A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CHURCH HISTORY WRITINGS OF ROLAND H. BAINTON

Roland Herbert Bainton ranks as one of the leading Reformation scholars of the twentieth century. For forty-two years he taught Church history at Yale Divinity School where he held the Titus Street Professorship of Church history from 1936 until his retirement in 1962. His prolific writings cover a broad spectrum of the history of the Church and have made him a popular author among both scholars and laymen. Bainton's chief literary contributions lie in the field of Reformation research.;The present study examines the Reformation history writings of Bainton, giving close attention to formulating a historiographical understanding of his works. This task is undertaken by a study of the assumptions, themes approach, and content of his Reformation corpus. A topical categorization of Bainton's works proves expedient, and this division compromises the outline of the study. This arrangement includes the Renaissance writings, the Luther writings, and the left wing writings. In the course of analyzing Bainton's works, attention is given to the comparison of his writings with those of other contemporary Reformation scholars.;Bainton's handling of the materials of the Reformation era is marked by three means of interpretation. He interprets history through biography, through the history of ideas, and through religious experience. Bainton employs the biography as a means of writing history because he finds in the life of selected individuals a microcosm of the history of a specific period. He also finds the ideological milieu significant for historical interpretation of a period. Bainton gives great importance to the power of ideas within history, and he uses the historical development of ideas as a synthesizing element which gives continuity to history. Likewise Bainton interprets history from "within" the context of the Christian tradition. He sees the dynamic of religious experience as a crucial element in history and as an element worthy of treatment by the historian. Bainton's writings reflect this concern as seen in the prominence he gives to the religious conscience of Luther, to the mysticism of Servetus, and to the piety of Erasmus.;A pacifist himself, Bainton devotes much attention to the historical developments of Christian attitudes toward war and peace. Bainton contends that the issue of war and peace should be incorporated into the treatment of the history of Christianity. His interest in religious toleration focuses on the argument for freedom of conscience in western culture. Advocacy of toleration is a prominent theme in his works. Significant but neglected figures of history attract Bainton's scholarly interest. His Reformation writings are replete with discussions of religious figures hitherto virtually ignored by historians. Many of his writings attempt to overcome this neglect by providing appropriate attention to the unnamed, unheralded, and unknown persons of the past.;Bainton's writings add new frontiers and broader dimensions to contemporary Reformation research. The magnitude of the Bainton corpus itself provides a significant scholarly achievement. His ethical concerns shown in the writings on pacifism and toleration extend his influence beyond the confines of his scholarly discipline to the life of the contemporary Church. As one who stresses the influence of the individual, Bainton's own individual efforts make the Church richer indeed.