Pipkin,
H Wayne Walker. Scholar, Pastor, Martyr: The Life and Ministry of
Balthasar Hubmaier (ca. 1480-1528). Prague: International Baptist
Theological Seminary, 2008. x+118 pp. 250Kč (≈$13.50).
H Wayne
Walker Pipkin’s 2006 lectures, given as the Hughey lectures of that year, are
here published by the International Baptist Theological Seminary at which they
were originally delivered. They form a brief biography according to the latest
scholarship. Torsten Bergsten’s biography[1]
remains the standard and Pipkin admittedly relied on Bergsten for the primary
framework of his own endeavor (38n), but Pipkin’s work gives an overall update
that is needed after the four decades following Bergsten’s biography.
The book
begins by outlining Pipkin’s own journey, tracing many years of scholarship
perhaps best embodied in his translation, co-edited with John Howard Yoder, of
Hübmaier’s corpus.[2] The first
chapter then outlined the history of scholarship on Hübmaier. That history
included much of the recent scholarship that followed the English translation
of Hübmaier’s works.
Particular
attention was given to doctoral dissertations, an area that has burgeoned even
more since these lectures were given. Among these, Pipkin felt that there was
some promise but he also did not hold back in expressing his uneasiness toward
dissertations coming from Southern Baptists. He saw that several of the
students, whom he viewed as led by Emir Caner, tended to read back onto Hübmaier
their own theological convictions and categories. While I agree with Pipkin
insofar as I believe that Southern Baptist scholarship on Anabaptism and
Hübmaier has neither yet reached its maturity nor escaped the context of
contemporary denominational debates, I would not go so far as Pipkin in
rejecting contemporary terminology in understanding historical theologies.
Pipkin faulted Caner for using the terms “trichomy” and “dichotomy” in relation
to Hübmaier (who was a trichotomist), since he viewed these terms as more
relevant for fields like math or biology but not for the theology of a figure
who himself had not used the terms (25). It seems as though Pipkin was
revealing more of his own discomfort with that terminology rather than
recognizing the usefulness of the terms in labeling Hübmaier’s thought. By the
same reasoning, concepts like the trinity must also be thrown out of biblical
theology since that word is not used in Scripture. Regardless of whether
Hübmaier used the word, he still taught the concept. Also, Pipkin did not seem
to have been aware that the interest in Hübmaier among Southern Baptists was
not so much due to Caner as it has been to Paige Patterson, although Pipkin did
recognize Patterson as Caner’s mentor. Following the dissertations, as was
Pipkin’s tactic, in recent years would confirm that fact.
The
biographical section reads quite pleasantly and Pipkin addresses topics that
would not have been covered in Bergsten. Pipkin demonstrated facility beyond
the theological concerns involved with Hübmaier. He gave fair play to the
political situations that drove several of the steps in Hübmaier’s life. Two
will give evidence to that here will be recounted since these are areas that
seem to be less attended in some scholarship and because Pipkin makes a useful
contribution in a book of limited distribution. I believe his book is only
available directly from the seminary.
One is the
political situation of Waldshut in relation to the Hapsburgs. The town sat
directly across the river from Switzerland and had a tendency of identifying
itself with the Swiss. As the reforms in Zürich gained momentum Waldshut sought
inclusion into the influence of Zürich but the Hapsburgs did not want to lose
Waldshut from Austrian hands. With Swiss independence having come 25 years
earlier, Waldshut desired similar independence but Zürich could not risk the
contention with Austria, thus forcing Zürich to distance themselves from any
appearance of trying to annex the town (61-63). If Waldshut were to bring in
the Reformation they would have to do so outside of the auspices of the Swiss.
Further
alienation came from the Peasants’ War. As the anonymous “To the Assembly of
the Common Peasantry” [3]makes
clear, part of the peasants’ program was to reform German society in line with
the economic changes that had taken place at the end of the fifteenth century
in Switzerland. With Waldshut’s involvement in the uprisings Zwingli would have
been pressured to dissociate himself from Hübmaier, Waldshut’s reformer, lest
the Catholic cantons attack the reforms in Zürich as having spawned the
rebellion (72-73). These two factors combined with differences in theology and
hermeneutics helped lead to the contention between Hübmaier and Zwingli.
The book
ends with an overview of Hübmaier’s theology that offers no substantially original
insights but does give an introduction to his thought in the same clear prose
as the biography. Two appendices round out the book: the first being a defense
of Pipkin’s translation of Hübmaier’s epigram, “Die Wahrheit ist vntödlich,” and the second a revision of the previously
translated Pledge of Love, revised for inclusion in contemporary incorporations
into worship services of baptism. In the critical edition of Hübmaier’s works,
Pipkin and Yoder translated the epigram differently. Yoder preferred to render “vntödlich”
as “unkillable” while Pipkin, based on his survey of dictionaries from both the
sixteenth century and from more modern times, rendered it “immortal.” This is
not so much a change of meaning as much a change of emphasis. The most important
support for Pipkin’s translation is Hübmaier’s own usage when writing in Latin,
where he used “immortalis.”
[1]Balthasar Hubmaier: Seine Stellung zu Reformation and
Täufertum (Kassel: Oncken, 1961).; Balthasar Hubmaier: Anabaptist Theologian
and Martyr, Translated and Edited by William Roscoe Estep (Valley Forge,
Pennsylvania: Judson, 1978).
[2]Balthasar Hubmaier: Theologian of
Anabaptism. Classics of the Radical Reformation, no. 5
(Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Herald, 1989).
[3]In Michael G. Baylor ed., The Radical Reformation,
Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1991), 101-129.
No comments:
Post a Comment