This study is an inquiry into the intellectual origins of the Reformed branch of Protestantism generally called Calvinism. It focuses on the early theologian who gave formative shape to Reformed theology, Peter Martyr Vermigli.

Renaissance and Reformation—partners or enemies? The popular image of these two historical phenomena is one of opposition and contradiction: the Renaissance was a cultural revival influenced by classical philosophy; the Reformation was a radical religious movement which rejected traditional authority. But in the life and work of Peter Martyr Vermigli, a "Calvinist Thomist" and the leading sixteenth-century Italian Reformer, scholasticism and Protestantism converge. An international conference, sponsored by the Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University, reflects the recent renewed interest in Italian reform. Entitled "The Cultural Impact of Italian Reformers," its aim was to gather Vermigli scholars along with Renaissance and Reformation scholars. Half the essays (by Paul Grendler, Cesare Vasoli, Rita Belladonna, Anthony Santosuosso, and Antonio D'Andrea) deal with the general question of Renaissance and Reformation interaction: How are humanism and scholasticism related? Marvin Anderson, Philip McNair, J. Patrick Donnelly, Robert Kingdon, and Joseph C. McLelland focus on the thought and activity of Vermigli himself. Students of theology, history, and philosophy, and specifically of the Renaissance and the Reformation, will welcome this book.

This delightful book describes and illustrates the Metropolitan Museum's collection of nearly 40 illuminations from Italian choral manuscripts. Representing the work of Gothic and Renaissance masters both celebrated and anonymous, these precious paintings in miniature---with their compelling narrative, brilliant color, and shining gold---bear witness to exceptional aesthetic accomplishment. The choir books they illuminate are a rich source of information about the development of chant, whose unexpected transcendent tonalities have abiding appeal today. They also serve as primary sources for the study of the lives of religious communities and of the philosophy and faith that infused medieval Europe, offering a glimpse of Italy at the dawn of the Renaissance.

This collection of essays on Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499-1562) not only demonstrate his shaping influence on Reformed Protestantism, but also illuminates some of his more important and provocative contributions to the various Reformations in sixteenth-century Europe, both Catholic and Protestant.