Writings from the German Reformed theologians

[Davidius]

I have a copy of the Heidelberg Catechism in German but does anyone know whether the German Reformed theologians (distinguishing from the Lutherans) wrote much else in German? From what I've seen there appears to be a lot of Latin but I'd like to get my hands on some stuff they wrote in their native tongue if possible.

 

[R. Scott Clark]

David,

Yes, this is an area that needs work. There is a collection of Olevianus' sermons on the Lord's Supper and also a popular German language treatise on covenant theology and the Farmer's Catechism. To my knowledge, none of these has been translated. Frank Walker (City Seminary, Sacramento) did a thesis on Olevianus' doctrine of creation in the Farmer's Catechism but I haven't seen it.

There are German works in Ursinus' Opera too.

Most of the men were pastors and wrote popular treatises in German or in their native language. I would be surprised if there aren't German works from the early 17th century folk such as Pareus but I can't recall any off the top of my head. You could check the bibliog to the Olevianus book perhaps.

See also Alsted and Howard Hotson's work. That would be a good place to look for leads.

rsc

I have a copy of the Heidelberg Catechism in German but does anyone know whether the German Reformed theologians (distinguishing from the Lutherans) wrote much else in German? From what I've seen there appears to be a lot of Latin but I'd like to get my hands on some stuff they wrote in their native tongue if possible.

 

[Guido's Brother]

There are also 12 volumes of German writings from Martin Bucer, published by Gutersloher Verlagshaus from 1960-2004. Five more are apparently still in the works.

 

[Sebastian Heck]

I have a copy of the Heidelberg Catechism in German but does anyone know whether the German Reformed theologians (distinguishing from the Lutherans) wrote much else in German? From what I've seen there appears to be a lot of Latin but I'd like to get my hands on some stuff they wrote in their native tongue if possible.

David, are you seriously asking for a bibliography of German Reformed literature (in German) of the 16th and 17th century? How much time do you have??? Yes, just check a couple of bibiographies and you'll be amazed at how much was written. Sadly, most of it is hard to get by and has been out of print for centuries in Germany.

Give me some details what exactly you're looking for. Maybe I can provide some clues.

 

[Davidius]

David, are you seriously asking for a bibliography of German Reformed literature (in German) of the 16th and 17th century? How much time do you have??? Yes, just check a couple of bibiographies and you'll be amazed at how much was written. Sadly, most of it is hard to get by and has been out of print for centuries in Germany.

Oops. I had no idea! When I did searches on the few names I know at my university's library all I got were an English translations of Fester Grund christlicher Lehre and a dozen or so Latin works from Bucer.

Give me some details what exactly you're looking for. Maybe I can provide some clues.

I posed the question because I'll be finishing my undergraduate studies at UNC next May and am considering various options for graduate school. It would be great if I were somehow able to incorporate German into whatever I do. In another thread I posted about Germanic Linguistics but if I were to do something like Church History I would want to do something other than Luther since the academic realm is so flooded and I was wondering whether there is any work to be done on the other German-speaking reformers. Thoughts?

 

[Dieter Schneider]

Any German bibliography would be welcome. Thank you.

 

[Davidius]

David,

Frank Walker (City Seminary, Sacramento) did a thesis on Olevianus' doctrine of creation in the Farmer's Catechism but I haven't seen it.

See also Alsted and Howard Hotson's work. That would be a good place to look for leads.

rsc

Could you give me any hints on finding these?

 

[R. Scott Clark]

David,

You can find Hotson's work on Amazon.

You'll have to contact Frank at City Seminary to get a copy of his work or perhaps borrow it from their library via inter-library loan.

The bibliog info for Olevian's primary works is in my Oleivan book.

rsc

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

You can preview Hotson's book here.

 

[Sebastian Heck]

David, I guess you'll have to come to Germany and visit the Herborn library, wher Alsted and Piscator and many others were at home. See here. You will find many German originals there, and many pearls of great prize!

 

[Sebastian Heck]

One more thing. On the website of the Caspar Olevian society (Germany) you will find the content of "Der Gnadenbund Gottes" by Olevianus which is a collection of writings, among them the Bauernkatechismus, but also others.

Let me work on a German reformed literature bibliography of the 16./17. century for a while (couple months???). Maybe we can even turn it into a kind of team effort here on the PB??? Whatcha all think?

 

[Davidius]

David, I guess you'll have to come to Germany and visit the Herborn library, wher Alsted and Piscator and many others were at home. See here. You will find many German originals there, and many pearls of great prize!

I wish the money were available. Hopefully I'll find a nice program that will send me over there to do research.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

David -- You may be interested in getting Heinrich Bullinger's Decades in the original German here and here.

 

[Davidius]

Thanks, Andrew.

 

[Sebastian Heck]

Also, try Bucer's works in German here.