Irenicism in the Reformation

“Perhaps irenicism is the finest synthesis of Renaissance and Reformation,” writes Donald Nugent in his 1974 monograph on the Colloquy of Poissy, Ecumenism in the Age of the Reformation (4). The irenicists had roots in the late medieval conciliarism and in Cusa’s efforts to unite contraries, but it was humanism that gave it its particular stamp: “Humanism added a distinctive contribution, with its general preference for the dialogue form, the second person, and persuasion, in distinction to the rather ponderous school theologies.” Through it all, they were committed to “the inviolability of Christendom” (4).

Erasmus is a key figure: “The Gospel according to Erasmus was an open-ended message rather than a closed system. His was a rare blend of theological reductionism and theological breadth, the explicit and the implicit, theology and the Lebenswelt.” His goal was “neither reformation by ridicule nor merely reformation by education, but reformation by reeducation” (3).

There were Erasmians on both sides of the Reformation divide: ‘‘In 1522, the last non-Italian Pope, Adrian VI, candidly confessed that the religious upheaval was the consequence of sin, ‘especially of prelates and clergy.’ He was unequivocal: ‘We all, prelates and clergy, have gone astray from the right way, and for long there is none hat has done good; no, not one.’ And it is of interest that the first disciple of Ignatius Loyola, Pierre Favre, one of a society whose very name was tantamount to a challenge, expressed disquieting doubts about the rising tide of Catholic counter-attack. He related that he prayed daily for the Reformers because he felt that ‘the were being judged harshly by man, and so a feeling of holy compassion for them’ arose in his soul” (2). On the Protestant side there was also a “median party” that strove for peace.

It was not to be. For His own purposes, the Lord allowed His church to be torn in pieces. But the irenicists left a legacy that can be put to use in a different time, when reunion seems more timely.