The Ark, the Covenant, and the Poor Men's Chest: Edmund Bonner and Nicholas Ridley on Church and Scripture in Mid-Tudor England [Paperback]

Mark A. Newcomb, Headmaster of Saint Theresa Catholic School in Sugar Land, Texas, graduated from Duke University Divinity School and Fordham University, where he earned a Ph.D. in Historical Theology.  Formerly Executive Vice President at Mount Saint Mary College in New York and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Belmont Abbey College, Dr. Newcomb is not only a Renaissance and Reformation scholar but also a leader in classical education in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition.

What role did Humanism play in the emergence of English Protestantism? This question has remained a live issue for Reformation scholarship over the past four centuries.  InThe Ark, the Covenant, and the Poor Men’s Chest, the author examines the issue in detail, utilizing categories drawn from the research of John W. O’Malley on the application of different modes of classical rhetoric to biblical interpretation during the Renaissance. 
     Anyone interested in either the revival of classical learning during the Renaissance or the religious upheaval of the English Reformation will benefit from reading this work.  The book’s focus on primary sources from the sixteenth century and the best insights from recent secondary scholarship yields insights that will be of great interest to specialists in the field of Renaissance and Reformation studies.  The inclusion of a timeline of major events, a biographical index of major figures, and a glossary of theological terms make this work accessible and helpful for students with varying degrees of familiarity with early modern England. 
     Comparing the exegetical writings of Erasmus and John Colet, the author illustrates the key differences between Erasmian and Italian Humanism.  Erasmus’ reliance upon deliberative oratory for the explication of scripture, and his preoccupation with a Platonic philosophia Chrislã;