The Wheat and the Tares: Doctrines of the Church in the Reformation, 1500–1590

by Andrew Allan Chibi

In 1500 Christians knew that God gave them the church to shepherd believers toward salvation and that it was centered at Rome and ruled by a pope. Today, that church is but one of forty thousand Christian denominations, each with distinctive structures and doctrines. How did this happen? Then, as now, all aspects of the church--from its divine mission to its offices and operations, hierarchy, and bureaucracy--were of interest to theologians, thinkers, and troublemakers alike, but for ages there had been satisfaction with the status quo.In the late Renaissance this gave way to frustration and heated debate, as some people wanted fewer clerical controls over their lives, and others sought a church more representative of its purest, earliest form. Ecclesiology (the doctrine and theory of the church) became a major controversy separating not only Roman Catholics from emerging Protestants, but also Protestants from one another. In the writings of the various reformers, the same issues surfaced repeatedly. Jesus's parable of the Wheat and the Tares was discussed often as an image of the church, as reformers sought to rediscover the purity of the church as God's gift. This book uses the words of a range of reformers to explain how the one church began to divide into the many."Chibi's book is a study of the church and ecclesiology in the sixteenth century. He starts with the medieval church under the pope, and then considers the reformers, the Reformation churches and Counter-Reformation churches. Jesus' parable of the Wheat and the Tares . . . is applied to the churches--were the tares allowed to grow alongside the wheat, or did the church try to weed them out? This is a readable book for anyone interested in the church and history."--Ralph S. Werrell, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Birmingham"What church would best reflect God's promise of salvation through Christ, and how should it be governed and relate to the world? These are the ecclesiological issues that became central to Reformation debates in early modern Europe. Andrew Chibi revisits them in this clearly written and lively text, which demonstrates why the processes of reformation created a plurality of protestantisms."--Mark Greengrass, Emeritus Professor of History, University of SheffieldAndrew Allan Chibi, whose work has appeared in many scholarly journals, is a freelance scholar and former Lecturer in Early Modern Europe at Leicester University. He is the author of The European Reformation (1999), Henry VIII's Bishops (2003), and The English Reformation (2004).

504 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 6, 2015

Reviews

[Adrienne]

I have a varied background in theological studies, which has been an advantage to me in my pursuit of higher degrees. What I liked the most about this book was its deliberate candidness in describing the contexts the Reformers found themselves in, both in theology and in politics. I learned more from reading this book than I had in past courses about the theologians, their struggles, and what they were protesting; and this was because Chibi's methodology to put these people in their time, making them less figures to emulate and more human to approach.

At some appropriate times, I found Chibi to be lightening up the dryness of the topic with some ejections of humour (either that, or that's simply how I read him). The section of the vestianian controversy in England was particularly amusing, reading about the various theologians fight over - essentially - which theological ditch to die in over a chausible or a mitre.

If the time ever comes for me to teach courses on church history or ecclesiology (and that day is likely), this book will be on the list of required readings for my students.