Luther vs. the Lutherans (and Catholics)

Abstract

This article examines the reception and authority of Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon in Francis Turretin’s (1623–1687) Institutio Theologiae Elencticae (1679–1685). Scholarship on the reception of the Reformers in seventeenth-century Calvinism has continued to grow and I argue that Turretin utilized both Luther and Melanchthon in fluid and diverse ways. In particular, Luther and Melanchthon, alongside being authorities against Roman Catholicism, were also used as evidence against the “innovations” of seventeenth-century Lutherans. For Turretin, Luther and Melanchthon were two of God’s prophets sent at the Reformation and Catholics and Lutherans needed to return to “pure” Reformed doctrine as illustrated by Luther and Melanchthon. Though these two were not the only sources of authority for Turretin, they were substantial witnesses against Lutheran and Catholic innovations in the post-Reformation period. Ultimately for Turretin, Luther and Melanchthon were more Reformed than they were Lutheran.