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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2009
To date, work on Theodore Beza has dealt with his life, his theology, his biblical works, some aspects of his political activity and treatises, and his contribution to literature. Beza as a pastor, as a shepherd of souls concerned for their growth in Christ, has not yet received attention. But it is through such a study that Beza's character becomes known to us. Beza was not merely a skilled diplomatist, an excellent poet, and a devoted professor of the Genevan Academy. As a theologian he defended Calvin's doctrine, developing it as he thought necessary in response to attack or because of a profound insight into the nature of word and sacrament. But at the root of these activities was Beza's own life of faith nourished by Scripture and the Lord's Supper and shared with his flock and his students through a drama, commentaries and sermons, two manuals of prayer, and letters of spiritual advice or consolation.
page 83 note 2 The standard life is by Geisendorf, Paul F., Thréodore de Béze. 2nd Edition. Geneva: Alexander Jullien, 1967Google Scholar. The only full length treatment of Beza's theology is by Kickel, Walter, Vernunft und Offenbarung bei Theodor Beza: zum Problem des Verhähnisses von Theologie, Philosophic und Staat. Neukirchen: Neukirchener Verlag des Erziehungsvereins GmbH, 1967Google Scholar. This work is marred, in my judgment, by the presuppositions which governed it. On Beza's biblical work very little has been done, but a thesis is near completion at the Institut de l'histoire de la reformation in Geneva. Robert M. Kingdon has contributed most to Beza's political work; see his Introduction to his edition of Beza's Du droil des magistrals, Geneva: Droz, 1970, and Kingdon's, Geneva and the Consolidation of the French Protestant Movement, Geneva: Droz, 1967Google Scholar. Gosselin, Edward A. in ‘David in Tempore Belli: Beza's David in the Service of the Huguenots’ in Sixteenth Century Journal VII, 2 (October, 1976), pp. 31–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar notes the political use made of the figure and psalms of David. Mario Richter has made several studies of Beza as a poet as has Michel Jeanneret. See Richter's, Mario introduction to Beza's Chrestiennes Meditations, Geneva: Droz, 1964Google Scholar. Cf. also the Introduction to Beza's Abraham sacrifiant, edited by K. Cameron, K. M. Hall, F. Higman, Geneva: Droz, 1967. In this essay, I shall not duplicate the studies of Genevan life done by Choisy, Eugéne, L'Etat Chrétien Calviniste á Genéve au temps de Théodore de Béze, Geneva: Ch. Eggiman & Cie., s.d.Google Scholar and by Monter, E. William, Calvin's Geneva, New York: Wiley, 1967Google Scholar. For Beza's ecclesiology, see Maruyama, Tadutaka, The Ecclesiology of Theodore Beza, Geneva: Librairie Droz, 1978Google Scholar.
For Beza's eucharistic theology see my The Eucharistic Theology of Theodore Beza: Developments of the Reformed Tradition, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania: AAR Studies in Religion 4, 1972Google Scholar. Other recent works on Beza are listed by Kempff, D., A Bibliography of Calviniana, 1959–1974. Leiden: Brill, 1975Google Scholar.
For a bibliography of all but Beza's biblical works, see Gardy, Frédéric, Bibliographic des oeuvres théologiques, litteraires, historiques et juridiques de Théodore de Bèze, Geneva: Librairie Droz, 1960Google Scholar.
page 83 note 3 Geisendorf, pp. 329–330.
page 83 note 4 See my ‘The Person of the Mediator: Calvin's Christology and Beza's Fidelity’ in Occasional Papers of the ASRR, 1, December, 1977, pp. 53–80Google Scholar.
page 84 note 5 See my Eucharistic Theology, pp. 42–73.
page 84 note 6 Abraham sacrifiant, see note 1: cf. Gardy, pp. 18–32.
page 84 note 7 See Gardy, pp. 200–203 for Beza's commentaries on Ecclesiastes and on Job; pp. 207–210 for his sermons on the Passion and on the Resurrection, and pp. 193–196 for his sermons on the first three chapters of the Song of Songs.
page 84 note 8 Gardy, pp. 195–196 for Chrestiennes meditations (and note 1 above); and p. 217 for Maister Beza's Household Prayers.
page 84 note 9 Correspondance (MX), edited under the direction of Henri Meylan and Alain Dufour, carries Beza's correspondence from his youth to 1568. Geneva: Librairie Droz, 1960–1978, hereafter Corr.
page 84 note 10 Besides the critical edition noted in Note 1 above, one may wish to consult the reprint of Beza's 1550 edition introduced by C. R. Frankish. New York: Johnson Reprint Corp., 1969.
page 84 note 11 Beza's Juvenilia have recently been printed in Latin with French translations by Alexandre Machard, Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1970. The first edition appears in Paris, 1548 published by Conrad Badius. Cf. Gardy, pp. 1–17.
page 84 note 12 Abraham sacrifiant (ed. Cameron, , Hall, Higman), pp. 46–47Google Scholar.
page 84 note 13 Ibid., p. 47: ‘A la verité il leur seroit mieux seant de chanter un cantique à Dieu, que de petrarquiser un Sonnet…’
page 85 note 14 Ibid., pp. 45–46.
page 85 note 15 Ibid., Epilogue, pp. 113–114. This essay does not deal in detail with Beza's earlier works, but concentrates rather on the series of sermons on the Song of Songs and commentaries on Job from the crisis years 1586–87. See below notes 21 and 51.
page 85 note 16 Registres de la Compagnie des Pasteurs de Geneve (hereafter R. C.) Tome V: 1583–1588. Edited by O. Labarthe and M. Tripet. Geneva: Droz, 1976, p. 144: ‘M. de Beze offrit à la Compaignie de faire 3 lecons en theologie depuis 9 jusques à dix en la sepmaine de M. de La Faye, pour entretenir l'Escole en ce temps se fascheux et lorsqu'il n'y avoit point de professeur. La Compaignie l'accepta et la remercia. Suivant cela, il commence le mardi suivant le livre de Job.’ The entry is for January, 1587. This indicates that Beza's commentaries on Job were lessons in the Academy, not preached sermons.
page 85 note 17 See Gardy, p. 202, entry 376 for the date January 23, and below, note 19.
page 85 note 18 Ibid.
page 85 note 19 R.C. V, pp. 135, 136ff., 142, 154 which give some of the many examples.
page 86 note 20 See note 2 above for article on Beza's David by E. A. Gosselin.
page 86 note 21 Job A2v. Quotations are from an English translation published in the same year as Beza's Latin publication. I have checked the English aginst the Latin and find it accurate. I preferred to use it for two reasons: (1) a sixteenth-century translator would understand better his contemporary's intention; (2) I brought home a xerox copy of the English Job so that students who do not read Latin would have something of Beza's in English. All references to Beza's Job will therefore be from Job expounded by Theodore Beza, partly in manner of a Commentary, partly in manner of a Paraphrase. Faithfully translated out of Latine into English. Printed by John Legatt, Printer to the Universitie of Cambridge. And are to be sold at the signe of the Sunne in Paules Churchyard in London.’ The Dedicatory Epistle to Queen Elizabeth celebrates her victory over the Spanish Armada and ends with Beza's poem and his signature: ‘From Geneva, beseiged by the Duke of Savoy, 12. of August, 1589 (Job A5r-v) Your Majesties most humble Orator Theodore Beza.’ A6r: ‘The Preface of Master Beza before his readings upon Job begunne the 23 of Januarie, 1587’. I have changed only i to j as in Job, and υ to u as in Universitie. The spelling variants are otherwise as in the text.
page 86 note 22 Job A3r. Cf. Corr. VIII, p. 76, in which Beza counsels Jeanne d'Albret to remain constant in spite of the opposition from others: ‘Mais le vraye Constance cognoit ce qu'elle craint et ce qu'elle espere, et quand ceste esperance est fondee sur ce que Dieu nous a faict croire selon sa Parolle infaillible, alors notre resolution est du tout ferme, … Mais d'aultre part asseurés vous aussi que, puis que la providence du Seigneur conduit sur tout les evenements et les causes de Paffliction des siens, il n'y a nul effort plus fort que la force qu'il vous donnera en vous remettant du tout a luy… Cf. Corr. VII, pp. 294–295 for a similar letter to Renée de France, wife of the Duke of Ferrara.
page 86 note 23 Ibid.
page 87 note 24 Job B4v
page 87 note 25 Job B5r.
page 87 note 26 Job B4v.
page 87 note 27 Job B6v.
page 87 note 28 Job B6r.
page 87 note 29 Job C7r.
page 88 note 30 Job C7v.
page 88 note 31 Job Dlr.
page 88 note 32 Job Hlv.
page 88 note 33 Job G2r-v.
page 88 note 34 Job E5r-v.
page 88 note 35 Job F8r.
page 88 note 36 Job F8v.
page 89 note 37 Job Glv.
page 89 note 38 Ibid.
page 89 note 39 (Edited by Richter) pp. 48–49.
page 89 note 40 Job G2r-v.
page 89 note 41 Job B7v-B8r.
page 89 note 42 Job G4v.
page 90 note 43 Job Glr.
page 90 note 44 Job K3v.
page 90 note 45 Job H2v.
page 90 note 46 Job E2v.
page 90 note 47 Job E4r.
page 91 note 48 Ibid. Beza does not deal here with any who anxiously inquire about whether they are elect or not.
page 91 note 49 E.g. St Ignatius Loyola who, in his Spiritual Exercises, makes the rule of tantumquantum one of the key meditations.
page 91 note 50 Job Elr.
page 91 note 51 Master Bezaes Sermons upon the Three first chapters of the Canticle of Canticles: … Translated out of French into English by John Harmar, her Hignes Professor in the Greeke Toung in the Universitie of Oxford, and Felowe of the Newe College there. At Oxford, Printed by Joseph Barnes, and are to be sould in Pauls Churchyard at the Tygers Head, 1587. Hereafter referred to as Cant. I have followed the same plan here as for the Commentaries on Job, and wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to the Musee de l'Histoire de la Reformation in the Bibliothéque Publique et Universitaire de Geneve for permission to xerox both books. The quotation is from Cant. p. 42.
page 92 note 52 Ibid.
page 92 note 53 Cant. p. 69.
page 92 note 54 Cant. p. 70.
page 92 note 55 Cant. p. 311.
page 92 note 56 Cant. p. 316.
page 92 note 57 Cf. Maruyama. It should be noted that Beza devotes most of his sermons on the Canticle of Canticles to discerning the ‘true’ church from the errors of the Roman church, as he perceived them.
page 93 note 58 Cant. p. 121.
page 93 note 59 Cant. p. 61.
page 93 note 60 Cant. p. 62. The context here is grief that in Geneva there are few ‘runners’. The city is no longer ringing with psalms and drawing all, even strangers, to virtue as it did in the past. See below, pp. 11–12.
page 93 note 61 Job C4v.
page 93 note 62 Job H7v.
page 93 note 63 Job B5r.
page 94 note 64 Cant. p. 41.
page 94 note 65 Cant. pp. 62–63.
page 94 note 66 Job G4r.
page 94 note 67 Cant. pp. 19–20.
page 95 note 68 Cant. p. 21.
page 95 note 69 Cant. p. 19.
page 95 note 70 R.C. IV: 1575–1582. Edited by O. Labarthe and B. Lescaze, Geneva: Droz, 1974.
page 95 note 71 Ibid., p. 48.
page 95 note 72 Ibid., p. 170.
page 95 note 73 Job C5r.
page 96 note 74 Job C5v.
page 96 note 75 Ibid.
page 96 note 76 Ibid.
page 96 note 77 Cant. p. 54.
page 96 note 78 Cant, p. 55.
page 96 note 79 Cant. p. 210.
page 96 note 80 Cant. p. 223.
page 96 note 81 Ibid.
page 97 note 82 Job C7r.
page 97 note 83 R.C. V, p. 164. Cf. Fatio, Olivier, ‘Le jeu^ne genevois, réalité et mythe’, in Bulletin de la Société d'histoire et d'archéologie de Genéve, 14 (1971)Google Scholar.
page 97 note 84 R.C. IV, p. 115. This passage is also given by Choisy, L'Etat … p. 115. The occasion was the passage of the Duke of Alba and his troops on their way to the Lowlands. Geneva feared that Savoy would persuade her Spanish allies to help her take Geneva. Beza interpreted this very real danger to be a result of God's anger caused by the avarice of the rich and the sins of the people generally in spite of daily sermons! Cf. R.C. V, p. 69, n. 114.
page 98 note 85 Confession de la foy chrestienne, faite par Theodore de Besze, … Conrad Badius, 1559, pp. 199–202.
page 98 note 86 See note 2, above.
page 98 note 87 Maister Beza's Houshold Prayers. For the Consolation and Perfection of a Christian Life. London, Printed by Nicholas Okes, for William Jones dwelling neere Holborne Conduit at the signe of the Gun. 1607. The French original of this little book is lost. The English dedication reads: ‘Dedicated to the honorable and most vertuous, Mistress Francis Smith … Unfrenched Prayers, which the religious zeale of that reverend man, Beza of Geneva, has in his private Exercises poured unto God …’ B2r. Cf. Gardy, p. 217.
page 98 note 88 Household Prayers, preface.
page 99 note 89 Cant. pp. 219–221.
page 99 note 90 Cant. p. 222.
page 99 note 91 Cant. p. 239.
page 99 note 92 Cant. p. 296.
page 99 note 93 Job Flr-v.
page 99 note 94 Job F2r.
page 100 note 95 Job F2v.
page 100 note 96 Job C4r.
page 100 note 97 Job Clv.
page 100 note 98 Job C2r.
page 100 note 99 Cant. p. 5. Cf. Corr. VII, pp. 231ff. and Corr. VII, 259–363, for Beza's replies to questions concerning the marriage of a eunuch and of a marriage between a man and his uncle's widow. Both are contrary to Scripture, the eunuch because he would waste the woman's seed among other things, and the latter because it is considered incestuous.
page 101 note 100 Job I5r.
page 101 note 101 Cant. p. 6.
page 101 note 102 Cant. p. 15; cf. p. 26.
page 101 note 103 Cant. p. 26.
page 101 note 104 Cant. p. 42.
page 101 note 105 Job C2v.
page 101 note 106 Ibid.
page 102 note 107 Job E8r.
page 102 note 108 Job G74.
page 102 note 109 Ibid.
page 102 note 110 Job C2v.
page 102 note 111 R.C. IV, Annex 31, pp. 300–308.
page 103 note 112 Cf. Cant. pp. 170–173. Cf. de Gallatin, M.-L., ‘Les Ordonnances somtuaires a Genéve au XVIe siecle’ in La Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Genève, Tome XXXVI, pp. 191–275. Geneva: A. Jullien, 1938Google Scholar.
page 103 note 113 ‘The Value of Works in the Theology of Calvin and Beza’, Sixteenth Century Journal, IV, 2 (October, 1973), pp. 83Google Scholar; 86.
page 103 note 114 Cant. p. 43.
page 103 note 115 Cant. p. 50.
page 104 note 116 Cant. p. 51.
page 104 note 117 Cant. pp. 54–55.
page 104 note 118 Cant. p. 75.
page 104 note 119 Ibid.
page 105 note 120 Cant. p. 130.
page 105 note 121 Cant. p. 190.
page 105 note 122 Ibid.
page 105 note 123 Job T5r.
page 106 note 124 Job G5r.
page 106 note 125 Job G5v.
page 106 note 126 Job K4v. Cf. Corr. VII, pp. 262–263 for a letter of condolence that applies these principles. Beza's best letter of condolence, however, is written to Coligny on the death of his wife, Corr. IX, 96–100.
page 107 note 127 Job Ilr-v. Cf. Corr. IX, pp. 208–214 for a long letter in which Beza explains the influence of the stars on human life and health. Beza considers that the diagnosis of physicians is more reliable than the predictions of astrologers.
page 107 note 128 Job Kir.
page 107 note 129 K6r.
page 107 note 130 Cant. p. 186.