The Honeycomb Scroll: Philipp Melanchthon at the Dawn of the Reformation

by Gregory B. Graybill

Publisher:

Fortress Press

, 2015

Overview

Long overshadowed by Martin Luther and John Calvin, Philipp Melanchthon is one of the most important figures in the Protestant Reformation and had a profound effect on Western church history. The Honeycomb Scroll gives the most detailed English-language biographical treatment of Melanchthon to date, oulining historical context and moving from his personal origins through his childhood, education, and early career at Wittenberg during the dramatic events at the dawn of the Reformation.

Author Gregory B. Graybill establishes the deep geopolitical and religious context of Melanchthon’s early life, discusses his studies and teaching career, and looks at how his faith was richly fostered. Graybill also covers Melanchthon’s involvement in the Leipzig Disputation, his visible representation of the evangelical cause in Wittenberg during Luther’s absence at Worms and the Wartburg, and his struggle with the radical wing. The Honeycomb Scroll closes by looking ahead to Melanchthon’s contribution to the Augsburg Confession of 1530.

Key Features

• Explores Melanchthon’s personal life from childhood through adulthood
• Introduces the most thorough biography of Melanchthon in the English language
• Discusses Melanchthon’s contribution to the Augsburg Confession of 1530

Contents

• Wars and Rumors of Wars
• The Armorer
• A Bride from Bretten
• The Passing of the Age
• A Time to Mourn
• Pforzheim
• Heidelberg
• Tübingen
• Wittenberg
• All In: The Wittenberg Movement
• Wedding Bells and Papal Bulls
• Taking a Stand
• Bounding the Fire
• Old Testament Dreams
• Homecoming

Praise for the Print Edition

Dr. Graybill has painted a humane and nuanced portrait of one of the most remarkable scholars and reformers of the Reformation era: a prodigy of energy and productivity. In this book, Melanchthon steps out of the shadow of Martin Luther and lives again in the turbulent first years of the German Reformation.

—Diarmaid MacCulloch, lecturer, University of Oxford

Gregory Graybill has written a fine, vivid, scholarly yet readable biography of Philipp Melanchthon, which fills a large gap in recent English language writing on the Reformation. This is an ideal place to start to get to know a man whose influence on Reformation Europe was huge.

—Graham Tomlin, dean, St. Mellitus College

What would it be like to have been Martin Luther’s closest theological companion in the birth years of the Protestant Reformation? Greg Graybill answers this question in his deeply researched post-Oxford-doctoral work written (and illustrated) from Philipp Melanchthon’s own personal homes in Germany. Welcome to the heart and mind of the Reformation! I warmly recommend this engaging study.

—Frederick Dale Bruner, George and Lyda Wasson Professor of Religion Emeritus, Whitworth University

Product Details

• Title: The Honeycomb Scroll: Philipp Melanchthon at the Dawn of the Reformation
• Author: Gregory B. Graybill
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Print Publication Date: 2015
• Logos Release Date: 2016
• Pages: 370
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Melanchthon, Philipp, 1497-1560; Reformation › Germany; Theologians › Germany--Biography; Reformation; Theologians; Germany
• ISBNs: 9781451497045, 9781506400457, 1451497040, 1506400450
• Resource ID: LLS:HONEYCOMBSCROLL
• Resource Type: text.monograph.biography
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:34:46Z

About Gregory B. Graybill

Gregory B. Graybill is the senior pastor at the First United Presbyterian Church of Moline, Illinois. He earned a DPhil at the University of Oxford and is the author of Evangelical Free Will: Philipp Melanchthon’s Doctrinal Journey on the Origins of Faith. He is a collaborator for the volumes on Philippians and Colossians in the Reformation Commentary on Scripture (3 vols.).

Sample Pages from The Honeycomb Scroll: Philipp Melanchthon at the Dawn of the Reformation