Description
Book SynopsisIn The Emergence of Pastoral Authority in the French Reformed Church, c.1555-c.1572, Gianmarco Braghi offers a broad overview of the issues and ambiguities connected to the implementation of the authority of the first generation of Geneva-trained French Reformed pastors and of their implications for the character and identity of the early French Reformed movement at large, using them as a prism for historical analysis of the transition from loose evangelicalism to a nascent synodal-consistorial network of Reformed congregations scattered across the kingdom of France.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Abbreviations Editorial Note Introduction 1 Time of Harvest: Informal Instruments of Pastoral Authority and the La Vau Affair in Poitiers (c.1555–1557) 1 Plural Influences on the French Reformation: Sebastian Castellio 2 The Evangelical Congregation of Poitiers and the Impact of Reformed Preaching 3 “Une zizanie mauvaise de discorde”: Jean Saint-Vertunien de La Vau 4 “Ils sont condamnés par eux-mêmes”: Dealing with Dissent in an Early Reformed Congregation 2 “Ceux qui s’y trouverent, sçavent”: A Meeting of Pastors in Paris (May 1559) 1 Prosecution of Heresy under the Reign of Henri II 2 The ‘First National Synod’ of 1559: Between Legend and History 3 Issues of Sources and the Anticipation of Reception 3 The ‘National Debut’ of the French Reformed Movement (c.1559–c.1561) 1 When All Hope is Gone: The Guise Rule and the Search for an ‘Outer Haven’ 2 A Polyptych of Pamphlets: A Self-Confident and Assertive Rhetoric 3 The Colloquy of Poissy: Adjusting the Rhetoric for the ‘National Debut’ 4 The Institutional Turn: Negotiating the Limits of Pastoral Authority 1 The Confession de foi’s Model of Pastoral Authority 2 “On ne sçait pas celles qu’on doit adopter”: The Changing Forms and Limits of the Discipline ecclésiastique 3 A Litmus Test: The Aftermath of the La Vau Affair 4 An Appealing Preacher: Mathurin Sibelleau and the Congregation of Loudun 5 Inner and Outer Threats to Pastoral Authority 5 The Multiple Battlefields of Pastoral Authority: Quarrelsome Pastors and Scandalous Books in Lower Languedoc (c.1561–1563) 1 The Genevan System and French Reformed Practices of Book Censorship 2 The Evangelical Conventicle of Nîmes Turns Reformed 3 The Mauget-Mutonis Affair: The Teething Trouble of Pastoral Authority 4 Deploying Women and the Laity for Polemical Purposes: The Declaration du mystere, ou secret de Dieu 6 The Jean Morély Affair (c.1562–c.1572): Church Polity, Ecclesiastical Discipline, and the Authority of Pastors 1 The Early Career of an Itinerant Theologian 2 “Redime me à calumniis hominum”: Criticisms of Pastoral Authority in the Traicté de la discipline et police chrestienne (1562) 3 “Plus dangereux que les persecutions”: The Enduring Character of the Morély Affair 7 Questioning the Ministry of the Word of God: The ‘Double Conversion’ of a Reformed Pastor 1 The Rise and Fall of an Outstanding Minister 2 Conversion Narratives 3 “Historien de la faute detestable que i’ay commise”: Redemption Narratives Conclusion Bibliography Index
