La vie et l'oeuvre de John Smyth (1570?-1612)

The life and work of john smyth (1570?-1612)

• Auteur / Autrice : John Stauffacher
• Direction : Marc Lienhard
• Type : Thèse de doctorat
• Discipline(s) : Sciences religieuses
• Date : Soutenance en 1987
• Etablissement(s) : Université Marc Bloch (Strasbourg) (1971-2008)

Mots clés

Mots clés contrôlés

Smyth, John (1570?-1612)

Églises protestantes -- Doctrines

Protestantisme -- Histoire

Histoire

Baptistes

Résumé

Le but de l'etude a ete d'organiser et clarifier les faits connus a present concernant la vie et les positions doctrinales de john smyth, appele le ''se-baptiste'', considere comme le pere du mouvement baptiste. Les diverses appreciations des historiens du mouvement sont presentees, particulierement concernant smyth. Son origine, ses etudes a cambridge, sa participation au mouvement separatiste, son immigration a amsterdam (1608) et sa brieve carriere interrompue par sa mort en 1612 font l'objet d'un chapitre. Le reste de l'etude examine les 12 ecrits de smyth les traitant selon les trois periodes du developpement de sa pensee (anglican-puritain, separatiste, baptiste-spiritualiste) analysant les themes majeurs auxquels il donne le plus d'accent. Lorsque smyth etait puritain, et aussi pendant la derniere phase, ses themes favoris furent la christologie-soteriologie. Ses ecrits separatistes (16061609) examinent la question de l'ecclesiologie. Ses decouvertes revolutionnaires concernant les qualites de la vraie eglise (derivees en grande partie de robert browne), suivies de la solution que smyth apporte au probleme de la presence des non-regeneres dans l'eglise (le bapteme du seul croyant) au debut de sa phase baptiste, le conduisent vers une anthropologie rehaussee evidente dans les ecrits de 1610-1612. Dans cette etape il rejete le peche originel, la predestination calviniste, la theorie de la satisfaction, la justification forensique, et adopte des croyances comme le libre arbitre et l'union-identification du croyant avec le christ triomphant au depens de la redemption du christ substitut. Dans ses ecrits ultimes smyth fait emporter l'amour de dieu sur sa saintete et modifie sa christologie selon le modele des mennonites waterlander, mais aussi selon les lignes de la pensee de schwenckfeld. Le grand souci evident dans tous les ecrits de smyth, un theme qu'il partageait avec de nombreux groupes consideres comme marginaux par les eglises etablies (les puritains, les separatistes et les anabaptistes des diverses sortes), fut les qualites et conditions de la foi chretienne authentique.

The object of this study has been to organise and clarify the facts presently known concerning the life and doctrines of john smyth, the se-baptist, considered to be the father of the baptist movement. Differing views of baptist historians are presented, concerning smyth, anabaptism, and the origin of the baptists. The major events in smyth's life are reviewed: family tree, studies at cambridge, participation in the separatist movement, immigration to amsterdam (1608), and brief career ended by his death in 1612. The remainder of the study examines smyth's 12 writings treating them according to the three periods of the development of his thought (anglican-puritan, separatist, baptist-spiritualist) and dealing with the subjects to which he gives the most emphasis. While he was a calvinistic puritan, as well as during his last phase, smyth's major concerns were christology and soteriology. His separatist writings (1606-1609) are dominated by his new interest in ecclesiology. Smyth's revolutionary discoveries concerning the qualities of the true church during his separatist period (derived largely from robert browne) followed by his solution to the problem of a polluted church membership (believer's baptism) at the beginning of his baptist phase, lead to the heightened anthropology evident in the writings of the last three years of his life. At this stage he rejected original sin, calvinistic predestination, the satisfaction theory of the atonement, forensic justification, and adopted such beliefs as free will and the union-identification of believers with the triumphant christ, at the expense of the redemptive aspects of his work as substitute. In the final writings smyth makes god's love outweigh his holiness and models his christology along lines of influence from the waterlander mennonites but also strongly suggestive of schwenckfeld, the spiritualist. The one over-riding concern in all of smyth's writings was a theme he shared with many considered marginal by the established churches (puritans, separatists and anabaptists of all types): the qualities and conditions of authentic christian faith.