
• Chapter 6: Justification in Contemporary Roman Catholic and Reformed Theology
• Bibliography