ABSTRACT
The political and intellectual flux of the early modern period therefore meant that the search for doctrinal and ecclesiastical authority in the Protestant Reformation could result in the use and sometimes abuse of a range of sources, scriptural and otherwise, selected and presented to answer the particular needs of the moment. Working intellectual accommodations had to be reached between Scripture and the whole set of patristic, ecclesial, conciliar, antique and other authorities available in order to prove this or that position within the evangelical movement, but unfortunately there have been few studies devoted to this important aspect of the intellectual and polemical history of early modern Protestantism. The sources for Sleidan's history of the Reformation, which ranged from archival materials to evangelical writing and works of Catholic history and theology, offer a further demonstration of the flexibility and variability of the search for authority in the Protestant Reformation.
