Abstract
The Zürich historian, Hans Conrad Peyer, has reminded students of the Swiss Reformation more than once that they should investigate not only its successes, but also its failures. He has pointed to a general deficiency of modern historical research on the Reformation period. Understandably historians have concentrated their questions concerning the religious renewal in diverse areas of Europe on where it happened, why it happened, and who made it happen. After all, the Reformation as an historical phenomenon can hardly be studied where it was barely attempted or did not occur at all. However, to explore failure and the reasons for it also remains an important task which the historian must not avoid. It has been neglected and repressed for far too long.1
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Notes
H. C. Peyer, reviews of B. Moeller (ed.), Stadt und Kirche im 16. Jahrhundert (Gütersloh, 1978).
M. Brecht, ‘Die gescheiterte Reformation in RottweiP, Blätter für württembergische Kirchengeschichte, LXXV (1975), pp. 5–22.
R. Scribner, ‘Why was there no Reformation in Cologne?’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, XLIX (1976), pp. 217–41.
H. R. Guggisberg, ‘Parität, Neutralität und Toleranz’, Zwingliana, XV (1979/82), pp. 632–49.
F. Fleiner, ‘Die Entwicklung der Parität in der Schweiz’, in idem, Ausgewählte Schriften und Reden (Zürich, 1941), p. 82.
A. G. Dickens, The German Nation and Martin Luther (London, 1974), p. 182.
W. Brändly, Geschichte des Protestantismus in Stadt und Land Luzern (Lucerne, 1956), pp. 4–47.
H. Dommann, ‘Das Gemeinschaftsbewufitsein der V Orte in der Alten Eidgenossenschaft’, Der Geschichtsfreund, XCVI (1943), pp. 115–229.
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© 1987 E. I. Kouri and Tom Scott
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Guggisberg, H.R. (1987). The Problem of ‘Failure’ in the Swiss Reformation: Some Preliminary Reflections. In: Kouri, E.I., Scott, T. (eds) Politics and Society in Reformation Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18814-7_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18814-7_9
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