The quest for an appropriate method of acquiring and presenting true and sound knowledge was one of the most important factors driving the development of early modern science. That general philosophical motive had a religious counterpart, the quest for truth and certainty in matters of Christian faith. Because answering that question largely determined the course of early modern religious history, the search for proper method was a key priority for all confessions and branches of theology. Theology, however, was not simply an intellectual and methodologically disciplined activity. Rather, it was also constituted by theologians’ personal ethos. While prior to the Reformation that ethos may have been shaped mainly by celibate clerical lifestyles, whether in monastic and mendicant studia or in university settings, it was now determined, personally and institutionally, by a variety of methodological and sociological factors.