Wondrous Exchange: The Economy of Salvation in the Reformation1

Abstract

ABSTRACT The theme of “Conversion” is prominent in writings of Protestant reformers of the sixteenth century. Conversion is variously construed as a sudden reorientation of perspective, or, alternatively, as a gradual, ongoing process of readjustment of behavior. Change of religious orientation can be cognitive or habitual, passive or active, and can depend upon a range of moral ontological assumptions. A traditional antiphon in the Octave of Christmas invokes the language of exchange – “O admirabile commertium” – which is echoed by Jean Calvin in his reference to the Sacrament of the Eucharist as “mirifica commutatio”, “wondrous exchange.” This language harks back to the scriptural concept of covenant. This essay will explore the reformers’ employment of mercantile metaphors in their discourse of conversion. In addition to Calvin attention will be paid to Erasmus, Martin Luther, the Florentine reformer Peter Martyr Vermigli, the French Zwinglian Antoine de Marcourt, and to the Elizabethan divine Richard Hooker.