Savonarola “another Luther”

 

by

 

Damien F. Mackey

 

 

 

“… when Pope Paul IV examined [Savonarola’s] writings, he said

“This is Martin Luther, this doctrine is pestiferous!”.”

 

Phil Ryken

 

Martyn McGeown tells of Martin Luther’s supposed admiration for Savonarola in McGeown’s article, “Savonarola: "Prophetic" Preacher and Moral Reformer”:

http://www.cprf.co.uk/articles/savonarola.htm#.WgoVaORlJ9A

 

…. However, there is also the interesting fact that pope Paul IV wanted Savonarola’s books placed on the Index of Forbidden books, calling him "another Luther."⁶⁵

There is some connection between the Florentine friar and the Reformation, although doctrinally there was not much agreement. Luther spoke highly of Savonarola. He "valued Savonarola’s [prison] meditations so much that he published them twice."⁶⁶ He called him "a holy man" and added, "Christ canonizes him."⁶⁷ Elsewhere Luther writes that the friar was "a godly man of Florence," whom the pope had persecuted.⁶⁸ According to another Roman Catholic historian, "Luther had no hesitation in claiming [Savonarola] as a proto-martyr of the Reformation."⁶⁹ Rachel Erlanger, who is generally unsympathetic towards Savonarola draws the following comparison between the friar and Luther:

 

Like Luther, he declared that a pope could err, and emphasized the superior authority of Scripture. Like Luther, he wished to summon a council and was excommunicated by the pope. But when the Imperial Diet of Worms called on Luther to recant, he replied he could not and would not recant … Savonarola, by contrast, seemed incapable of taking a firm stand on anything.⁷⁰

 

In conventional AD history, Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498) was an older contemporary of Martin Luther (1483-1546).

Now, in this series, some strong comparisons have been drawn between Savonarola (also with the Jewish, Abravanel) and the Jewish prophet Jeremiah. Comparisons are not hard to find. I have just now read this comment by Hughes Oliphant Old (The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian ..., p. 571):

 

Very specifically Fra Girolamo identified the following sins as being most offensive to God: first, murder, executions committed in political intrigue, and military brutality; second, the sins of the flesh, fornication, adultery, and sodomy; third, idolatry, incantations, and astrology; and finally, the abuses of ecclesiastical power, bribery, simony, and nepotism. …. The list of sins sounds very similar to those found in Jeremiah’s famous temple sermon (Jer. 7:5-9). Fra Girolamo had found his message. ….