History Commons^™

Protestantism And Progress In The Year Xii: Charles Villers' Essay On The Spirit And Influence Of Luther's Reformation (1804), Michael Printy

Michael Printy

This article examines Charles Villers's Essay on the Spirit and Influence of Luther's Reformation (1804) in its intellectual and historical context. Exiled from France after 1792, Villers intervened in important French and German debates about the relationship of religion, history, and philosophy. The article shows how he took up a German Protestant discussion on the meaning of the Reformation that had been underway from the 1770s through the end of the century, including efforts by Kantians to seize the mantle of Protestantism for themselves. Villers's essay capitalized on a broad interest in the question of Protestantism and its meaning for …

Sinners On Trial: Jews And Sacrilege After The Reformation, Magda Teter

Magda Teter

My book, Sinners on Trial: Jews and Sacrilege after the Reformation tells a story of the process of affirmation of Catholic dogmas after the Reformation, not necessarily though religious education and propaganda but through the application of criminal law, and the courts' treatment of "the sacred" and, thus, also of the "sacrilege."

"Sinners on Trial" combines political, legal, and cultural historical approaches. In Poland, the contest over the sacredness of the Eucharist, a major Catholic dogma challenged by the Reformation, became manifest in lay courts' adjudication of crimes against property and religious symbols, especially those linked to the Eucharistic rituals. …

Out Of The (Historiographic) Ghetto: Jews And The Reformation, Magda Teter, Debra Kaplan

Magda Teter

Existing historiography has created a historiographic ghetto, seldom considering Jewish sources and Jews as relevant to the larger narrative of European history. This has created two parallel, often disconnected areas of study, “European history” and “Jewish history.” Archival materials from across Europe strongly show that Jews and Christians resided side by side and interacted on a daily basis in early modern Europe. Reformation Strasbourg and post-Reformation Poland, two geographically and demographically diverse cases offer new insights about the past by including sources about Jews. In Reformation Strasbourg, cross-confessional collaboration was more frequent than previously imagined, as leaders of different Christian …

Religion, Longevity, And Cooperation: The Case Of The Craft Guild, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

Whenthe mortality rate is high, repeated interaction alonemaynot sustain cooperation, and religion may play an important role in shaping economic institutions. This insight explains why during the fourteenth century, when plagues decimated populations and the church promoted the doctrine of purgatory, guilds that bundled together religious and occupational activities dominated manufacturing and commerce. During the sixteenth century, the disease environment eased, and the Reformation dispelled the doctrine of purgatory, necessitating the development of new methods of organizing industry. The logic underlying this conclusion has implications for the study of institutions, economics, and religion throughout history and in the developing world …

Kirk In Danger: Presbyterian Political Divinity In Two Eras, Michael Graham

Michael F. Graham

Recent decades have witnessed the fragmentation of Reformation studies, with high-level research confined within specific geographical, confessional or chronological boundaries. By bringing together scholars working on a wide variety of topics, this volume counteracts this centrifugal trend and provides a broad perspective on the impact of the European reformation. The essays present new research from historians of politics, of the church and of belief. Their geographical scope ranges from Scotland and England via France and Germany to Transylvania and their chronological span from the 1520s to the 1690s Considering the impact of the Reformation on political culture and examining the …

Elizabethanne Boran And Crowford Gribben, Eds., Enforcing Reformation In Ireland And Scotland, 1550-1700, Michael Graham

Michael F. Graham

No abstract provided.

Christianity And Craft Guilds In Late Medieval England: A Rational Choice Analysis, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

In late-medieval England, craft guilds simultaneously pursued piety and profit. Why did guilds pursue those seemingly unrelated goals? What were the consequences of that combination? Theories of organizational behavior answer those questions. Craft guilds combined spiritual and occupational endeavors because the former facilitated the success of the latter and vice versa. The reciprocal nature of this relationship linked the ability of guilds to attain spiritual and occupational goals. This link between religion and economics at the local level connected religious and economic trends in the wider world.

Conflict And Sacred Space In Reformation-Era Scotland, Michael Graham

Michael F. Graham

No abstract provided.

Scotland, Michael Graham

Michael F. Graham

This beautifully illustrated book is the most ambitious one-volume survey of the Reformation yet. A timely and much-needed account, it looks at every aspect of the Reformation world and considers new historical research which has led to the expansion of the subject both thematically and geographically. The strength of The Reformation World is its breadth and originality, with material drawn from many different countries, including archival material only recently made available to scholars in central Europe.

Knox On Discipline: Revolutionary Zeal Or Rose-Tinted Nostalgia, Michael Graham

Michael F. Graham

Overview John Knox is one of the towering figures of the European Reformation, his name synonymous with hard-line evangelical Protestantism, and his influence spreading far beyond his native Scotland. The present volume seeks to reassess Knox's career in the context of the European Reformation as a whole, but with particular reference to his impact in Scotland and England. The 13 distinguished contributors, all acknowledged authorities in the field, together provide what is undoubtedly the most significant reappraisal of Knox and his role in the British Reformations to have appeared for two decades. This book will be of particular interest to …

The Uses Of Reform: 'Godly Discipline' And Popular Behavior In Scotland And Beyond, 1560-1610, Michael Graham

Michael F. Graham

The "Uses of Reform" is a study of the Reformation as a movement for behavioral reform, concentrating on Scotland during the first fifty years (1560-1610) of its Reformation as a primary example. The opening chapters trace the development of "Godly Discipline" as part of the European-wide reform movement. Graham follows this general narrative with a study of the creation and implementation of a disciplinary system in Scotland. Finally, he compares disciplinary practices in the Scottish Church with those of the Huguenot communities of France. Looking closely at the proceedings of church courts which enforced regulations concerning behavior, Graham paints a …