Reformed Covenanter
Cancelled Commissioner
Melanchthon, fourteen years junior to Luther, initially supported his move at the University of Wittenberg to abolish the teaching of Aristotle. Historical circumstances, however, forced Melanchthon to re-evaluate the importance of Aristotle. He began to feel keenly the threat of evangelical radicals who advocated (among other things) the right to disobey civil governments.
During the riots in Wittenberg in 1521 and 1522 he had come across the ‘Zwickau Prophets’, who claimed to hold direct colloquies with the Holy Spirit, and who interpreted the Bible freely. Thomas Müntzer preached evangelical and seditious messages, and perished with the peasants in 1525. In 1527 and 1528 Melanchthon had a first-hand encounter with the Anabaptists in Thuringia. All these people seemed to claim some special access to the Holy Spirit or sacred knowledge, imposed arbitrary human interpretations on the Bible, and drew out radical messages of action which would have resulted in resisting or overturning the existing political order.
Melanchthon saw poor education and confusion of philosophy and theology as the root of the problem. And this is when he turned to Aristotelian philosophy for a solution to the problem of the evangelical radicals. He needed to establish the distinction between theological truths and truths attainable through human reason alone. He needed to establish proper ways of philosophical demonstration. Above all, he needed to prove that everybody, both believers and unbelievers alike, had to obey civil authority.
To this end, Melanchthon was to find Aristotle's philosophy, especially his teleology, a powerful tool. Melanchthon's revaluation of philosophy and of Aristotelian philosophy was therefore not undertaken in defiance of Luther's programme for Reform. Rather, Melanchthon's was a reform of philosophy carried out in order to defend Luthers cause.
Sachiko Kusukawa, ‘Introduction’ in Philip Melanchthon, Orations on Philosophy and Education, ed. Sachiko Kusukawa, trans. Christine F. Salazar (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), xvii.
During the riots in Wittenberg in 1521 and 1522 he had come across the ‘Zwickau Prophets’, who claimed to hold direct colloquies with the Holy Spirit, and who interpreted the Bible freely. Thomas Müntzer preached evangelical and seditious messages, and perished with the peasants in 1525. In 1527 and 1528 Melanchthon had a first-hand encounter with the Anabaptists in Thuringia. All these people seemed to claim some special access to the Holy Spirit or sacred knowledge, imposed arbitrary human interpretations on the Bible, and drew out radical messages of action which would have resulted in resisting or overturning the existing political order.
Melanchthon saw poor education and confusion of philosophy and theology as the root of the problem. And this is when he turned to Aristotelian philosophy for a solution to the problem of the evangelical radicals. He needed to establish the distinction between theological truths and truths attainable through human reason alone. He needed to establish proper ways of philosophical demonstration. Above all, he needed to prove that everybody, both believers and unbelievers alike, had to obey civil authority.
To this end, Melanchthon was to find Aristotle's philosophy, especially his teleology, a powerful tool. Melanchthon's revaluation of philosophy and of Aristotelian philosophy was therefore not undertaken in defiance of Luther's programme for Reform. Rather, Melanchthon's was a reform of philosophy carried out in order to defend Luthers cause.
Sachiko Kusukawa, ‘Introduction’ in Philip Melanchthon, Orations on Philosophy and Education, ed. Sachiko Kusukawa, trans. Christine F. Salazar (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), xvii.
