The Year of Our Revolution

Aside from my papers that have filled up my past three blogs, I have blogged about 2 of my 5 classes thus far: Readings in Luther and Lutheran Dogmatics I. My next class is called Continental Reformation. This is a history class about mainland European religion in the sixteenth century.
My tutor (or professor, as they're called in America) for this class is the same one who teaches Readings in Luther: Dr. Rosin. It meets twice a week here at Westfield House, and I have one weekly lecture at Cambridge to supplement my learning for this class. It's called Reform and Renewal with Richard Rex. Of my three Cambridge lectures, I like this one the most.
In Dr. Rosin's lectures, we have mainly focused on the powers at work in Germany on the eve of the Reformation, including scholasticism and humanism. In Dr. Rex's lectures, he has brought us through Luther's life and theology, and the Reformation as it occurred outside of Wittenberg, specifically in Augsburg, Zurich, and Cologne. For our lecture on Martin Luther's theology, Dr. Rex declared from the outset that he probably knows more about Luther's theology than anyone else at Cambridge. Of course, as he readily admitted, that's not saying a great deal in this highly secular country.
Another thing Rex claimed was that not many people in the world really understand the doctrine of justification through faith alone, and that he is one of them. He added to this slightly prideful, highly humorous comment by saying that there are even fewer people in the world who understand it and don't believe it, and he is one of them as well. While I disagree with Rex about a great deal, he's a brilliant man. I've never been taught the Reformation from a Roman Catholic, which is an experience in and of itself. I thoroughly enjoy attending his lectures and Dr. Rosin's. I agree with Rosin's view of the Reformation and largely disagree with Rex's, but it's fascinating to hear about it from two competing academic perspectives.
I especially liked Rex's comment on Philip Melanchthon: "An extremely talented man, but alas, not a genius like Luther." You can't say he's uninformed. And for an Englishman, he really does know a great deal about the Lutheran faith.
Today was my 4th of 8 lectures for Reform and Renewal, marking the halfway point. I haven't written my paper yet for this class, but I'm learning loads. There's something special about learning the Reformation on the continent in which it happened.