PhD Lunch - Session V - 10 March 2025

Fierce debates surrounding the doctrine of Original Sin in the sixteenth century occurred across both confessional lines as well as within the 'exegetical schools' of the Reformation. These debates were waged not only in the lecture hall and pulpits but in more than 80 new commentaries on Romans that appeared in the sixteenth century. There was a range of opinion both in doctrinal expression as well as exegetical method surrounding this critical doctrine and its locus classicus: Romans 5:12. My thesis examines the range of interpretations of Romans which existed within printed exegetical works on Romans in the sixteenth century and gives an account of the ways in which these interpretations influenced and were informed by these various reformers’ respective views on the doctrine of Original Sin. Two intersecting polemical contexts of both theological and methodological differences pose this main research question: In what ways did Reformation exegetes and theologians between 1512 and 1563, whether Catholics, Lutherans, or Reformed, address the tensions that were presented by Erasmus's philological challenge to the traditional Augustinian reading of Romans 5:12 with their own notions of the doctrine of Original Sin? Did they side with the antecedent exegetical and dogmatic tradition, or did they give priority to sacred philology? The answer to this question is complex, especially as both Catholic and Protestant Reformers were neither entirely uniform on their doctrines of Original Sin nor with their exegetical methods. I will argue that despite the inherent differences of exegesis and doctrine found in these commentaries that the thread of commonality was the commitment to maintaining a fundamental coherence between sacra doctrina and sacra pagina for the sake of renewal and reformation.

Les IHR PhD Lunch Series sont une série de rencontres interdisciplinaires, au cours de laquelle les doctorant-es de l’IHR peuvent échanger des idées et présenter leurs travaux en cours, dans un cadre informel et convivial. Lors de chaque rencontre, un-e candidat-e au doctorat est invité-e à présenter son projet de thèse ou sa recherche actuelle, dans un exposé d’environ 20 minutes. Le reste du temps est consacré à la discussion. L’invitation est également ouverte aux membres du corps enseignant, aux chercheur/euses, aux bibliothécaires et aux visiteur/euses occasionnel-les de l’IHR.