Abstract
Historians have often made very sweeping claims about the impact of the Reformation on religion, society and the state. These range from practical matters such as the reshaping of marriage laws, or the emergence of new forms of poor relief, to broad political developments such as the growth of the absolutist state, and vast generalisations about the emergence of capitalism or the development of ‘secularisation’ or ‘modernisation’. Some of these latter claims display par excellence the teleological view of history, and bristle with so many question-begging prejudgments that they cannot be adequately discussed in so brief a space as is available here. It does seem certain, however, that recent research is leading us to such a different understanding of the Reformation, that many of these common notions about its impact should be drastically revised.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Select Bibliography
P. Burke, Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe (1978). Argues for a ‘Reformation of popular culture’.
M. U. Chrisman, Lay Culture, Learned Culture. Books and Social Change in Strasbourg 1480–1599 (New Haven, 1982). Important study of impact of printing, with creation of two cultures, lay and learned.
M. U. Edwards, ‘Lutheran Pedagogy in Reformation Germany’, History of Education Quarterly, XXI (1981), 471–7. Thoughtful review of [120].
R. Gawthrop and G. Strauss, ‘Protestantism and Literacy in Early Modern Germany’, Past and Present, 104 (1984).
R. A. Houston, ‘Literacy and Society in the West 1500–1850’, Social History, V III (1983).
S. Karant-Nunn, ‘Continuity and Change. Some Effects of the Reformation on the Women of Zwickau’, Sixteenth Century Journal, XIII (1982), 17–42.
J. M. Kittelson, ‘Successes and Failures in the German Reformation: the Report from Strasbourg’, Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, LXXIII (1983), 153–75. Criticism of [120], based on analysis of Strasbourg materials.
H. Lis and C. Soly, Poverty and Capitalism in Pre-industrial Europe (Hassocks, 1979). Long-term study of development of treatment of the poor which sets the Reformation in perspective.
R. Muchembled, ‘The Witches of the Cambresis. The Acculturation of the Rural World in the Sixteenth Century’, in J. Obelkevich (ed.), Religion and the People 800–1700 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1979), 221–76. Interprets witch persecutions as an attempt of urban elite culture to undermine rural popular culture. See also [141].
S. E. Ozment, When Fathers Ruled. Family Life in Reformation Europe (Cambridge, Mass., 1983). A view of the Reformation’s role in reaffirming the patriarchal family.
T. Robisheaux, ‘Peasants and Pastors: Rural Youth Control and the Reformation in Hohenlohe, 1540–1680’, Social History, VI (1981), 281–300. A view of the triangular struggle for social control between pastors, village elders and youth.
L. Roper, ‘Luther: Sex, Marriage and Motherhood’, History Today, XXXIII (1983). Assesses positive and negative effects of Luther’s ideas.
L. Roper, ‘Going to Church and Street: Weddings in Reformation Augsburg’, Past and Present, 106 (1985). How the Reformation changed the celebration of weddings.
L. Roper, ‘“Discipline and Respectability”: Protestantism and the Reformation in Augsburg’, History Workshop Journal, 19 (1985).
T. M. Safley, Let no Man Put Asunder. The Control of Marriage in the German Southwest: a Comparative Study 1550–1600 (Kirksville, Miss., 1984). Study of Protestant and Catholic marriage courts in Basel, Constance, Freiburg.
G. Strauss, ‘Success and Failure in the German Reformation’, Past and Present, 67 (1975), 30–63. Uses visitation records to argue that Reformation failed to change Christian life in its territories.
G. Strauss, Luther’s House of Learning. Indoctrination of the Young in the German Reformation (Baltimore, 1978). Analyses Protestant pedagogy to argue that it was inadequate for purposes of reform.
R. Muchembled, Culture populaire et culture des élites (Paris, 1978). Argues that elite urban culture ‘acculturated’ rural culture in interests of absolutist state. See [9], [10] for further discussion.
B. Vogler, ‘La politique scolaire entre Rhin et Moselle’, Francia, III/IV (1975–6). Scholarly study of educational policy in Duchy of Zweibrücken, 1556–1619.
B. Vogler, Le clergé protestant rhenan au siècle de la reforme (1555–1619) (Paris, 1976). Detailed study of position of clergy in reformed parts of Rhineland.
Copyright information
© 2003 R. W. Scribner
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Scribner, R.W., Dixon, C.S. (2003). The Impact of Reform. In: The German Reformation. Studies in European History. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-21253-4_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-21253-4_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-66528-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-21253-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)