The Impact of Reformation

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, and one you will need to use in your assignments. There are many introductions to the Calvinist Reformation: textbook chapters, encyclopaedia articles, chapters in scholarly companions, and so on. 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.

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)