SAT Webinar: Dr. Ron Rittgers (Thursday, April 23, 2026)

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 18:00:00 GMT

'This word, this life-giving manna':

Scripture as 'Sacrament' in Early Protestantism

Dr. Ron Rittgers, Duke Divinity School

Professor of Reformation Studies and Church History

This paper is part of a larger book project entitled The Enchanted Word of Early Protestantism. The book seeks to show that during the Reformation, Protestants viewed Scripture—read, heard, preached, sung, or inscribed—as a kind of sacrament or means of grace. Scripture was not simply a source of correct if contested information about God for early Protestants, it was more profoundly a place of encounter with God, even mystical encounter. The book thus calls upon us to revise the traditional Weberian disenchantment narrative in new ways by demonstrating the centrality of a Word-based “enchantment" at the very heart of the Reformation. This paper will examine brief case studies from Reformation biblical commentaries, postils, church ordinances, devotional literature, and archeological evidence to advance the argument of the larger book project. It will show that one does not have to do an end-run-around the Reformation to arrive at a sacramental view of Scripture.

Ronald K. Rittgers earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University; he is the Duke Divinity School Professor of Reformation Studies. He is also Professor of the History of Christianity at Duke Divinity School and Professor of History (secondary appoint-ment) in the History Department of Duke University. Prof. Rittgers is interested in the theology and spirituality of the Age of Reform (ca. 1050-ca. 1650) and also studies the broader social and cultural developments of this period in western Christianity. In addition to articles and essays, Prof. Rittgers has authored a number of books: The Reformation of the Keys: Confession, Conscience, and Authority in Sixteenth-Century Germany (Harvard University Press, 2004); The Reformation of Suffering: Pastoral Theology and Lay Piety in Late Medieval and Early Modern Germany (Oxford University Press, 2012); The Reformation Commentary on Scripture: Hebrews and James (Intervarsity Press, 2017); a co-edited volume, Protestants and Mysticism in Reformation Europe (Brill, 2019); and A Widower’s Lament: The “Pious Meditations” of Johann Christoph Oelhafen (Fortress, 2021). Prof. Rittgers is currently working on a book entitled The Enchanted Word of Early Protestantism. He has held grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Lilly Foundation; he has also been a Senior Research Fellow at the Herzog August Bibliothek (Wolfenbüttel, Germany) and at the Leibniz Institute for European History (Mainz, Germany). Prof. Rittgers has served as the President of the American Society of Church History..

Society of Anglican Theologians upcoming events

SAT Webinar: Dr. Ron Rittgers (Thursday, April 23, 2026)