SOURCE: Schneider, John R. “Melanchthon's Rhetoric As a Context for Understanding His Theology.” In Melanchthon in Europe: His Work and Influence beyond Wittenberg, edited by Karin Maag, pp. 141-59. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1999.

In this essay, Schneider emphasizes the integration of Melanchthon's humanistic background with this theology, particularly through his study of rhetoric.

I. the Unknown Melanchthon

It is well enough known that Philip Melanchthon's standing as a teacher of Protestant doctrine was controversial during most of his lifetime, and that it has remained so in the centuries since his death. As Robert Stupperich wrote in his book, Der unbekannte Melanchthon, it is a bitter irony that the “most peaceable man of his age” somehow became “the most embattled.”¹ So heavily did the endless controversies weigh upon Melanchthon that, by the end, he really did long to die, so that he might be set free from “the...