Sword & Trowel 2017: Issue 1


Market square in Lutherstadt, Wittenberg, Germany


in 1431, and thereafter engaged in a life of lecturing, study, and writing, fi nanced by Pope Nicholas V and King Alphonso I of Naples. Valla combined a zeal for the writings of Augustine with a pioneering study of the Greek text of the New Testament, and a highly critical attitude to some ancient Catholic traditions. His two greatest works were his Concerning the False Credit and Eminence of the Donation of Constantine (1440) and his Annota- tions on the New Testament. In the fi rst of these works, Valla correctly exposed as a forgery the so-called ‘Donation of Constantine’, which the popes had used for 700 years to back up their exalted claims. Based on this exposé, Valla argued that the papacy should renounce all political power and be- come a purely spiritual institution. His Annotations on the New Testament were not published until 1505, by Erasmus of Rotterdam. They consist- ed of a critical comparison between the Greek text of the New Testament and the Latin New Testament of the Vulgate, pointing out the Vulgate’s many errors. Not surprisingly, the papacy eventually condemned all Valla’s writings in the aftermath


of the Protestant Reformation, re- garding him as an evil precursor of Luther and Zwingli. Second, John of Wesel. Born at


Oberwesel on the Rhine (western Germany), John lectured at Basel University in Switzerland, and in 1463 was appointed a preacher in Worms Cathedral. His criticisms of the prevailing theology of the Catho- lic Church were many and bold. John taught that Scripture alone was the source of Christian teaching, and that popes and councils should not be followed if they contradicted Scripture. He defi ned the Church as the whole body of believers, not the ecclesiastical organisation headed by the papacy. He denied the doctrine of transubstantiation, rejected in- dulgences because God alone could pardon sins, attacked the enforced celibacy of the clergy, and maintained that the distinction between priest and diocesan bishop was of merely human origin. With such views, it was not surprising that John entered into friendly relations with the Hus- sites.


The Church authorities could not remain for ever silent in the face of


Seeds of the Reformation page 31 


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