Doctrinal Controversy and Lay Religiosity in Late Reformation Germany

The Case of Mansfeld

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In recent years, historians have questioned the notion that belief was central to the Reformation’s success, arguing rather for a variety of social, political, economic, and psychological forces. This study examines one of the intra-Lutheran doctrinal debates, the Flacian controversy over original sin, as means to analyze lay religiosity in the late Reformation. It focuses on the German territory of Mansfeld, where the conflict had miners brawling in the streets, and where a wealth of sources from the laity have survived. This extraordinary evidence demonstrates that although diverse forces were at work, by the late sixteenth century many commoners had developed a complex understanding of Lutheran doctrines, and these beliefs had become informing factors in the laity’s lives.

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Robert J. Christman, Ph.D. (2004) in early modern history, University of Arizona, is an Assistant Professor of History at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He has published a variety of articles on the impact of the Reformation in early modern Germany.
"Die hier vorliegende Studie leistet in ihrem sozialgeschichtlichen Zugriff einen wichtigen und hoch erfreulichen Beitrag zur Erforschung des Erbsündenstreites in der Grafschaft Mansfeld und zur Sozialstruktur der einfachen Gemeindechristen im 16. Jahrhundert überhaupt." – Johannes Hund, Universität Mainz, in: Francia-Recensio 2013/2
"Même ainsi, cette très belle étude contribute beaucoup à l’historiographie de cette ère de confessionalisation, et elle réanimera sans aucun doute les discussions sur le facteur doctrinal dans l’imposition de la Réforme." – Ueli Zahnd, University of Basel, in: Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique
Introduction Doctrinal Controversy as a Window onto Lay Religiosity


Chapter 1 A Portrait of Mansfeld in the Sixteenth Century


Chapter 2 Competing Views of Original Sin and Associated Arguments and Meanings


Chapter 3 The Pastors and their Parishioners


Chapter 4 The Counts and the Controversy


Chapter 5 The “Heretics” of Mansfeld


Chapter 6 Extra-doctrinal Forces Affecting the Laity


Chapter 7 Lay Understandings of Original Sin and Lutheran Theology


Chapter 8 Conclusion


Bibliography


Index


Illustrations

Hans Ötzen, Ein schon christliches und warhafftiges gebett von gesetze und evangelinis gestellt durch Hans Oetz ein leye imm Thall Mansfelt gegewen im ihar unsers Herren Jhesu Christi anno 1575, Landeshauptarchiv Sachsen-Anhalt, Abteilung Magdeburg, Standort Wernigerode.

Matthäus Merian, Mansfeldt c. 1650. Copperplate.








Tables

Table 1. The Occupations of the Mansfelder Laity

Table 2. The Mansfelder Laity

Table 3. Luther Citations Found in the Lay Confessions





All those interested in the Reformation and its impact, German history, early modern intellectual and social history, and church history, as well as theologians and anyone interested in the history of Lutheranism.
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