Hendrix, Scott H. 1942-

views updated

Hendrix, Scott H. 1942-

PERSONAL:

Born December 26, 1942. Education: University of Tübingen, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Princeton Theological Seminary, P.O. Box 821, 64 Mercer St., Princeton, NJ 08542-0803.

CAREER:

Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ, James Hastings Nichols Professor of Reformation History and Doctrine, beginning 1998, now professor emeritus; family therapist; previously taught at three other seminaries. Tenth International Congress for Luther Research, plenary lecturer, 2002, member of the Continuation Committee, 2002—.

WRITINGS:

Ecclesia in Via: Ecclesiological Developments in the Medieval Psalms Exegesis and the Dictata Super Psalterium (1513-1515) of Martin Luther, Brill (Leiden, Germany), 1974.

Luther and the Papacy: Stages in a Reformation Conflict, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1981.

Tradition and Authority in the Reformation, Variorum (Brookfield, VT), 1996.

(With Gunther Gassmann) Fortress Introduction to the Lutheran Confessions, Fortress Press (Minneapolis, MN), 1999.

(Translator, editor, and author of introduction) Urbanus Rhegius, Preaching the Reformation: The Homiletical Handbook of Urbanus Rhegius, Marquette University Press (Milwaukee, WI), 2003.

Recultivating the Vineyard: The Reformation Agendas of Christianization, Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville, KY), 2004.

(Editor, with Susan C. Karant-Nunn) Masculinity in the Reformation Era, Truman State University Press (Kirksville, MO), 2008.

Serves on editorial boards of Studies in the History of Christian Thought, Archive for Reformation History, Sixteenth Century Journal, and Lutheran Quarterly.

SIDELIGHTS:

Scott H. Hendrix earned his doctorate from the University of Tübingen in Germany. He went on to teach at a number of seminaries before joining the faculty of the Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey, where he became the James Hastings Nichols Professor of Reformation History and Doctrine. His primary areas of research and academic interest include the German Reformation, particularly Martin Luther and his writings, and the Lutheran confessions. He served as a plenary lecturer at the Tenth International Congress for Luther Research in 2002, and since then he has been serving on the Continuation Committee for the event. Hendrix is a member of the editorial boards for Studies in the History of Christian Thought, Archive for Reformation History, Sixteenth Century Journal, and Lutheran Quarterly. In addition, he is the author and/or editor of a number of books on religion and the Reformation.

Fortress Introduction to the Lutheran Confessions, which Hendrix wrote with Gunther Gassmann, provides readers with a sufficient historical background on the Reformation to serve as a foundation for their explanation of the Book of Concord, which is comprised of seven confessions. Meant as an educational text, the book goes into detail regarding the structure of religion and faith, and looks at the Christian community as well as the goals and behaviors that are consistent with leading a Christian life of one's own. Finally, the book addresses the Lutheran confessions themselves, their meanings, and how they affect the religious community worldwide. Donald S. Armentrout, in a contribution for Church History, found Hendrix's effort to be "a fine introduction to the Lutheran confessions and the theological substance of Lutheranism. It is reliable, but not overly technical."

In Recultivating the Vineyard: The Reformation Agendas of Christianization, Hendrix takes a look at the Reformation from the point of view of the reformers, operating under the idea that it was vitally important to them that their world recover a semblance of what they considered to be true Christianity, a process that Hendrix refers to as "Christianization." Ultimately, the Christian branches that were involved in the initial call for reform included Protestant, Roman Catholic, and even Radical, all of which would ultimately splinter off into their own independent religions within the next century or so, thereby beginning to actively compete against each other rather than becoming unified. They did, however, want Europe to be unified under Christianity, and so they were forced to set aside their own individual issues in order to bring that goal to the forefront. Ultimately, they fought to create a society in which Christianity held meaning again, and Christians maintained both an inner spiritual life and an outward adherence to the rules of their religion. The single shared idea was often expressed as a desire to "replant the vineyard" according to Hendrix. He tracks the efforts of the reformers from the late medieval period and includes their larger scale plans, such as Christianizing Germany. Stephen Edmondson, in a review for the Anglican Theological Review, declared: "My greatest complaint with Hendrix's work is his general neglect of the Reformation in England…. The national Reformation of the church in England bears remark only on the periphery of his story." Kirsi Stjerna, in a review for Interpretation, concluded that "in the final analysis, the Reformation is characterized as a missionary campaign towards a renewed Christian society in Europe, with hopes of transforming history via transformation of hearts and minds. Hendrix's book provides food for thought for both teachers and students of the Reformation looking for common ground in diversity." Dirk von der Horst, writing for the Renaissance Quarterly, found the book to be "a simple and compelling vision of the heart of reforming efforts that nicely balances the fairness of historical detachment and the richness of theological sympathy."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Anglican Theological Review, spring, 2006, Stephen Edmondson, review of Recultivating the Vineyard: The Reformation Agendas of Christianization, pp. 271-272.

Catholic Historical Review, October 1, 1997, Kenneth Hagen, review of Tradition and Authority in the Reformation, p. 798.

Christian Century, February 17, 1982, review of Luther and the Papacy: Stages in a Reformation Conflict, p. 187.

Church History, March 1, 1998, James H. Pragman, review of Tradition and Authority in the Reforma-tion, p. 148; September 1, 2001, Donald S. Armentrout, review of Fortress Introduction to the Lutheran Confessions, p. 571.

Dialog: A Journal of Theology, summer, 2005, Russell C. Kleckley, review of Recultivating the Vineyard, pp. 196-197.

Ecclesiology, January, 2007, Paul Avis, review of Recultivating the Vineyard, pp. 269-270.

Interpretation, April 1, 2006, Kirsi Stjerna, review of Recultivating the Vineyard, p. 218.

Journal of Church and State, March 22, 1982, William L. Pitts, review of Luther and the Papacy, p. 413.

Journal of Religion, January, 2007, Barbara Pitkin, review of Recultivating the Vineyard, pp. 97-98.

Religion, October 1, 2005, Austra Reinis, review of Recultivating the Vineyard, p. 269.

Renaissance Quarterly, September 22, 2005, Dirk von der Horst, review of Recultivating the Vineyard, p. 966.

Sixteenth Century Journal, September 22, 1997, Charles P. Arand, review of Tradition and Authority in the Reformation, p. 1062; December 22, 2005, Nathan Montover, review of Preaching the Reformation: The Homiletical Handbook of Urbanus Rhegius, p. 1181.

Theology Today, April 1, 2006, Eric W. Gritsch, review of Recultivating the Vineyard, p. 109.