CalvinandHodges
Puritan Board Junior
Greetings:
J.A. Wylie's book, The History of the Waldenses can be found at the Reformed Reader website: http://www.reformedreader.org/history/wylie/toc.htm.
The book is both good and bad. It is good in the sense that it contains much information concerning the Waldenses that is unknown. It is also good in the sense that the memory of these Protestant martyrs should never be forgotten. The nobility of the Waldenses should be marked on a par with the Bereans of whom Paul takes note of in the book of Acts.
What is not good about the book is that Dr. Wylie - of whom is another man that should never be forgotten in the Church - adopts the popular view that the Waldenses began their history with the Martyr Peter Waldo. The Waldenses did not derive their name from Peter Waldo, but just the opposite. There was a Reformed/Protestant witness in southern France/Northern Italy long before Peter Waldo was born.
The Waldensians recieved their name from the land in which they settled - the Vaudois mountains in the French/Italian alps. The witness of Reformed/Protestant orthodoxy stretches long before the birth of Peter Waldo. The first leader of this group (of whom would later be named "Waldenses") was a godly preacher named Vigilantius (circa 400 AD). However, a Reformed orthodoxy was present in Northern Italy even before Vigilantius.
We would know nothing of Helvidius were it not for Jerome (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3007.htm). None of Helvidius' writings are available. Helvidius attacked the Roman doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary. Jerome replied with a blistering treatise defending Mary from such an outrage. Jerome claims that Helvidius was under the tutalidge of the Arian bishop of Milan Auxentius. However, Auxentius died in 374 AD, and Helvidius did not write against the Roman doctrine until around 383. Ambrose was the Bishop of Milan after Auxentius, and it is more likely that Helvidius studied under him. The point of all of this is that resistance to Romish doctrines was fomenting in Northern Italy. Helvidius also accused Jerome of using corrupt Greek mss when he translated into Latin (later to be called the Vulgate).
Jovinian was another scholar from Northern Italy whose writings are only known through Jerome and Augustine. His attacks against the Perpetual Virginity, the Monasticism of Ambrose, and the authority of the Roman see caused him to be excommunicated by Jerome and Ambrose as well. His arguments were so persuasive that both Jerome and Augustine engaged all the powers at their command to deny Jovinian's views. Augustine was Reformed in his Soteriology, but in his Ecclesiology was Romish. This is why both Protestants and Catholics can claim Augustine as their own.
See: Schaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church, vol. 3, pgs. 223-233, for more information on these men.
So, there was a Protestant witness in Northern Italy before Peter Waldo. These Protestants held to the Lucian Greek Text as it was translated into the Old Latin/Italic Bible. After his conversion Peter Waldo probably organized and systematized the teachings of the Waldensians. This would result in the remarkable success of the Waldensians under his leadership, and the subsequent increase in persecutions by the Church of Rome.
Was Peter Waldo the founder of the Waldenses? Yes/No. The Waldenses existed long before Peter Waldo, but it was his genius of organization that made them an effective witness for the Gospel for the next several centuries. The Waldensian Church would later be absorbed into the Reformation mostly in Geneva or among the French Hugenots. The Waldensian Church today has no connection with the Waldenses of the Reformation - though they try to make such claims.
Grace and Peace,
-CH
J.A. Wylie's book, The History of the Waldenses can be found at the Reformed Reader website: http://www.reformedreader.org/history/wylie/toc.htm.
The book is both good and bad. It is good in the sense that it contains much information concerning the Waldenses that is unknown. It is also good in the sense that the memory of these Protestant martyrs should never be forgotten. The nobility of the Waldenses should be marked on a par with the Bereans of whom Paul takes note of in the book of Acts.
What is not good about the book is that Dr. Wylie - of whom is another man that should never be forgotten in the Church - adopts the popular view that the Waldenses began their history with the Martyr Peter Waldo. The Waldenses did not derive their name from Peter Waldo, but just the opposite. There was a Reformed/Protestant witness in southern France/Northern Italy long before Peter Waldo was born.
The Waldensians recieved their name from the land in which they settled - the Vaudois mountains in the French/Italian alps. The witness of Reformed/Protestant orthodoxy stretches long before the birth of Peter Waldo. The first leader of this group (of whom would later be named "Waldenses") was a godly preacher named Vigilantius (circa 400 AD). However, a Reformed orthodoxy was present in Northern Italy even before Vigilantius.
We would know nothing of Helvidius were it not for Jerome (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3007.htm). None of Helvidius' writings are available. Helvidius attacked the Roman doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary. Jerome replied with a blistering treatise defending Mary from such an outrage. Jerome claims that Helvidius was under the tutalidge of the Arian bishop of Milan Auxentius. However, Auxentius died in 374 AD, and Helvidius did not write against the Roman doctrine until around 383. Ambrose was the Bishop of Milan after Auxentius, and it is more likely that Helvidius studied under him. The point of all of this is that resistance to Romish doctrines was fomenting in Northern Italy. Helvidius also accused Jerome of using corrupt Greek mss when he translated into Latin (later to be called the Vulgate).
Jovinian was another scholar from Northern Italy whose writings are only known through Jerome and Augustine. His attacks against the Perpetual Virginity, the Monasticism of Ambrose, and the authority of the Roman see caused him to be excommunicated by Jerome and Ambrose as well. His arguments were so persuasive that both Jerome and Augustine engaged all the powers at their command to deny Jovinian's views. Augustine was Reformed in his Soteriology, but in his Ecclesiology was Romish. This is why both Protestants and Catholics can claim Augustine as their own.
See: Schaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church, vol. 3, pgs. 223-233, for more information on these men.
So, there was a Protestant witness in Northern Italy before Peter Waldo. These Protestants held to the Lucian Greek Text as it was translated into the Old Latin/Italic Bible. After his conversion Peter Waldo probably organized and systematized the teachings of the Waldensians. This would result in the remarkable success of the Waldensians under his leadership, and the subsequent increase in persecutions by the Church of Rome.
Was Peter Waldo the founder of the Waldenses? Yes/No. The Waldenses existed long before Peter Waldo, but it was his genius of organization that made them an effective witness for the Gospel for the next several centuries. The Waldensian Church would later be absorbed into the Reformation mostly in Geneva or among the French Hugenots. The Waldensian Church today has no connection with the Waldenses of the Reformation - though they try to make such claims.
Grace and Peace,
-CH
