Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 692

668

and tion,

THK APrAUENT DEFEAT

§ IOj.

fioiu his followers against

however, which, as

is

[Div. Ill

orthodox theology

;

a reac-

generally the case, wanted to

throw out " mit dem Kinde das Bad," i.e. " the bath with child.'' At heart Pietism became (m^z-theological. However much of invaluable good it has brought to the life of the churches, it was unable to restore theology from its barrenIt rather cooperated with the synness to new freshness. cretistic movement, and so allowed non-churchly factors free play to work destructively upon theology. Reformation theology has not known a second quickening (e/aw) in the higher sense of the word. She has worked out more minutely what was at first treated only in vague terms. She has fur-

the

With

nished rich detailed studies.

hair-splitting exactness

she has picked apart almost every conceivable antithesis, with

And

the Lutherans as well as with the Reformed. in exegesis

and

Church history she has continued

in

especially to gather

and from when the stream of churchly life has flowed away under her, she has finally proved to be an expanse of ice that could not be trusted, and that broke and sank away the moment Philosophy threw itself upon her with all its weight. her laurels, but as

theolo<jy

§ 105.

she has remained stationary

;

The Apparent Defeat

The reformation movement

certainly succeeded in the six-

teenth centur}^ in exorcising the pagan spirit from Humanism.

Whatever gains

pagan spirit achieved and sixteenth centuries, it was not capable of obtaining a solid footing among the nations of Middle and Northern Europe. And when the conflict which Humanism in league with the Reformation had undertaken this

revival of the

in Italy in the fifteenth

against the papal power approached

its

end,

it

can be said with-

out exaggeration, that the Reformation had become Herrin

ion

and that Humanism had to adapt itself to the performance of all sorts of subsidiary service. Paganism in its humanistic form was bent too much upon the outward world, and was too little animated and too vaguely conscious of being a ffaase,

bearer of a special

and world-view of

life -principle, to its

own over

enable

it

to place a life-

aofainst that of the

Reforma-

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