The Impact of Reformation

SEMINAR OVERVIEW:

The Reformation was always about more than Luther and Lutheranism, and neither was it a uniquely German phenomenon. This lecture looks at developments in the decades after Luther's death, and particularly at the second major wave of Protestant beliefs and organization - the individuals and groups known as 'the Reformed' and sometimes as 'Calvinists', after their leading figure Jean Calvin. The Reformed church emerged from debates between early Lutherans and from other reformers working independently of Luther. The Reformed church itself took on different forms as it spread across Europe. The proliferation of new creeds led to division, violence, and sometimes to collaboration and co-existence. This lecture aims to make sense of the plurality of the Protestant Reformation.

The seminar explores the Calvinist Reformation through introductory works. This is a crucial genre of historical writing that includes textbook chapters, encyclopaedia articles, chapters in scholarly companions, and so on. There are many introductions to the Calvinist Reformation, as there are to any well-known historical event. These introductions vary widely in terms of their length, coverage, and quality. Read the introductions below, focusing on the question of why Calvinism caught on in the sixteenth century.

ESSENTIAL READING

Roberts, Penny. ‘The Long Reformation: Reformed.’ In Beat Kümin (ed.), The European World, 1500-1800, 4th edn. (2022), 133-123

Anonymous. ‘Calvinism.’ In Elizabeth A. Livingstone (ed.), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2006)

Eire, Carlos. ‘Calvinism and the Reform of the Reformation.’ In P. Marshall (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of the Reformation (2015), section 3 [the pagination varies according to digital editions - either pp. 76-114 or 101-140]

Anonymous. ‘History of Reformed Christianity.’ Wikipedia.org

Microsoft co-pilot [you may prompt the chatbot directly to answer the question: why did Calvinism catch on in the sixteenth century?]

QUESTIONS

What answer does each source give?

What are the pros and cons of each answer?

How might you use different kinds of introduction in your assignments?

 

RECOMMENDED READING:

Johnson, Trevor, ‘The Reformation and Popular Culture’, in in A. Pettegree, (ed.), The Reformation World (2000), chap 30, pp. 545-60 (ebook)

Kümin, Beat, ‘Rural Society’, in Ulinka Rublack (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Protestant Reformations (2016 [Oxford Handbooks online]

Kingdon, Robert M., ‘Calvin and Geneva’ in R. Hsia (ed.), A Companion to the Reformation World (2006) (ebook), pp. 115-17

Marshall, Peter, ‘Religious Culture in Early Modern Europe’, in Beat Kümin (ed.), The European World (3rd ed, 2018), pp. 135-45

Strauss, Gerald, ‘Success and failure in the German Reformation’, Past and Present, 67 (1975)

 

FURTHER READING:

Benedict, P., Christ’s Churches Purely Reformed: A Social History of Calvinism (2002) (ebook)

Gordon, Bruce, Calvin (2009) (ebook)

Hsia, R. P., Social Discipline in the Reformation 1550-1750 (1989)

J.M. Kittelson, ‘Successes and Failures in the German Reformation: Strasbourg’, Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte/Archive for Reformation History 73 (1982)

Murdock, Graeme, Beyond Calvin: The Intellectual, Political and Cultural World of Europe's Reformed Churches (2004)

Naphy, William G., ‘Calvin and Geneva’, in A. Pettegree, (ed.), The Reformation World (2000), chap 18, pp. 309-22 (ebook)

Nelson Burnett, Amy, ‘The Social History of Communion and the Reformation of the Eucharist’, Past and Present, 211 (2011), 77-119.

Parker, ‘Success and failure during the first century of the Reformation’, Past and Present, 136 (1992)

Pettegree, A. et al. (eds), Calvinism in Europe, 1540-1620 (1994)

Prestwich, M. (ed.), International Calvinism, 1541-1715 (1985)

Scribner, B. et al. (eds), The Reformation in National Context (1994) (ebook), esp. chs. 2-6

Todd, M., The Culture of Protestantism in Early Modern Scotland (2002)

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES:

John Calvin

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536-59)

John Foxe, Acts and Monuments (1563, 1580, 1576, 1583) [Book of Martyrs]

First and Second Books of Discipline of the Church of Scotland (1560, 1578)

For another visualisation of theology see John Bunyan's chart here Link opens in a new windowor hereLink opens in a new window

Pieter Janzoon Saenredam, Interior of St Bavo, Haarlem (1628)