Die Patristik in der Bibelexegese des 16. Jahrhunderts & John Calvin. Student of the church Fathers.(Review)

Die Patristik in der Bibelexegese des 16. Jahrhunderts. Edited by David C. Steinmetz. (Wolfenbutteler Forschungen, 85.) Pp. 267. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1999. DM 128. 3 447 04160 9

John Calvin. Student of the church Fathers. By Anthony N. S. Lane. Pp. xiii + 304.

Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1999. [pound]16.95 (paper). 0 567 08694 1

The beginning of modern scholarly interest in the reception of the early Fathers in the sixteenth century can be dated to the publication of Pierre Fraenkel's Testimonia patrum: the function of the patristic argument in the theology of Philipp Melanchthon forty years ago. Since then the theme has been investigated intensively, notably in the volumes edited by Leif Crane and others (1993, 1998 and forthcoming) and Irena Backus (2 vols, 1997). Here are two welcome additions to the growing literature on the subject.

The Steinmetz volume is a …