A Forceful and Fruitful Verse: Genesis 1:28 in Luther's Thought and its Place in the Wittenberg Reformation (1521–1531) by Brandt C. Klawitter (review)

Reviewed by: A Forceful and Fruitful Verse: Genesis 1:28 in Luther's Thought and its Place in the Wittenberg Reformation (1521–1531) by Brandt C. Klawitter Beth Kreitzer A Forceful and Fruitful Verse: Genesis 1:28 in Luther's Thought and its Place in the Wittenberg Reformation (1521–1531). By Brandt C. Klawitter. Veröffentlichungen des Institut für Europäische Geschichte Mainz, vol. 269. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2023. 285 pp. In the introduction, Brandt Klawitter lays out the guiding principles of his book—he focuses on Genesis 1:28, and only the beginning portion of God's words to Adam and Eve: "Be fruitful and multiply." He looks at the occurrences in writings by Luther and others and its function and significance. The verse was particularly important, not surprisingly, in early Reformation debates over clerical celibacy and monastic vows, but also played a positive role in the [End Page 232] development of evangelical beliefs and practices around marriage. Yet, at the same time, it played less of a role in these debates than one might expect, considering its prescriptive nature and divine source. This narrows the focus of the study quite dramatically; the reader should not expect a grand overarching opinion piece or a bold and broad contribution to the scholarly conversation about sex and marriage in the Reformation. Instead, the book provides a deep dive into texts in which this verse appears and ably spells out the conversations and debates in which it plays an important role. Klawitter begins by exploring the background in the early church, particularly laying out the conflict between Jovinian and other church leaders such as Augustine and Jerome over the value of virginity relative to marriage. While it was not a foregone conclusion that the church would lean in the direction of virginity and monasticism, support for the equal value of marriage a lá Jovinian became a heretical kiss of death for Christian theologians and led to a certain ambiguity in the afterlife of Genesis 1:28. Marriage, along with procreation, continued in the church, and could even be celebrated, but it was not elevated, at least within official circles, until the Reformation. The theological backdrop is important to understand, but Klawitter also makes a compelling argument that natural philosophy—the science of the day—is just as significant to the use of this verse. Luther and his colleagues were familiar not only with theology and canon law, but also the teachings of Aristotle (whose writings governed the training of undergraduates), Galen, Plato, and other ancient writers. A scientific understanding of the body and its drives was as essential to the debate over monastic vows as the theological arguments over which gifts God would or would not provide. Ultimately, Luther, Melanchthon, and the other Wittenberg theologians argued that as part of creation, the human body was divided into two sexes for a reason and also provided with affects or desires for the same reason—God wants human beings to "be fruitful and multiply." The remainder of Klawitter's study is dedicated to the writings in which Genesis 1:28 plays a role, from minor to significant. He devotes a chapter to the early debate over monastic vows, including texts from Luther and other Wittenberg theologians and the [End Page 233] answering critiques from Catholic theologians such as Faber, Murner, and Emser. He briefly considers the use of the text in a positive vein, as it had a role in developing the evangelical liturgies, prayers, and sermons for marriage, but spends more time parsing through the Confessio Augustana and the Apologia. He concludes that this verse was essential to the evangelical position on clerical marriage. It did not solve all problems related to human freedom, of course, for while it (potentially) released priests, monks, and nuns from unwanted or impossible vows, it raised the specter of the lack of any free will when it came to overcoming human sexual instincts. Klawitter ends by pointing ahead to Luther's Lectures on Genesis, in which this text plays a key hermeneutical role in Luther's understanding of God's Word being creative and efficacious. Klawitter amasses an impressive array of texts to support his...