Jaroslav Pelikan’s Life and Works

 "Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name." – Jaroslav Pelikan

In a discussion over at AVI’s, james brought up Jaroslav Pelikan (1923-2006), a scholar I don’t believe I’d ever heard of before but, after a bit of investigation, I truly wish I had.

Wikipedia tells us he was “an American scholar of the history of Christianity, Christian theology, and medieval intellectual history at Yale University.” A bit of a prodigy, he had earned both a seminary degree from Concordia Seminary and PhD from the University of Chicago by the age of 22. He spent most of his career teaching at Yale. Coming from a line of Lutheran pastors, he also was ordained a Lutheran pastor early in life. Later in life he and his wife both became Eastern Orthodox Christians. 

Wikipedia gives a humorous anecdote from his life:

While at Yale, Pelikan won a contest sponsored by Field & Stream magazine for Ed Zern's column "Exit Laughing" to translate the motto of the Madison Avenue Rod, Gun, Bloody Mary & Labrador Retriever Benevolent Association ("Keep your powder, your trout flies and your martinis dry") into Latin. Pelikan's winning entry mentioned the martini first, but Pelikan explained that it seemed no less than fitting to have the apéritif come first. His winning entry:

Semper siccandae sunt: potio
Pulvis, et pelliculatio.

The 30+ books he wrote which are listed on Wikipedia should provide something interesting for anyone in the Hall interested in Christianity, I would think. I’ll put the full list below the fold, but AVI recommends JesusThrough the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture (1985). James read one of his 5-volume history, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, 5 vols. (1973–1990). 

Titles that also grabbed my attention included Bach Among the Theologians (1986), Christianity and Classical Culture: The Metamorphosis of Natural Theology in the Christian Encounter with Hellenism (1993), Faust the Theologian (1995), and What Has Athens to Do with Jerusalem? Timaeus and Genesis in Counterpoint (1998). However, almost all of his work sounds interesting for me.

His life and more on his works are given over at Christian Scholars Online.

I’m happy james and AVI brought him to my attention. If you two read this, thank you!

I’ve included a long-ish selection of his works (copied from Wikipedia) below the fold.

Selected bibliography

• From Luther to Kierkegaard: A Study in the History of Theology. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House
• (ed.) Martin Luther's works (1955–1969) multiple volumes
• LUTHER'S WORKS, Companion Volume, "LUTHER THE EXPOSITOR: Introduction to the Reformer's Exegetical Writings,"(1959) St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House
• The Riddle of Roman Catholicism (1959)
• "The Shape of Death: Life, Death, and Immortality in the Early Fathers (1961) Abingdon Press
• The Light of the World: A Basic Image in Early Christian Thought (1962) Harper and Brothers
• The Finality of Jesus Christ in an Age of Universal History: A Dilemma of the Third Century (1966)
• Development of Christian Doctrine: Some Historical Prolegomena (1969)
• The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, 5 vols. (1973–1990). Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• Volume 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition 100–600 (1973) ISBN 0-226-65371-4
• Volume 2: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom 600–1700 (1974) ISBN 0-226-65373-0
• Volume 3: The Growth of Medieval Theology 600–1300 (1978) ISBN 0-226-65375-7
• Volume 4: Reformation of Church and Dogma 1300–1700 (1984) ISBN 0-226-65377-3
• Volume 5: Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture since 1700 (1990) ISBN 0-226-65380-3
• Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture (1985) Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-07987-7
• The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century (Forward) (1985) ISBN 0-8070-1301-3
• Bach Among the Theologians (1986), Philadelphia: Fortress Press, ISBN 0-8006-0792-9
• The Vindication of Tradition: The 1983 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities (1986) Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-03638-8.
• Sacred Writings: Buddhism – The Dhammapada (1987) Book of the Month Club, no ISBN
• The Melody of Theology: A Philosophical Dictionary (1988) ISBN 0-674-56472-3
• The Excellent Empire: The Fall of Rome and the Triumph of the Church (1989)
• Imago Dei: The Byzantine Apologia for Icons (1990)
• Confessor Between East and West: A Portrait of Ukrainian Cardinal Josyf Slipyj (1990), ISBN 0-8028-3672-0
• The World Treasury of Modern Religious Thought (1990), editor, hardcover: ISBN 0-316-69770-2, paperback: no ISBN issued
• The Idea of the University: A Reexamination (1992) Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-05834-9
• Sacred Writings: Hinduism – The Rig Veda (1992) Book of the Month Club, no ISBN
• Sacred Writings: Islam – The Qur'an (1992) editor, Book of the Month Club, no ISBN, in English with Arabic sub-text
• Christianity and Classical Culture: The Metamorphosis of Natural Theology in the Christian Encounter with Hellenism (1993) Gifford lectures at Aberdeen, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-06255-9
• Faust the Theologian (1995) Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-07064-0
• Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture (1996) Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-07661-4
• Fools for Christ: Essays on the True, the Good, and the Beautiful (1995) Fortress Press, (2001) Wipf & Stock ISBN 978-1-57910-802-1
• The Illustrated Jesus Through the Centuries (1997) Yale University Press ISBN 0-300-07268-6
• What Has Athens to Do with Jerusalem? Timaeus and Genesis in Counterpoint (1998) Thomas Spencer Jerome Lectures, University of Michigan Press, ISBN 0-472-10807-7
• Divine Rhetoric: The Sermon on the Mount as Message and as Model in Augustine, Chrysostom, and Luther (2000) St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, ISBN 0-88141-214-7
• Credo: Historical and Theological Guide to Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition (2003) Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-09388-8
• Interpreting the Bible and the Constitution (2004) Yale University Press ISBN 0-300-10267-4
• Whose Bible Is It? A History of the Scriptures Through the Ages (2005) ISBN 0-670-03385-5
• Mary: Images of the Mother of Jesus in Jewish and Christian Perspective (2005)
• Acts (2005, 2006) Brazos Press, ISBN 1-58743-094-0. A theological Bible commentary