The Evolution of Philip Melanchthon's Views: from Humanistic Religiosity to Reformation

Bagrovnikov Nikolai Adrianovich Doctor of Philosophy Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, History and Theory of Social Communication, Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic University named after N.A. Dobrolyubov 603155, Russia, g. Nizhnii Novgorod, ul. Minina, 31a bagrovnikov@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Fedorova Marina ORCID: 0000-0003-4750-5981 PhD in Philosophy Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, History and Theory of Social Communication, Dean of the Higher School of Social Sciences, Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic University named after N.A. Dobrolyubov 603155, Russia, g. Nizhnii Novgorod, ul. Minina, 31 a, aud. 1204 marafed2204@mail.ru Other publications by this author

There has always been an interest in the Reformation and its ideological inspirers. The consequences of the cardinal ideological change caused by the Reformation and the religious wars that followed it are still subject to careful scientific analysis [see, for example, 1, 2, 3, 4].

In a huge volume of historiography on the Reformation in Europe (in particular, in Germany), in our opinion, the book of the German philologist Konrad Burdach (1859-1936) "Reformation, Renaissance, Humanism" published in 1917 in Berlin attracts attention. The subject of his research was the origin and development in the European mentality of the idea-the image of universal renewal, the so–called "new birth" (Wiedergeburt) - the transformation of the church, society, man, state. He showed how, depending on the peculiarities of European regions, this idea took its forms, was filled with its own special content; which, in particular, determined the differences of Renaissance culture to the South and North of the Alps. K. Burdakh's transfer of the lower boundary of the Renaissance to the beginning of the XIV century was, according to opponents, a flaw in his concept. But it was precisely this that allowed the author to convincingly present the original verbal and semantic unity of the renovationist, reformation aspirations of the followers of Joachim Florsky, participants in the Conciliar movement, Dante's teachings on the transformation of the church, man, state and society, early Italian and German humanists.

However, this unity in the historical perspective could not be monolithic, stable. Since the early 20s of the XVI century, the contradictions between humanistic culture and the Reformation were reflected in the assessment of More and Erasmus of Luther's book "On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church", in Luther and Erasmus' polemic about free will, and 10 years later – in Thomas More's opposition to Henry VIII. The gap between humanism and the Reformation was painful. It affected the fate of many of those whom F. Engels called them "titans of the Renaissance." Those who, fighting with both word and sword at the same time, often turned their sword against recent associates and like-minded people. Not the last place in their ranks is occupied by Philip Melanchthon, who made a rapid transition from humanism and humanistic religiosity to the Reformation.

The purpose of writing this work is to analyze the evolution of Philip Melanchthon's views during the Reformation and subsequent events.

The source base for writing this article was reviews of the works of German historiography, idealizing Philip Melanchthon, declaring him an outstanding humanist educator, "The Light of Germany", who laid the foundations of German pedagogy in general and Lutheran education ^{[5, 6,7,8, 9, 10, 11, 12]}.

Research and evaluation of Russian historians and philosophers ^{[2, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]} they are distinguished by greater restraint. In any case, there is their desire to separate in the life and worldview of Melanchthon and other figures of the Reformation their actual achievements from what may have an ambiguous ethical interpretation.

It is worth noting that some modern researchers of Melanchthon's legacy are trying to find a compromise option that will allow reconciling his humanist worldview and reformist radicalism ^{[1, 18]}.

Of great interest in the study of the evolution of Melanchthon's views are the works of Catholic historians, especially studies of the biographical genre [see 19].

Separately , it is worth highlighting the works of Philip Melanchthon ^{[20, 21, 22, 23, 24]}, which help to trace the evolution of his views.

Melanchthon's biography has been studied quite well: he was born on February 16, 1497 in the city of Bretten in the family of Georg Schwarzerdt and Barbara Reuter. It was a time of hope; a period when the German lands entered "a period of all-round rise, flourishing of urban life and culture" ^{[25, p. 126]}. Philip's father served as a gunsmith for Count Palatine of the Rhine. Barbara Reuter was the niece of the outstanding German humanist, one of the founders of German historiography, Johann Reichlin. At the Latin school of Pforzheim, where Philip began studying in 1507, its director Georg Simmler personally introduced him to the works of ancient Greek and Latin poets and philosophers. His great-uncle Johann Reichlin also actively supported his interest in ancient literature. In order to root this interest, he suggested that his grandson follow the custom common among humanists and change his surname from the German "Schwarzerdt" ("black earth") to the ancient Greek equivalent – "Melanchthon" ().

In 1509 F. Melanchthon entered the University of Heidelberg. Here he studied the traditional trivium. However, at the same time, as a bachelor, he became known as an expert in the ancient Greek language. Since 1512, he continues his education at the University of T?bingen: thoroughly acquainted with medicine, legal sciences, mathematics, astronomy. Since 1516, after receiving his master's degree, F. Melanchthon has been lecturing students of the University of Tubingen on rhetoric and oratory; conducts special courses on Virgil, Lucian, and Titus Livius. Thus, ancient poetry and philology are closely intertwined with history.

Melanchthon's first works are of a humanistic nature. In 1511, a number of his poems were published in a poetry collection edited by Jacob Wimplefing. This is followed by his Preface to The Letters of Famous People by Johann Reichlin (1514). This work propagandized the humanistic ideas of the Renaissance and was the basis, the prologue for the more famous "Letters of Dark People", ridiculing the literary style and methodology of scholasticism. Then there is a Preface to the Collected Works of Publius Terence Africanus (Strasbourg 1516) and a Grammar of the Greek language (1518). In them Melanchthon declares himself as a talented philologist and teacher, a disciple and spiritual heir of the Antiquity-oriented German humanists: Johann Reichlin, Jacob Wimplefing, Rudolf Agricola. It should be noted that Ancient philology was not only a source of purer knowledge for Melanchthon, he considered it the best means of pedagogical influence.

However, during the Renaissance, the bright images of antiquity were not at all as strong as is sometimes believed. This was noted by F. Engels ^{[26, p. 3]}. Even in Renaissance Italy. In the German lands, for which Antiquity was not a national tradition, even more so. Italian humanism was characterized by poetic and artistic accents; more often republican in political terms, and ethical in philosophy, associated with hedonism, stoicism and the neoplatonic concept of artistic creativity. German humanism also concentrated on ethical problems, but linked them with early Christianity, with the social organization and way of life of Christian communities during the Roman Empire. The fact that in the cheerful Italy in the person of Girolamo Savonarola was an unfortunate exception, in Germany it tended to become not just the norm of life, but totally subjugate all life. The Germans reinterpreted the humanistic super–task of educating "homo virtuoso", a creative and comprehensively developed person, in a religious and moral sense, as "imitation of Christ", as the upbringing of "the highest Christian perfection". To the ideal of which, in the end, the church had to come closer. Therefore, it is quite natural that the images of Aristotle, Cicero, Virgil, Terence, and Lucian in Melanchthon's mind gradually receded to a more distant plane.

But the conviction, formed under the influence of his German teachers and life itself, that the primordial, true Christianity is something different from both university theology and the policy of the Catholic Church in Germany, began to take root in him the further, the stronger. The evolution of Melanchthon's views on ancient philosophy, in particular Aristotelianism, is indicative here.

The dialectic of Aristotelianism in the legacy of Melanchthon has been studied quite well ^[27]. It is known that the change in the views of the soap maker was stimulated by the influence of Martin Luther, who categorically spoke out against scholastic Aristotelianism, "considering it the main reason for the flourishing of intellectualism, which destroyed the living faith in the church" ^{[27, p. 85]}. Under the influence of Luther, Melanchthon departs from the apologetics of Aristotle's teaching and, accordingly, from humanism towards the Reformation ^{[18, p. 173]}. This process took place in stages

In 1516, the New Testament was published in Basel with a parallel text in ancient Greek and Latin. The clarification of the ancient Greek text and its translation into Latin was carried out by Erasmus of Rotterdam. Erasmus included in the text of his New Testament a number of new fragments that were not in the Vulgate. As a result, expanded editions of the Epistles of the Apostles (especially the Epistles of the Apostle Paul) and the Revelation of St. St. John the Theologian. Johann Reichlin was involved in the latter, who provided Erasmus with an ancient handwritten Apocalypse in ancient Greek for translation. Reichlin's grandson could not have been unaware of the upcoming publication. When the book was published, familiarization with the translation of Erasmus became the starting point for Philip Melanchthon to begin studying the Bible. Thus, through the efforts of Reichlin and Erasmus, as if by chance, the further direction of his life path was clarified.

A year later, Luther's speech took place in the format, in modern terms, of a "specially organized event". F. Melanchthon received him with delight. Criticism of Catholicism, Scholasticism and the ignorance cultivated by them in a purely philological field turned, although not into "criticism with weapons," but clearly opened up new perspectives. Fascinated by Luther's example, F. Melanchthon even tried to lead the Reformation in Tubingen. But the citizens did not support him. And in 1518 he moved to the capital of the Saxon Electorate, where, through the efforts of Luther and with the support of his grandfather I. Reichlin, he headed the department of Greek at the University of Wittenberg. His speech upon taking office was called "On the transformation of children's education." It was pronounced at the end of August 1518 and was quite "Erasmian" in content. In it, he outlined the humanistic program of university education. But, almost simultaneously, another path opened up before him, however, at its beginning, parallel to the humanistic one. The fact is that, back in the spring of 1518, Melanchthon, together with Luther, participated in a difficult dispute with the representative of the Vatican and the Sorbonne, Johann Eck. Here Reichlin's grandson spoke a completely different language: the militant polemic of this confessional confrontation was very far from the humanistic rhetoric built on dialogue. Thus began the path of F. Melanchthon in the Reformation. And his movement along this path turned out to be irreversible. A rigid logic worked here: a humanist could turn out to be a Reformation figure; but a humanist could never turn out to be a reformer. In the fate of each individual humanist, the pattern of the fate of humanism as a whole inevitably "manifested itself: with the beginning of participation in the confessional struggle on one or the other of the warring parties, humanists had to abandon themselves, from the humanistic position itself... Going into the Reformation, or into the service of Catholic reaction, humanists abandoned the heritage of humanistic culture" ^{[28, p. 13.]}. In 1521, in "Luther's Defense against Parisian Theologians", Melanchthon turns to derogatory and even insulting rhetoric regarding the values of ancient philosophy: he calls Aristotle a "dirty man" who "he lied from three boxes." ^{[18, p. 174]}

In German historiography, philosophical works, fiction, and German fine art, Philipp Melanchthon is represented with a sense of the deepest piety. It is constantly emphasized that he was Luther's right-hand man, his faithful friend and comrade in the struggle. Participated with him in difficult disputes with representatives of the Vatican; replaced him (for example, at the Augsburg Diet), where Luther could not attend in person. Finally, as a connoisseur of the ancient Greek language, he ensured the scientific and philological perfection of the translation of the Bible and Luther's writings. He wrote lengthy prefaces to them. It is pointed out, and rightly so, that Melanchthon systematized Luther's ideas, defended them publicly both during his lifetime and after his death (the latter is not entirely true), and made them the basis of religious education in the German lands. That "Master Philip", as Luther called him, became the founder of educational institutions combining humanistic and Christian ideals in the Protestant principalities of Germany. Great emphasis is usually placed on the fact that Melanchthon compiled textbooks for schools and universities of Greek and Latin grammar, logic, rhetoric and dialectics, theology, ethics, physics and psychology. They were clear and systematic. This systematic approach going back to Aristotle made Melanchthon a teacher of the German Protestant world, and his influence began to weaken only with the advent of the Christian Wolf school of philosophy. [see 11].

After becoming rector and starting to carry out reforms, Melanchthon softens his attitude to the legacy of Aristotle and to humanism. His treatise "De philosophia" becomes an attempt to reconcile philosophy and theology, the views of Luther and Erasmus of Rotterdam. In this treatise, Melanchthon refers to the concept of liberali eruditione, which is also used by Erasmus of Rotterdam ^{[18, 29]}, and which some researchers ^{[1, 18]} believe to be "a synthesis and compromise between antiquity and new (reformatory – N.B., M.F.) religiosity"^{[18, p. 178]}.

Yes, we agree that in the field of education Melanchthon retained partly humanistic sentiments, significantly softening ("sprinkling sugar", according to some Protestant researchers ^{[1, pp. 157-158]}) Luther's radicalism in relation to scholastic philosophy.

It should be noted that with a fair share of German sentimentality, it is written and depicted in paintings and engravings how harmoniously the two reformers complemented each other, how wonderfully they were friends with their families. It is emphasized that Luther himself, like a peasant, considered himself a rude pioneer, while his alter ego was inclined to follow his guidelines gently and diplomatically, thereby ensuring the success of the Reformation. Luther was a rebel, an extremist, a brute, and even a foul-mouthed man. Melanchthon was distinguished by moderation, conscientiousness, caution, slowness, and insinuating peacefulness. With his works (in the field of education, we can agree, partly humanistic) and his diplomatic talent, he gradually, but at the same time reliably won the sympathy of educated Germans for Lutheranism and the Reformation as a process. He personified the image of soft power in one person. Sometimes it is thought that if there had been no Reformation in Germany and Luther in the life of Melanchthon, the latter, as a scientist, would have been doomed to remain forever an eccentric adherent of classical Antiquity, to be an imperfect intellectual copy of Erasmus of Rotterdam [see 30]. Sometimes the Protestant idea of vocation is voiced in relation to both reformers, but not in the original form as it was formulated by Luther in 1523 in the treatise "On Trade and Extortion" ^[31], but more in the context of its interpretations carried out by M. Weber [see 27].

But it should be noted that there were disagreements between Luther and Melanchthon on dogmatic issues, for example, on the issue of the Eucharist, which later gave reason to accuse Melanchthon of distorting Luther's teachings and his rapprochement with Calvinists. N.A. Berezhnaya believes that "it was the peculiarity of Melanchthon's theology ("Philippism") that allowed Calvinism to spread on the territory of Germany" ^{[2, p. 12]}. Calvinism is, in fact, the radical wing of Protestantism, which has largely determined the nature of religious wars in Europe.

More F. Engels called the Reformation a national misfortune for the Germans ^{[26, p. 3]}. And, thus, the former humanist Melanchthon turns out, like Luther, to be thoroughly involved in this Ungl?ck. And if this misfortune is calculated in human lives, then history can put up a serious bill for both. These are those who died during the suppression by the princes of the Great Peasant War of 1525-1526, unwittingly provoked by Luther; and the victims of the Schmalcade War (between Protestant and Catholic principalities of 1547) in which the Spaniards led by Charles V took part; finally, as a long–term consequence of the Reformation, this is the Thirty Years' War, in which the German lands lost one fifth of their population.

Thomas More, who refused to swear allegiance to the king, who declared himself the head of the English Church, and remained a humanist posthumously, believed that "nothing in the world can compare with human life" ^{[32, p. 138]}. The human lives lost in battles caused by confessional clashes, reformers staying in the silence of their offices and solving the problem of what mental tricks to make faith in God more rational, could be treated with detachment. With convincing references to the works of the ancient Stoics, who claimed that everything in this world is predetermined and a person is unable to resist the terrible events that cannot fail to happen. We have nothing to do with it at all; all human sacrifices are the fruits of human imperfection. We did not call for violence; these are the fruits of a wrong, too radical understanding of our teaching by our supporters and, especially, the criminal will of our enemies. And in general, the war is not here, it is too far away, and there is nothing personal about what is happening there in Ferne – so they could try to calm their conscience. And they would be right casually: after all, they did not call for this war, and even more so for the murders and executions of specific people.

However, the situation is different with the personality of Melanchthon, who could become a "second Erasmus" for Germany. It was not for nothing that the opinion was expressed that Protestants surpassed Catholics in the persecution of dissenters ^{[26, pp. 4-5]}. And so, following the style of thinking of Luther, who in 1530 "came to the opinion that the authorities should punish with death all those who support not only rebellious, but even just blasphemous ideas" ^{[19, p. 354]}, Melanchthon in 1539 (the tense period of the formation of the Lutheran church), writes to the Landgrave To Philip of Hesse: "The secular authorities should take the toughest measures against blasphemy, blasphemy, sacrilege, if they become public… it should also punish and punish the authors of false teachings, heresies and lawless cults" ^{[19, p. 354]}. Recall that Thomas More wrote in Utopia: "I believe that the death penalty is unacceptable..." ^{[32, p.139; 33, p. 32, 55]}. In 1554, F. Melanchthon declared the burning of Miguel Servet by the Geneva Calvinists "a pious and memorable example for posterity," and he personally wrote these words in a letter to Jean Calvin [see 34, p. 268.]. Although he could have kept silent, not to react in any way to the news of Servet's execution. In 1556 The "Light of Germany" welcomed the execution of Johann Funk and other supporters of Andreas Osiander in Konigsberg, which he again wrote about in a letter to Duke Albrecht of Brandenburg ... ^{[19, p. 355; 1]}. How this is the opposite of Thomas More, who claimed that "God forbade killing anyone"! ^{[32, p. 139]}.

We should not forget about the completely non-humanistic reaction of F. Melanchthon to the book by Nicolaus Copernicus "On the Conversion of the Celestial Spheres", with a preface by Andreas Osiander, published in 1543 from the printing house of Johann Petrei in Nuremberg. It is known that Galileo's friend, Professor Cesare Cremonini of the University of Padua, resolutely refused Galileo's offer to look through a telescope. As a scientist of the old school, he was quite satisfied with the old picture of the world; he did not want to see anything new in the starry sky for himself. However, in the future, this did not allow the two scientists to remain friends ^{[28, pp. 64, 334]}. The reformer Philip Melanchthon, like the humanist Cesare Cremonini, was an adherent of the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic worldview. But unlike Cremonini, he allowed himself harsh statements, far from Christian humility and beyond the scientific controversy of that time. He characterized the Copernican system "as an evil and godless opinion," and believed that the governments of the German principalities should resolutely fight its spread. Condemning Copernicus, he actually began to reproduce the language of the "dark people" – those scholastics with whom his grandfather, the humanist Johann Reichlin, fought. It is worth emphasizing that thanks to the preface by Andreas Osiander, the Copernican theory formulated in the "Circulation of the Celestial Spheres" was presented only as a hypothesis. Moreover, it is one of many hypotheses, from the comprehension of which readers, as Osiander wrote, are unlikely to become smarter. The Vatican agreed with her scientific status: in any case, the Pope and the Inquisition did not react in any way. The book of Copernicus was included in the list of banned books only in 1616, after Galileo's abdication. The Protestant Melanchthon in this case was almost 70 years ahead of the Catholics of the Counter-Reformation era. Thus, he, like Luther, put himself outside the philosophical questions of his time, as well as all the problems that their contemporaries, natural scientists, were dealing with at that time.

This is not just a renunciation of the ideals of humanism. There is a tragic situation when an intellectual of high standard, an outstanding philologist, the heir of German humanistic culture, a connoisseur of Antiquity became the first student at the Reformation school. This cannot be redeemed by the fact that after Luther's death, in his later writings Melanchthon abandoned the idea of absolute predestination and allowed a certain amount of moral freedom for a person; that is, he allowed a certain amount of free will. And he even used the definition of freedom as the ability of a person to turn to the good and good, borrowed by him from Erasmus of Rotterdam. What was decisive was not these "sweetening clarifications", but the fact that he, in fact, entered into competition with colleagues and with representatives of other reformation movements (Calvin, Zwingli) in unlearning and expressing unjust anger towards his dissenting contemporaries. Worthy people who believe in God, who are certainly inclined to good and good, but who do not understand and do not accept the values of the Reformation.

In this competition that engulfed Philip Melanchthon, the value of human life lost all meaning. With his authority as the "Light of Germany", he created a generalized image of the enemy from dissidents, subject to all-out destruction. The young shoots of the style of thinking and the modern crisis of liberal democracy in Western Europe grow from here. Therefore, it is hardly worth classifying Philip Melanchthon as a Christian humanism. It is possible that he was on his way to it in the earliest period of his activity – before 1516. But he did not manage to become a Christian humanist. He was not allowed time for this. Moreover, the primordial Christian humanism of Reichlin, Erasmus, More, Colet, as I.N. Osinovsky showed, ideologically had its roots in Italian Neoplatonism ^{[10, pp. 32, 33]}. But Luther's colleague was very far from the concepts of Georg Gemistus Pliphon, Marsilio Ficino and, as the primary source, Plato: he always put Aristotle in the first place. Christian humanism was of great importance in the development of German culture of the XV century, in the struggle against scholasticism, in the formation of German historiography, in the preparation of the Reformation – at a time when Erasmus and Luther still jointly opposed scholasticism and tried to fight for the renewal of Christianity and the country as a whole. After the rupture of Erasmus with Luther and the execution of Thomas More, Christian humanism as a worldview was in a state of deep crisis. And for myself personally , F. is easily overcome . Melanchthon, who made a choice between humanistic religiosity and Reformation. Faith in the mind, in the creative powers of a person who reveres the Creator, keeps in touch with Him and strives for Christian perfection, was crushed by the authority of faith. This crisis chronologically corresponded to the crisis of the German Renaissance art: easel painting and sculpture (traditionally Catholic in its subject content), the main cause of which was the Reformation [see 36, 37].