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This book argues that in order to understand nationalisms, we need a clearer understanding of the types of cultural myths, symbols, and traditions that legitimate them. Myths of origin and election, memories of a greater and purer past, and narratives of persecution and mission are required for the production and maintenance of powerful national sentiments. Through an investigation of how early modern Catholics and Protestants reimagined, reinterpreted, and rewrote the lives of the founder-saints who spread Christianity in England, this book offers a theoretical framework for the study of origin narratives. Analyzing the discursive construction of time and place, the invocation of forces beyond the human to naturalize and authorize, and the role of visual and ritual culture in fabrications of the past, this book provides a case study for how to approach claims about founding figures. Serving as a timely example of the dependence of national identity on key religious resources, Griffin shows how origin narratives – particularly the founding figures that anchor them – function as uniquely powerful rhetorical tools for the cultural production of regional and national identity.

How did the papacy govern European religious life without a proper bureaucracy and the normal resources of a state? From late Antiquity, papal responses were in demand. The'apostolic see'took over from Roman emperors the discourse and demeanour of a religious ruler of the Latin world. Over the centuries, it acquired governmental authority analogous to that of a secular state – except that it lacked powers of physical enforcement, a solid financial base (aside from short periods) and a bureaucracy as defined by Max Weber. Through the discipline of Applied Diplomatics, which investigates the structures and settings of documents to solve substantive historical problems, The Power of Protocol explores how such a demand for papal services was met. It is about the genesis and structure of papal documents – a key to papal history generally – from the Roman empire to after the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century, and is the only book of its kind.

At the dawn of the Protestant Reformation, French Protestants began their struggle for religious equality and civil rights. They faced opposition from the monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church. For centuries the Catholic Church had influenced every aspect of life--cultural, educational, social, political, and economic. Protestantism arrived as a foreign invader and disrupted the Catholic monopoly. Protestants did not receive individual civil and religious rights until the French Revolution in 1789. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen announced a new era of religious tolerance. Official recognition of the Protestant religion was not granted until Napoleon came to power and imposed the Concordat of 1801 and the Organic Articles in 1802. The rights obtained by Protestants did not always translate into protection from violence and discrimination. During the nineteenth century, political upheaval and attempts to reestablish Catholicism as the state religion led to the termination of the Concordat in 1905. The history of French Protestantism serves as a reminder of the danger of either religion or government assuming powers and roles which have not been attributed to them by the law of the land, the laws of God, or the will of citizens.

Church and Theology in the Modern Era covers the period from the Reformation to the end of the eighteenth century and is based on lectures delivered by Baur in the 1840s and 1850s. It was published after his death as the fourth volume of his church history. The first and last volumes (Christianity and the Christian Church of the First Three Centuries and Church and Theology in the Nineteenth Century) have appeared in English translation from Wipf and Stock. This book contains a wealth of information, not only about the well-known figures of the Reformation and its aftermath, but also about other important persons who are often overlooked. It attends to both Protestant and Catholic history and shows that this is the most turbulent period in church history since the early years of Christianity. Ecclesiastical and political controversies are often intertwined, and momentous decisions are made that affect the modern world.

Una colección de ensayos en honor del 500 aniversario de Casiodoro de Reina, uno de los reformadores españoles más importantes de la época, su vida y su legado. Casiodoro de Reina es uno de los reformadores españoles más importantes, pero hasta hoy sabemos relativamente poco de su obra y teología. Aunque el impacto literario de su traducción de la Biblia compite incluso con el de Cervantes, todavía sabemos poco de la Biblia del Oso. Este libro, con aportaciones de once expertos en la Reforma protestante española y aprovechándose de casi cien obras y cartas de Casiodoro de Reina que han sido ignoradas por muchos escritores, rellena estas lagunas y ofrece nuevas perspectivas sobre Casiodoro de Reina: su obra pastoral, su vida empresarial, las fuentes y recepción de la Biblia del Oso y varios temas de su teología, como La justificación y Santa cena. El libro se divide en tres bloques principales por expertos historiadores: Vida y las obras de Casiodoro de Reina (Pastor, Maestro y empresario) La Biblia del Oso (Antiguo y Viejo Testamento junto a material no bíblico) Temas teológicos (protestante y su doctrina)

Thomas Kaufmann, the leading European scholar of the Reformation, argues that the main motivations behind the Reformation rest in religion itself. The Reformation began far from Europe's traditional political, economic, and cultural power centres, and yet it threw the whole continent into turmoil. There has been intense speculation over the last century focusing on the political and social causes that lay at the root of this revolution. Thomas Kaufmann, one of the world's leading experts on the Reformation, sees the most important drivers for what happened in religion itself. The reformers were principally concerned with the question of salvation. It could all have ended with the pope's condemnation of Luther and his teaching. But Luther believed the pope was condemned to eternal damnation, and this was the root cause of the great split to come. Hatred of the damned drove people to take up arms, while countless numbers left their homes far behind and carried the Reformation message to the furthest corners of the earth in the hope of salvation. In The Saved and the Damned, Thomas Kaufmann presents a dramatic overview of how Europe was transformed by the seismic shock of the Reformation--and of how its aftershocks reverberate right down to the present day.

When writing the'History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century', author's intention was not to write the history of a religion, but that of one of the greatest revolutions which had taken place among men. Therefore, this is the history of that mighty impulse which was given to the world five centuries ago and the influence of which is still everywhere perceived. The history of the Reformation is different from the history of Protestantism. The history of Protestantism might interest none but Protestants; the history of the Reformation is for all Christians or rather all men.

John Calvin lived in a divided world when past certainties were crumbling. Calvin claimed that his thought was completely based upon scripture, but he was mistaken. At several points in his thought and his ministry, he set his own foundations upon tradition. His efforts to make sense of his culture and its religious life mirror issues that modern Western cultures face, and that have contributed to our present situation. In this book, R. Ward Holder offers new insights into Calvin's successes and failures and suggests pathways for understanding some of the problems of contemporary Western culture such as the deep divergence about living in tradition, the modern capacity to agree on the foundations of thought, and even the roots of our deep political polarization. He traces Calvin's own critical engagement with the tradition that had formed him and analyzes the inherent divisions in modern heritage that affect our ability to agree, not only religiously or politically, but also about truth. An epilogue comparing biblical interpretation with Constitutional interpretation is illustrative of contemporary issues and demonstrates how historical understanding can offer solutions to tensions in modern culture.

The beginning of the Protestant Reformation is often dated to Luther's Ninety-five Theses in 1517, but those theses might have been forgotten if not for the events that followed. This book begins with the Ninety-five Theses and outlines the subsequent events that shaped the Reformation at least as much as the Ninety-five Theses, and quite possibly more. It provides a trove of primary documents by Luther and his opponents, along with commentary by historians who understand the theological issues at stake. Spanning the major milestones from 1517 to 1521, it concludes with the edicts that excommunicated Luther and the judgment against him with the imperial Edict of Worms. By drawing attention to these texts and events, the book gives a more complete picture of how the Reformation began.

The present volume aims at a clarification and a discussion of the church in the 16th century: What did the reformers think about the essence and origin of the holy, apostolic and Catholic church? What was seen as the aim of it, its task and mission? Can human beings see the true church or not? Does it have one existence in this world and another in the world to come? Furthermore, the concept of church is indissolubly connected to the theological concepts of sin, faith, justification, sanctification, and salvation, and the study of the church also involves reflection upon the nature and scope of the sacraments, the role of the clergy, the aim of church-buildings, the significance of church properties and upon the constituent parts of the mass/church service. Finally, and not least, it is important to investigate the role of the church in the societies of the 16th century, such as the impact of the ruling powers upon them, their significance for education and social cohesion, and the cultural significance of migrating believers, on the run within and beyond the borders of Europe. Together with theological, philosophical and art-historical questions, these issues are considered in order to create a much fuller picture of the church at the time of the Reformation.

Rome and the Maronites in the Renaissance and Reformation provides the first in-depth study of contacts between Rome and the Maronites during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This book begins by showing how the church unions agreed at the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-1445) led Catholics to endow an immense amount of trust in the orthodoxy of Christians from the east. Taking the Maronites of Mount Lebanon as its focus, it then analyses how agents in the peripheries of the Catholic world struggled to preserve this trust into the early sixteenth century, when everything changed. On one hand, this study finds that suspicion of Christians in Europe generated by the Reformation soon led Catholics to doubt the past and present fidelity of the Maronites and other Christian peoples of the Middle East and Africa. On the other, it highlights how the expansion of the Ottoman Empire caused many Maronites to seek closer integration into Catholic religious and military goals in the eastern Mediterranean. By drawing on previously unstudied sources to explore both Maronite as well as Roman perspectives, this book integrates eastern Christianity into the history of the Reformation, while re-evaluating the history of contact between Rome and the Christian east in the early modern period. It is essential reading for scholars and students of early modern Europe, as well as those interested in the Reformation, religious history, and the history of Catholic Orientalism.

The extra Calvinisticum, the doctrine that the eternal Son maintains his existence beyond the flesh both during his earthly ministry and perpetually, divided the Lutheran and Reformed traditions during the Reformation. This book explores the emergence and development of the extra Calvinisticum in the Reformed tradition by tracing its first exposition from Ulrich Zwingli to early Reformed orthodoxy. Rather than being an ancillary issue, the questions surrounding the extra Calvinisticum were a determinative factor in the differentiation of Magisterial Protestantism into rival confessions. Reformed theologians maintained this doctrine in order to preserve the integrity of both Christ's divine and human natures as the mediator between God and humanity. This rationale remained consistent across this period with increasing elaboration and sophistication to meet the challenges leveled against the doctrine in Lutheran polemics. The study begins with Zwingli's early use of the extra Calvinisticum in the Eucharistic controversy with Martin Luther and especially as the alternative to Luther's doctrine of the ubiquity of Christ's human body. Over time, Reformed theologians, such as Peter Martyr Vermigli and Antione de Chandieu, articulated the extra Calvinisticum with increasing rigor by incorporating conciliar christology, the church fathers, and scholastic methodology to address the polemical needs of engagement with Lutheranism. The Flesh of the Word illustrates the development of christological doctrine by Reformed theologians offering a coherent historical narrative of Reformed christology from its emergence into the period of confessionalization. The extra Calvinisticum was interconnected to broader concerns affecting concepts of the union of Christ's natures, the communication of attributes, and the understanding of heaven.

This book challenges the adequacy of identifying religious identity with confessional identity.The Reformation complicated the issue of religious identity, especially among Christians for whom confessional violence at home and religious wars on the continent had made the darkness of confessionalization visible. Robert E. Stillman explores the identity of “Christians without names,” as well as their agency as cultural actors in order to recover their consequence for early modern religious, political, and poetic history.Stillman argues that questions of religious identity have dominated historical and literary studies of the early modern period for over a decade. But his aim is not to resolve the controversies about early modern religious identity by negotiating new definitions of English Protestants, Catholics, or “moderate” and “radical” Puritans. Instead, he provides an understanding of the culture that produced such a heterogeneous range of believers by attending to particular figures, such as Antonio del Corro, John Harington, Henry Constable, and Aemilia Lanyer, who defined their pious identity by refusing to assume a partisan label for themselves. All of the figures in this study attempted as Christians to situate themselves beyond, between, or against particular confessions for reasons that both foreground pious motivations and inspire critical scrutiny. The desire to move beyond confessions enabled the birth of new political rhetorics promising inclusivity for the full range of England's Christians and gained special prominence in the pursuit of a still-imaginary Great Britain. Christian Identity, Piety, and Politics in Early Modern England is a book that early modern literary scholars need to read. It will also interest students and scholars of history and religion.

How was religious conflict represented in sixteenth-century Spanish epic poetry?Este libro analiza un corpus de textos épicos y propagandísticos que se escriben en las fronteras del imperio español en el siglo XVI. Examina la representación del conflicto religioso en Inglaterra, Alemania y Holanda durante losreinados de Carlos V y Felipe II, y se centra en tres episodios, difundidos capilarmente en la cultura visual y emocional europea y en torno a los cuales cristaliza la narración heroica: los martirios de cartujos y jesuitas en Inglaterra; la guerra de Esmalcalda; y el asedio de Amberes. El volumen considera las estrechas relaciones entre épica e historia; entre épica y cultura visual; y entre la poesía épica hispánica y la historia y la cartografíaiosa de Europa en unos años críticos en los que se construye la Iglesia Anglicana y se afianza el luteranismo en Alemania. This book analyses a corpus of epic and propagandistic texts written at the margins of the Spanish empire in the sixteenth century. It examines the representation of religious conflict in England, Germany and Holland during the reigns of Charles V and Philip II, centring on three episodes widely disseminated in European visual and emotional culture and around which certain foundational Spanish heroic narratives emerged: the martyrdom of the Carthusians and Jesuits in England; the Schmalkaldic War; and the siege of Antwerp. The volume considers the close relationships between epic and history; between epic and visual culture; and between Hispanic epic poetry and the history and religious cartography of Europe during the critical years in which the Anglican Church was evolvingand Lutheranism gaining strength in Germany.

This book examines the complexities of reformed religion in early-modern England, through an examination of the experiences of Edwin Sandys, a prominent member of the Elizabethan Church hierarchy. Sandys was an ardent evangelical in the Edwardian era forced into exile under Mary I, but on his return to England he became a leader of the Elizabethan Church. He was Bishop of Worcester and London and finally Archbishop of York. His transformation from Edwardian radical to a defender of the Elizabethan status quo illustrated the changing role of the Protestant hierarchy. His fight against Catholicism dominated much of his actions, but his irascible personality also saw him embroiled in numerous conflicts and left him needing to defend his own status.

This collection of essays explores the legacy of the Reformation with regard to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Following the five-hundredth anniversary of Luther's posting of his ninety-five theses, these essays consider this legacy with particular reference to the work of Martin Luther and John Calvin, as well as broader Reformation themes as they are related to pneumatology and the life of the church today. The contribution of this collection is to tease out and reflect on pneumatology historically but also to relate these findings to contemporary discussions, especially among scholars of pentecostal and charismatic Christianity. Together these essays invite readers to appreciate the contribution that the Protestant Reformation makes to life in the Holy Spirit today, as well as offering critical and constructive reflection on this theme. It is a timely and significant contribution to the discussions of the person and work of the Holy Spirit and the church.

Conflict and war were common during the Reformation era. Throughout the sixteenth century, rising religious and political tensions led to frequent conflict and culminated in the Thirty Years'War (1618-48) that devastated much of Germany and killed one-third of its population. Some of the warfare, as in central and southern Europe, was between Christians and Muslims. Other warfare, in central and northwestern Europe, was confessional warfare between Catholics and Protestants. Religion was not the only cause of war during the period. Revolts, territorial ambitions, and the beginnings of the contemporary nation-state system and international order that emerged after the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) also fueled the trauma and tragedy of war. In many ways, the world of the Reformers and Protestant Reformation was a violent world, and it was within such a sociopolitical framework that the Reformers and their followers lived, worked, and died. This book introduces the teachings of the Protestant Reformers on war and peace, in their context, before offering relevant primary source readings.

Taking the religiously diverse city of Augsburg as its focus, this book explores the underappreciated role of local clergy in mediating and interpreting the Peace of Augsburg in the decades following its 1555 enactment, focusing on the efforts of the preacher Johann Meckhart and his heirs in blunting the cultural impact of confessional religion. It argues that the real drama of confessionalization was not simply that which played out between princes and theologians, or even, for that matter, between religions; rather, it lay in the daily struggle of clerics in the proverbial trenches of their ministry, who were increasingly pressured to choose for themselves and for their congregations between doctrinal purity and civil peace.

M. Creighton (1843 1901) was a British historian and a bishop in the Church of England. Creighton wrote a lengthy history of the popes from 1378-1527 A.D. This edition includes a table of contents.

When, in October 1517, Martin Luther pinned his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of All Saints'Church in Wittenberg he shattered the foundations of western Christendom. The Reformation of doctrine and practice that followed Luther's seismic action, and protest against the sale of indulgences, fragmented the Church and overturned previously accepted certainties and priorities. But it did more, challenging the relationship between spiritual and secular authority, perceptions of the supernatural, the interpretation of the past, the role of women in society and church, and clerical attitudes towards marriage and sex. Drawing on the most recent historiography, Helen L Parish locates the Protestant Reformation in its many cultural, social and political contexts. She assesses the Reformers'impact on art and architecture; on notions of authority, scripture and tradition; and - reflecting on the extent to which the printing press helped spread Reformation ideas - on oral, print and written culture.

Between 1554 and 1570, the Genevan printer Jean Crespin compiled seven French-language editions of his martyrology. In The Construction of Reformed Identity in Jean Crespin's Livre des Martyrs, Jameson Tucker explores how this martyrology helped to shape a distinct Reformed identity for its Protestant readership, with a particular interest in the stranger groups that Crespin included within his Livre des Martyrs. By comparing each edition of the Livre des Martyrs, this book examines Crespin's editorial processes and considers the impact that he intended his work to have on his readers. Through this, it provides a window into the Reformed Church and its members during the outbreak of the French Wars of Religion. This is the first volume to comparatively study all seven French-language editions of Crespin's Livre des Martyrs and will be essential reading for all scholars of the Reformation and early modern France.

Can words change the world? Certainly! No one proved this to be true as impressively as Martin Luther did. His writings changed the course of religious and cultural history in Germany, Europe, and the world. Martin Luther sparked the Reformation primarily with his intelligent and inspiring writings. But what do they say exactly? Fabian Vogt presents the Reformer's most important teachings in a brief summary that is as entertaining as it is informative and contains everything from the'95 Theses', to the treatise'On the Freedom of a Christian', to Luther's speech at the Diet of Worms. Martin Luther hat die Reformation vor allem mit seinen mitreißenden und klugen Schriften ausgelöst. Aber was steht da eigentlich drin? Fabian Vogt fasst die wichtigsten Schriften des Reformators zusammen. Kurz und knackig, informativ und unterhaltsam geht es von den'95 Thesen'über die'Freiheit eines Christenmenschen'bis zur Rede auf dem Reichstag zu Worms.

Women are an essential element in church history. Just as Deborah, Esther, and the New Testament Marys helped shape Bible history, so the women of the Reformed church have helped to make its history great. In Reformation Women, Rebecca Vandoodewaard introduces readers to twelve sixteenth-century women who are not as well known today as contemporaries like Katie Luther and Lady Jane Grey. Providing an example to Christians today of strong service to Christ and His church, these influential, godly women were devoted to Reformation truth, in many cases provided support for their husbands, practiced hospitality, and stewarded their intellectual abilities. Their strength and bravery will inspire you, and your understanding of church history will become richer as you learn how God used them to further the Reformation through their work and influence. Table of Contents: Anna Reinhard Anna Adlischweiler Katharina Schutz Margarethe Blaurer Marguerite de Navarre Jeanne d'Albret Charlotte Arbaleste Charlotte de Bourbon Louise de Coligny Catherine Willoughby Renee of Ferrara Olympia Morata

Die Reformation ökumenisch zu begehen, heißt auch, sich in ökumenischem Sinne mit ihren Grundlagen vertraut zu machen. Der Band des Ökumenischen Arbeitskreises evangelischer und katholischer Theologen versammelt wichtige Quellentexte zum Humanismus, zur Wittenberger und zur oberdeutschen Reformation, zur katholischen Reformation sowie zu Religionsgesprächen des 16. Jahrhunderts. Die Texte werden in gut lesbarem Deutsch präsentiert und von Experten beider Konfessionen gemeinsam eingeleitet und kommentiert. Ein Wegweiser durch das Jahr 2017 und darüber hinaus. Die Einleitungen zu den Quellentexten stammen von Michael Beintker, Franz Xaver Bischof, Eva-Maria Faber, Ulrich H. J. Körtner, Volker Leppin, Friederike Nüssel, Dorothea Sattler, Wolfgang Thönissen und Peter Walter. [Ecumenical Reader Reformation. Texts and Comments] Celebrating the Reformation ecumenically also means to acquaint oneself in a ecumenical way with its foundations. This volume, edited by the Ecumenical Working Group of Protestant and Catholic Theologians, collects important source texts on Humanism, the Wittenberg and Upper German Reformation, the Catholic Reformation and on the religious colloquies of the 16th century. The texts are presented in a good readable German with introductions and annotations by experts from both confessions. A guide through the year 2017 and beyond.

Why did the Reformation take root in some places and not others? Although many factors were involved, the varying character of penitential preaching across Europe in the decades prior to the Reformation was an especially important contributor to the subsequent receptivity of evangelical ideas. In this book, several collections of model sermons are studied to provide an overview of late medieval teaching on penitence. What emerges is a pattern of differing emphases in different geographical locations, with the characteristic emphases of the penitential message in each region suggesting how such teaching prepared the ground for both the appeal and the reputation of Luther's message. People heard and interpreted the new theology using the late medieval penitential understandings and expectations they had been taught. The variety of teaching found in the Church left different regions vulnerable or resistant to evangelical critiques and alternatives. Despite current academic claims that the establishment of the Reformation cannot have resulted from lay religious understanding, this study offers evidence that theological ideas did reach beyond religious elites to promote a degree of popular support for the Reformation.

From Rome to Zurich, between Ignatius and Vermigli brings notable scholars from the fields of Reformation and Early Modern studies to honor their friend, mentor, and colleague, John Patrick Donnelly with essays commensurate with his own broad interests and scholarship. Touching Protestant scholasticism, Reformation era life writing, Reformation polemics – both Protestant and Catholic – and with several on theology proper, inter alia, the essays collected here by a group of international scholars break new ground in Reformation history, thought, and theology, providing fresh insights into current scholarship in both Reformation and Catholic Reformation studies. The essays take in the broad scope of the 16th century, from Thomas More to Martin Bucer, and from Thomas Stapleton to Peter Martyr Vermigli.Contributors include: Emidio Campi, Maryanne Cline Horowitz, A. Lynn Martin, Thomas McCoog, SJ, Joseph McLelland, Richard A. Muller, Eric Parker, Robert Scully, SJ, and Jason Zuidema

The years 1450-1650 were a momentous period for the development of Christianity. They witnessed the age of Reformation and Counter-Reformation: perhaps the most important era for the shaping of the faith since its foundation. C Scott Dixon explores how the ideas that went into the making of early modern Christianity re-oriented the Church to such an extent that they gave rise to new versions of the religion. He shows how the varieties and ambivalences of late medieval theology were now replaced by dogmatic certainties, where the institutions of Christian churches became more effective and'modern', staffed by well-trained clergy. Tracing these changes from the fall of Constantinople to the end of the Thirty Years'War, and treating the High Renaissance and the Reformation as part of the same overall narrative, the author offers an integrated approach to widely different national, social and cultural histories. Moving beyond Protestant and Catholic conflicts, he contrasts Western Christianity with Eastern Orthodoxy, and examines the Church's response to fears of Ottoman domination.

This book explores the hitherto neglected relationship between the English Reformation and the Lutheran scholar Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560). It looks at how Henry, following his break with Rome, flirted with Lutheranism as a doctrine to replace Catholicism, before the eventual collapse of the policy and its replacement with a more moderate reform programme under Cranmer. It then goes on to investigate how Melanchthon, as the leading proponent of Lutheranism influenced successive royal governments, both positively and negatively, as they struggled to impose their own brand of doctrinal conformity on the English church. By refracting the well known narrative of the English Reformation through the lens of Melanchthon, new light is shed on many events that have puzzled historians. The study provides fascinating new perspectives on such questions as why Henry suddenly abandoned his Lutheran policy, why Cromwell fell from power in 1540 and even insights into Elizabeth's personal beliefs. By tying events in England into the context of the wider European Reformation, through the work of Philip Melanchthon, this book offers fresh insights into the nature and development of early evangelical Protestantism.

Helen L. Parish presents an innovative new study of Reformation attitudes to medieval Christianity, revealing the process by which the medieval past was rewritten by Reformation propagandists. This fascinating account sheds light on how the myths and legends of the middle ages were reconstructed, reinterpreted, and formed into a historical base for the Protestant church in the sixteenth century. Crossing the often artificial boundary between medieval and modern history, Parish draws upon a valuable selection of writings on the lives of the saints from both periods, and addresses ongoing debates over the relationship between religion and the supernatural in early modern Europe. Setting key case studies in a broad conceptual framework, Monks, Miracles and Magic is essential reading for all those with an interest in the construction of the Protestant church, and its medieval past.

The printing history of perhaps the most influential tract in the history of irenicism (church reunification), Georgius Cassander's De officio pii viri, in 1561 presented at the Colloquy at Poissy, together with an overview of its afterlife and the numerous reactions it provoked, both by Protestants and Roman Catholics, will contribute to our understanding of the history of erasmian humanist irenicism. Two contemporary translations, one in German by Georg von Cell and one in French by Jean Hotman, show us how De officio pii viri was adapted to the ongoing struggle for church peace in different parts of Europe, a struggle that was led by jurists and theologians, outstanding members of the Republic of Letters, who were able to spread their ideas by their large epistolary networks. The life story of De officio pii viri highlights the birth, expansion and failure of ideas; how they profit from the support of the mighty and how they fail when opposed by the uncompromising: those who think they speak in the name of God.

Winner of the 2016 Roland H. Bainton Book Prize of the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference During the sixteenth century, no part of the Christian West saw the development of a more powerful and pervasive astrological culture than the very home of the Reformation movement--the Protestant towns of the Holy Roman Empire. While most modern approaches to the religious and social reforms of that age give scant attention to cosmological preoccupations, Robin Barnes argues that astrological concepts and imagery played a key role in preparing the ground for the evangelical movement sparked by Martin Luther in the 1520s, as well as in shaping the distinctive characteristics of German evangelical culture over the following century. Spreading above all through cheap printed almanacs and prognostications, popular astrology functioned in paradoxical ways. It contributed to an enlarged and abstracted sense of the divine that led away from clericalism, sacramentalism, and the cult of the saints; at the same time, it sought to ground people more squarely in practical matters of daily life. The art gained unprecedented sanction from Luther's closest associate, Philipp Melanchthon, whose teachings influenced generations of preachers, physicians, schoolmasters, and literate layfolk. But the apocalyptic astrology that came to prevail among evangelicals involved a perpetuation, even a strengthening, of ties between faith and cosmology, which played out in beliefs about nature and natural signs that would later appear as rank superstitions. Not until the early seventeenth century did Luther's heirs experience a'crisis of piety'that forced preachers and stargazers to part ways. Astrology and Reformation illuminates an early modern outlook that was both practical and prophetic; a world that was neither traditionally enchanted nor rationally disenchanted, but quite different from the medieval world of perception it had displaced.

Der prächtige und doch handliche Band zeichnet die reformatorischen Profile von etwa vierzig europäischen Städten nach. Die Leser werden von Spanien über Zentraleuropa bis Estland und Finnland geführt, von Schottland und England bis nach Rumänien. Profilierte Texte und reiches Bildmaterial veranschaulichen das Wirken der berühmtesten Reformatoren – sowie der fünf Reformatorinnen – und stellen die Städte mit ihren Bauten und Zeugnissen aus der Reformationszeit vor Augen. Ergänzt durch eine bebilderte Europakarte und die Angabe von kirchlichen Adressen und Tourismusbüros, eignet sich der Band auch als Reiseführer auf den Spuren der Reformation in Europa. An diesem fast perfekten Geschenk zum 500. Reformationsjubiläum sollte niemand achtlos vorübergehen.

The apparent disappearance of mysticism in the Protestant world after the Reformation used to be taken as an example of the arrival of modernity. However, as recent studies in history and literary history reveal, the “Reformation” was not experienced in such a drastically transformative manner, not least because the later Middle Ages itself was marked by a series of reform movements within the Catholic Church in which mysticism played a central role.In Mysticism and Reform, 1400-1750, contributors show that it is more accurate to characterize the history of early modern mysticism as one in which relationships of continuity within transformations occurred. Rather than focus on the departures of the sixteenth-century Reformation from medieval traditions, the essays in this volume explore one of the most remarkable yet still under-studied chapters in its history: the survival and transformation of mysticism between the late Middle Ages and the early modern period.With a focus on central and northern Europe, the essays engage such subjects as the relationship of Luther to mystical writing, the visual representation of mystical experience in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century art, mystical sermons by religious women of the Low Countries, Valentin Weigel's recasting of Eckhartian gelassenheit for a Lutheran audience, and the mysticism of English figures such as Gertrude More, Jane Lead, Elizabeth Hooten, and John Austin, the German Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg, and the German American Marie Christine Sauer.

In den Jahren 1523-1650 wurden im deutschsprachigen Raum zahlreiche Kirchenlieder gedichtet, deren Textgrundlage die biblischen Psalmen waren. Das Psalmlied erfreute sich bei Lutheranern und Calvinisten, aber auch bei Katholiken und radikaleren Gruppierungen der Reformationszeit einer großen Beliebtheit. Seine Geschichte ist einerseits durch interkonfessionelle Kontakte, andererseits durch Abgrenzungsprozesse von anderen Konfessionen geprägt. Die Studie bietet einen Überblick über das Psalmliedrepertoire der Reformationszeit. Sie fragt nach dessen Entstehung, musikalischer und textlicher Gestalt und nach konfessionellen Eigenarten. Die Ergebnisse tragen dazu bei, den Prozess der Konfessionalisierung anhand dieser kulturprägenden reformatorischen Gattung weiterführend zu diskutieren.

The Reformation marked a period of profound upheaval - one of the greatest turning points in the history of Christianity - and sent shock waves through the western world. In this book, Andrew Atherstone traces the dramatic and compelling story from the Renaissance to the sixteenth-century wars of religion, following the action from its beginnings in Germany, through Switzerland, France, Italy, England, Scotland, and the Netherlands. Focusing on the key personalities and events, he explains the often complex ideas that were at stake, and the political as well as religious issues involved. This is a lucid, authoritative account of a movement that changed the face of Europe forever. The great figures, such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, are brought vividly to life in an accessible, lively and engaging overview of this critical period.

Exam Board: AQA, Edexcel, OCR & WJECLevel: A-levelSubject: HistoryFirst Teaching: September 2015First Exam: June 2016Give your students the best chance of success with this tried and tested series, combining in-depth analysis, engaging narrative and accessibility. Access to History is the most popular, trusted and wide-ranging series for A-level History students.This title:- Supports the content and assessment requirements of the 2015 A-level History specifications- Contains authoritative and engaging content- Includes thought-provoking key debates that examine the opposing views and approaches of historians- Provides exam-style questions and guidance for each relevant specification to help students understand how to apply what they have learntThis title is suitable for a variety of courses including:- AQA: Religious Conflict and the Church in England, c1529-c1570

During times of division and realignment, God's Holy Spirit raises up leaders, thinkers, and mentors to guide the body of Christ. This is especially true during the turbulent years of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Book of Saints: The Reforming Era is a rich sampling from the writings of monastics, ministers, and mystics who found themselves in times of unrelenting change but who became godly beacons of light. In these devotional readings, discover priceless insights for the church today from those whose words have been tested for centuries.

In the Early Modern period - as both reformed and Catholic churches strove to articulate orthodox belief and conduct through texts, sermons, rituals, and images - communities grappled frequently with the connection between sacred space and behavior. The Sacralization of Space and Behavior in the Early Modern World explores individual and community involvement in the approbation, reconfiguration and regulation of sacred spaces and the behavior (both animal and human) within them. The individual's understanding of sacred space, and consequently the behavior appropriate within it, depended on local need, group dynamics, and the dissemination of normative expectations. While these expectations were defined in a growing body of confessionalizing literature, locally and internationally traditional clerical authorities found their decisions contested, circumvented, or elaborated in order to make room for other stakeholders'activities and needs. To clearly reveal the efforts of early modern groups to negotiate authority and the transformation of behavior with sacred space, this collection presents examples that allow the deconstruction of these tensions and the exploration of the resulting campaigns within sacred space. Based on new archival research the eleven chapters in this collection examine diverse aspects of the campaigns to transform Christian behavior within a variety of types of sacred space and through a spectrum of media. These essays give voice to the arguments, exhortations, and accusations that surrounded the activities taking place in early modern sacred space and reveal much about how people made sense of these transformations.

This fascinating collection of primary source documents furnishes the accounts—in their own words—of those who initiated, advanced, or lived through the Reformation.Starting in 1500, Europe transformed from a united Christendom into a continent bitterly divided between Catholicism and Protestantism by the end of the century. This illuminating text reveals what happened during that period by presenting the social, religious, economic, political, and cultural life of the European Reformation of the 16th century in the words of those who lived through it. Detailed and comprehensive, the work includes 60 primary source documents that shed light on the character, personalities, and events of that time and provides context, questions, and activities for successfully incorporating these documents into academic research and reading projects. A special section provides guidelines for better evaluating and understanding primary documents. Topics include late medieval religion, Martin Luther, reformation in Germany and the Peasants'War, the rise of Calvinism, and the English Reformation.

The Croatian-born Matthias Flacius Illyricus (1520–1575) was a Lutheran theologian and reformer who spent most of his adult life in the German-speaking territories of the Holy Roman Empire, playing an important role within the Evangelical churches and in the confessionalization of his day. Luka Ili? establishes that Flacius'theology became increasingly radicalized with time and examines aspects of this process through following two parallel tracks. One trajectory focuses on the development of Flacius'theological thought, while the other one discusses the pivotal influences and major turning points in his life, such as being exiled from different cities. Although Flacius did enjoy some measure of success and even attracted a considerable number of followers for shorter periods of time, his radicalized theology ultimately led to his public downfall and marred his legacy. Flacius'relationships with the most important Wittenberg figures, Luther and Melanchthon, are also explored, along with the vast personal and professional networks Flacius built up in imperial cities, all of which shaped his theological development. One of the dominant claims is that Flacius'understanding of original sin and of grace were the lynchpin for much of his opus. At the same time, the findings demonstrate that Flacius was a multifaceted individual with interest and competences in a number of different academic fields.

Translating Resurrection examines the debate between William Tyndale and George Joye at the beginning of the English Reformation. Occasioned by Joye's coining ‘life after this'for Tyndale's ‘resurrection'in Joye's 1534 edition of Tyndale's New Testament, this fascinating but little-known debate provides unique insights into the reformers'beliefs concerning post-mortem existence, such as the question of immortality of the soul, soul-sleep, prayers to saints and the doctrine of Purgatory. By providing a thoroughgoing historical and theological context, the book presents an original look at this important episode from the life of the exiled protestant English community. The result will realign scholarship on Tyndale as well as centuries of neglect of Joye's contributions to early modern bible translation.

Over the last twenty years research on the Reformation in Germany has shifted both chronologically and thematically toward an interest in the'long'or'delayed'Reformations, and the structure and operation of the Holy Roman Empire. Whilst this focus has resulted in many fascinating new insights, it has also led to the relative neglect of the early Reformation movement. Put together with the explicit purpose of encouraging scholars to reengage with the early'storm years'of the German Reformation, this collection of eleven essays by Tom Scott, explores several issues in the historiography of the early Reformation which have not been adequately addressed. The debate over the nature and function of anticlericalism remains unresolved; the mainsprings of iconoclasm are still imperfectly understood; the ideological role of evangelical doctrines in stimulating and legitimising popular rebellion - above all in the German Peasants'War - remains contentious, while the once uniform view of Anabaptism has given way to a recognition of the plurality and diversity of religious radicalism. Equally, there are questions which, initially broached, have then been sidelined with undue haste: the failure of Reforming movements in certain German cities, or the perception of what constituted heresy in the eyes of the Reformers themselves, and not least, the part played by women in the spread of evangelical doctrines. Consisting of seven essays previously published in scholarly journals and edited volumes, together with three new chapters and an historical afterword, Scott's volume serves as a timely reminder of the importance of the early decades of the sixteenth century. By reopening seemingly closed issues and by revisiting neglected topics the volume contributes to a more nuanced understanding of what the Reformation in Germany entailed.

Winner of the John Gilmary Shea PrizeThe Council of Trent (1545–1563), the Catholic Church's attempt to put its house in order in response to the Protestant Reformation, has long been praised and blamed for things it never did. Now, in this first full one-volume history in modern times, John W. O'Malley brings to life the volatile issues that pushed several Holy Roman emperors, kings and queens of France, and five popes—and all of Europe with them—repeatedly to the brink of disaster.During the council's eighteen years, war and threat of war among the key players, as well as the Ottoman Turks'onslaught against Christendom, turned the council into a perilous enterprise. Its leaders declined to make a pronouncement on war against infidels, but Trent's most glaring and ironic silence was on the authority of the papacy itself. The popes, who reigned as Italian monarchs while serving as pastors, did everything in their power to keep papal reform out of the council's hands—and their power was considerable. O'Malley shows how the council pursued its contentious parallel agenda of reforming the Church while simultaneously asserting Catholic doctrine.Like What Happened at Vatican II, O'Malley's Trent: What Happened at the Council strips mythology from historical truth while providing a clear, concise, and fascinating account of a pivotal episode in Church history. In celebration of the 450th anniversary of the council's closing, it sets the record straight about the much misunderstood failures and achievements of this critical moment in European history.

'In the last two decades, the history of the Counter-Reformation has been stretched and re-shaped in numerous directions. Reflecting the variety and innovation that characterize studies of early modern Catholicism today, this volume incorporates topics as diverse as life cycle and community, science and the senses, the performing and visual arts, material objects and print culture, war and the state, sacred landscapes and urban structures. Moreover, it challenges the conventional chronological parameters of the Counter-Reformation and introduces the reader to the latest research on global Catholicism. The Ashgate Research Companion to the Counter-Reformation presents a comprehensive examination of recent scholarship on early modern Catholicism in its many guises. It examines how the Tridentine reforms inspired conflict and conversion, and evaluates lives and identities, spirituality, culture and religious change. This wide-ranging and original research guide is a unique resource for scholars and students of European and transnational history.

During the Counter-Reformation in southern Europe, Catholic Church officials developed rules to legitimize miracles performed by candidates to sainthood. The Rationalization of Miracles uncovers a tacit understanding between central religious officials and local religious activists. Each group had a vested interest in declaring miracles: Catholic Church leaders sought legitimacy in the wake of the crisis of faith created by the Protestant Schism and religious acolytes needed Church approval to secure a flow of resources to their movements. The Church's new procedure of deeming miracles'true'when there were witnesses of different statuses and the acts occurred in the presence of a candidate's acolyte served the needs of both parties. And by developing rules and procedures for evaluating miracles, the Church rationalized the magic at the root of the miracles, thereby propelling the institution out of a period of institutional, political and social uncertainty and forming the basis of modern sainthood.

This work, which forms an important bridge between medieval and Counter-Reformation sanctity and canonization, provides a richly contextualized analysis of the ways in which the last five candidates for sainthood before the Reformation came to be canonized.

In Reading Scripture with the Reformers, Timothy George takes readers through the exciting events of the sixteenth century, showing how this dynamic period was instigated by a fresh return to the Scriptures. George immerses us in the world of the Reformation, its continuities with the ancient and medieval church, and its dramatic upheavals and controversies. Most of all, he uncovers the significant way that the Bible shaped the minds and hearts of the reformers.This book shows how the key figures of the Reformation read and interpreted Scripture, and how their thought was shaped by what they read. We are invited to see what the church today can learn from the fathers of the Reformation, and how these figures offer a model of reading, praying and living out the Scriptures.

In The Reformation of Feeling, Susan Karant-Nunn looks beyond and beneath the formal doctrinal and moral demands of the Reformation in Germany to examine the emotional tenor of the programs that the emerging creeds--revised Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism/Reformed theology--developed for their members. As revealed by the surviving sermons from this period, preaching clergy of each faith both explicitly and implicitly provided their listeners with distinct models of a mood to be cultivated. To encourage their parishioners to make an emotional investment in their faith, all three groups drew upon rhetorical elements that were already present in late medieval Catholicism and elevated them into confessional touchstones. This book is exceptional in its presentation of a cultural rather than theological or behavioral study of the broader movement to remake Christianity. As Karant-Nunn conclusively demonstrates, in the eyes of the Reformation's formative personalities strict adherence to doctrine and upright demeanor did not constitute an adequate piety. The truly devout had to engage their hearts in their faith.

Combining seamless synthesis of original material with updated scholarship, The European Reformations 2nd edition, provides the most comprehensive and engaging textbook available on the origins and impacts of Europe's Reformations - and the consequences that continue to resonate today. A fully revised and comprehensive edition of this popular introduction to the Reformations of the sixteenth century Includes new sections on the Catholic Reformation, the Counter Reformation, the role of women, and the Reformation in Britain Sets the origins of the movements in the context of late medieval social, economic and religious crises, carefully tracing its trajectories through the different religious groups Succeeds in weaving together religion, politics, social forces, and the influential personalities of the time, in to one compelling story Provides a variety of supplementary materials, including end-of-chapter suggestions for further reading, along with maps, illustrations, a glossary, and chronologies

Martin Bucer has usually been portrayed as a diplomat who attempted to reconcile divergent theological views, sometimes at any cost, or as a pragmatic pastor who was more concerned with ethics than theology. These representations have led to the view that Bucer was a theological light-weight, rightly placed in the shadow of Luther and Calvin. This book makes a different argument. Bucer was an ecclesial diplomat and a pragmatic pastor, yet his ecclesial and practical approaches to reforming the Church were guided by coherent theological convictions. Central to his theology was his understanding of the doctrine of justification, an understanding that Brian Lugioyo argues has an integrity of its own, though it has been imprecisely represented as intentionally conciliatory. It was this solid doctrine that guided Bucer's irenicism and acted as a foundation for his entrance into discussions with Catholics between 1539 and 1541. Lugioyo demonstrates that Bucer was consistent in his approach and did not sacrifice his theological convictions for ecclesial expediency. Indeed his understanding was an accepted evangelical perspective on justification, one to be commended along with those of Luther and Calvin.