reformation – Page 2

The martyrdom of St. Stephan in Medieval and. Early Modern hagiography

Zinaida Andreevna Lurie, doctor of History, assistant lecturer, Faculty of foreign languages, St. Petersburg State University (Universitetskaia nab., 7/9, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 199034)
z.lurie@spbu.ru

Lure Z. A. The martyrdom of St. Stephan in Medieval and. Early Modern hagiography, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2013, vol. 2, pp. 185–206.

DOI: 10.24411/2308-0698-2013-00001

Language: Russian

Despite the rather late development of the cult of the first martyr at the end of the 3rd – 4th centuries, it occupied an unusually important role in Christian rhetoric as an imitator of Christ. The article analyzes the references to the first deacon of the apologists and the early fathers of the Church (Clementus, Irenaeus, Augustine, etc.). In the medieval period, the regional traditions of veneration, on the one hand, and, on the other, the widespread presence of his worship in temples as one of the first deacons can’t be led to the single tendency of perception of the image. One of the recurring motives was the opposition of Stephen to the Jewish antagonists. During the Reformation, this antagonism was transferred to the realities of confessional confrontation, but the interest in the martyr was not great and even the influence of the Catholic renewal had a very limited effect on the iconography of Stefan. In turn, for the late Protestantism of the 1560–1590s. it was Stefan who turned out to be an iconic figure. The author examines the reasons for the popularity of the plot, analyzing the conflicts inherent in the book “Acts”, and illustrates the perception of the plot in the Lutheran tradition on the example of the tragedy of Melchior Neukirch in 1592, which completed a series of dramatic adaptations. The writer raised a number of extremely relevant topics for his time: the problem of tyranny and punishment of tyrants “for audacity”, and, equally, developed the concept of an ideal world order, reflected also at the family level. No less significant theologian in the drama was the preaching of Christ.

Key words: Stephan, hagiography, Reformation, Counterreformation, confessionalisation, Melchior Neukirch, theater, drama

Permanent link: http://rcs-almanac.ru/lurie-2013-en/

The tribute of the University of Turku to the 500th anniversary of Reformation. Review of the monography «Pohjoinen Reformaatio» (Helsinki, 2016)

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Pavel Valentinovich Krylov PhD in history, leading researcher, Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of History (Petrozavodskaya ulitsa, 7, Saint-Petersburg, 197110) , pavel_kryloff@mail.ru

Krylov P. V. The tribute of the University of Turku to the 500^thanniversary of Reformation. Review of the monography «Pohjoinen Reformaatio» (Helsinkii, 2016), Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2017, vol. 6, pp. 418–424.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2017-00021

Language: Russian

The review gives a brief of the book dedicated to the 500^thanniversary of the Reformation mainly on the territory of Finland. The author considers the collective work of the Center for Middle Ages and Early Modern Studies at the University of Turku, as well as the Historical Society of Turku, gives an overview of the main content of the monograph and shares some reflections on it.

Key words: Reformation, anniversary of Reformation, review, Finland, Lutheranism

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/krylov-2017-en/

On the road with Luther: Thoughts on a few jubilee exhibitions

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Jeffrey Chipps Smith PhD in art history, professor, The University of Texas at Austin, Depatment of Art and Art History (2301 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin, TX 78705, USA) , chipps@austin.utexas.edu

Smith J. Ch. On the Road with Luther: Thoughts on a Few Jubilee Exhibitions, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2017, vol. 6, pp. 388–405.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2017-00019

Language: English

The 500^th celebration of the advent of the Protestant Reformation inspired a remarkable number of exhibitions in Germany and, indeed, around the world. The Lutherjahr or Luther Year was, more correctly, a Luther decade with different themes and programs having been announced in 2008. The author explores the most remakable exibitions of 2015–2017 including «Martin Luther: Treasures of the Reformation», «Renaissance & Reformation: German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach», «Luther, Kolumbus und die Folgen. Welt im Wandel 1500–1600» as well as virtual exibitions that provide an unprecedented assessment of Luther, the cultural moment, and the historical aftermath.

Key words: Renaissance, Reformation, Albrecht Dürer, art, Kolumbus, the Holbeins, the Cranachs, Hans Baldung Grien, Tilman Riemenschneider

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/smith-2017-en/

John Bergius, a prominent figure of the Brandenburg Reformation

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Mihkail Petrovich Beliaev, PhD in history, assistant professor, Russian University of cooperation, Faculry of Law (ulitsa Very Voloshinoy, 12/30, Mytishchi, Russia, 141014)

babek-han@mail.ru

Beliaev M. P. John Bergius, a prominent figure of the Brandenburg Reformation, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2017, vol. 6, pp. 260–283.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2017-00013

Language: Russian

The Second Reformation in Brandenburg seriously differed from similar transformations in the other subjects of the Empire. The subjects of the Elector, John Sigismund, being Lutherans, were not compelled to switch to Calvinism, because Hohenzollern led tolerant policy. The article studies the role of John Bergius, who was a prominent ideologue of Calvinism and the leading court preacher of the Brandenburg Electors. Having received good education abroad, he laterly wrote many works on theology as an adherent of Irenism. The young theologian took part in the struggle against the Lutheran theologians and become the closest adviser of the Electors on religious matters. He defended the ideas of common root of Protestan theology and was for coorepation between the Lutherans and the Evangelists before the face of the Counter-reformation. The Brandenburg preacher developed the «constitutional theory of resistance», which justified the Emperor’s action in cooperation with the Catholic League as unleagel. The author shows that in these circumstances Lutheran theologians agreed to meet with Calvinist colleagues in Leipzig, during the Protestant princes convention. At this colloquium, thanks to the position of Bergius, it become possible to reach agreement on the most of issues. His late activity is also of high interest, because in 1630s he participated in the development of a new structure for the Brandenburg Church. Since 1640 Bergius being an adviser of th Elector Frederick William and participates in the colloquium in Thorne. He also was one of the authors of the final documents of the conferences in Leipzig and Thorne, which together with Confessio Sigismundi formed the official position of the Reformed Church of Brandenburg.

Key words: Brandenburg, Calvinists, Reformed, Lutheran, Preacher, Church, Reformation

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/beliaev-2017-en/

Pietro Paolo Vergerio —the first publisher of reformatory polemical works in Lithuania (1556)

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Dainora Pociūtė PhD in humanities, professor Faculty of Philology, Vilnius University (Universiteto g. 5, Vedeja, Lietuva 01122) , dainora.pociute@flf.vu.lt

Pociūtė C. Pietro Paolo Vergerio — the first publisher of reformatory polemical works in Lithuania (1556), Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2017, vol. 6, pp. 232–259.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2017-00012

Language: Russian

The famous Italian reformer Pietro Paolo Vergerio (1498–1565) during his two trips to Lithuania, Poland and Prussia‘s Koenigsberg published a number of works important for the early period of the Reformation in this region, among which «Duae epistolae» (1556) occupies a special place. The publication contents the correspondence of the nuncio of Pope Luigi Lippomano with the ancestor of the Lithuanian Reformation Radziwill the Black (1515–1565), who here for the first time announced his conversion to the Protestant faith. Soon the translations of the two above-mentioned letters into German (1557) and Polish (1559) were published. The article analyzes the connections between Vergerio and Radziwill in a historical context, examines the content of the book and the main ideas of its main text, the answer of Radziwill to Lippomano.

Key words: Pietro Paolo Vergerio, Reformation, Koenigsberg, Lithuania, Radziwill the Black, Luigi Lippomano

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/pocute-2017-en/

Luther’s representations and interpretations in the early Modern age. The Italian case

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Michela Catto PhD in history, assistant professor, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Viale Antonio Allegri 9, Palazzo Dossetti, Reggio Emilia, Italy, 42121) , michela.catto@unimore.it; michelacatto@gmail.com

Catto М. Luther’s representations and interpretations in the early Modern age. The Italian case, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2017, vol. 6, pp. 208–231.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2017-00011

Language: English

In the present article we shall focus on the early radicalization in Italy of Luther’s and the Reformed world’s stereotypical image, quite distant from an actual knowledge of the doctrine.
Luther was associated with Niccolò Machiavelli and machiavellism. The Florentine secretary was referred to, and sometimes only hinted at, for the historiographical notion which attributed Italy’s backwardness in the processs of modernization to the decadence of its religion and coincidentally of its mores and morals. At first Machiavelli and Luther, sons of Satan both of them, were indicated as the main actors of the corruption of customs and, during the 18th century, the analysis was developed with examples supplied by the economic, social and political comparison with the countries where Reformation was adopted.
In the context of the Roman Church, the «Lutheran monster» will occasionally be pointed at as the source and origin of all kinds of disasters, of decadence of customs and doctrine. In different moments and situations therefore, the figure of Luther — and Calvin — became the causes of the doctrinal corruption effected by the Society of Jesus, the origin of Jansenism, of any policy opposing the papal power and hostile to religious institutions, and at last as the germ from which the worst modern doctrines were born: from atheims to libertinism and the Enlightenment.

Key words: Calvin, Reformation, atheism, Machiavelli, Guicciardini, libertinism, Jansenism

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/catto-2017-en/

How to speak to people about heresy? First prints against the Reformation in French (1520–1530)

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Tatiana Debbagi Baranova, PhD in history, assistant professor, Paris-Sorbonne University (75230, France, Paris, 1 rue Victor Cousin)

debbagi_baranova@yahoo.fr

Debbagi Baranova Т. How to speak to people about heresy? First prints against the Reformation in French (1520–1530), Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2017, vol. 6, pp. 182–207.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2017-00010

Language: English

This article intends to address the ways of fighting against heresy in Catholic prints in French during 1520–1530s. The dominant position of the Catholic Church — formulated by the Faculty of Theology in Paris — was that the people had to be kept out of theological debate. On the one hand, the divines thought that public controversy in front of uneducated people — or even the description of the heresy -would contribute to the spread of Lutheran ideas or to the misunderstanding of the right doctrine. On the other hand, they needed to affirm their role as scholars and exclusive interpreters of Scripture. The Doctors of the Church wanted to limit the dissemination of heresy via preventive censorship, repression and theological controversy in Latin. However this proposal contradicted the need to warn the king, his entourage and the people of the danger posed by heretics. The Faculty of Theology authorised the publication of works which described heresy as an offence against God, his mother, the saints, and the whole Church, and which celebrated the repressive action of the political authorities. This description made the heresy identifiable without entering into theological argumentation. Furthermore, many anonymous works — songs, stories of miracles, defamatory poetry — condemned the heretics and their protectors. The king was the first target of these writings. However, towards the end of the 1530s, the success of the Lutheran doctrine persuaded the Doctors — such as Jerome de Hangest and Pierre Doré — of the need to defend the attacks on the Church in French in order to strengthen the consciences of the faithful who were exposed to the danger of seduction in their daily lives. They tried then to share their arguments while asserting themselves as the only specialists able to lead theological reflexion.

Key words: Luther, Lutherans, Reformation, Faculty of Theology, Church authority, religious polemic, miracle, public opinion

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/debbagi-baranova-2017-en/

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and its ecumenical relations

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Juha Pihkala, PhD, in 1997–2008 bishop of Tampere (Tampere, Finland), juha.pihkala@jp ihkal.pp.fi

Pihkala J. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and its ecumenical relations, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2014, vol. 3, pp. 322–333.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2014-00022

Language: Russian

In this paper the author shares his observations about the specifics of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, in particular, in terms of its role in interconfessional dialogue and ecumenical relations. The author notes the major stages in the development of the Church, starting from first Christian preaching to the Reformation time and then reform of the State and Church in the 19–20^th centuries. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland occupies a unique position, being a legal person and having legislative functions, while State has no right to change Church law. Brief amount of Church structure that reflect in organizational principles democratic ideas is also given, and as it is noted by the author the Church of Finland isn’t an ideological monolith, including a variety of ecclesial movements and groups of believers. Largely due to these features the Church of Finland occupies leading role in ecumenical dialogue in recent decades. Especially, the author notes the relationship with the Anglican Church, regular conversations with the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic and other Lutheran churches in Scandinavian region. Of great interest are author’s observations on correlation in Church position and State international policy, that have different bases. However, Church being a universal phenomenon faces national and political background and reflects it in a variety of ways.

Key words: Lutherans, confession, ecumenism, Reformation, Finland, Ingria

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/pihkala-2014-en/

Review on: Makarov I. V. Ocherki istorii reformatsii v Finlyandii (1520–1620 gg.): Formirovanie natsionalnoy tserkovnosti. Portretyi vyidayuschihsya deyateley finskoy Reformatsii [Notes on history of Reformation in Finland (1520s–1620s): Development of national churchism and portraits of leading churchmen], Saint-Petersburg, 2007

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Krylov Pavel Valentinovich, PhD, leading scientist, Institute of History, Russian Academy of Science (Saint-Petersburg, Russia), pavel_kryloff@mail.ru

Krylov P. V. Review on: Makarov I. V. Ocherki istorii reformatsii v Finlyandii (1520–1620 gg.): Formirovanie natsionalnoy tserkovnosti. Portretyi vyidayuschihsya deyateley finskoy Reformatsii [Notes on history of Reformation in Finland (1520s–1620s): Development of national churchism and portraits of leading churchmen], Saint-Petersburg, 2007, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2014, vol. 3, pp. 337–340.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2014-00020

Language: Russian

The first Russian monograph dedicated to Reformation in Finland is reviewed in the text. The author appreciates the positives and negative sides of the book that gives to Russian public a detailed tableau of Church history of the neighbor country within contexts of Swedish and World politics, theological thought and religious controversy of the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern time. In spite of its remoteness from the centre, Finnish province of Sweden is depicted as a part of Western Christendom, influenced by its main political and intellectual trends. This thesis, according to the reviewer, could be argued. However, the biographical notices describing main figures of the Finnish Reformation (for example, Michael Agricola or King Gustav Vasa) with a short anthology of their texts translated in Russian is a unique and valuable feature of the book. The reviewer finds out some disadvantages of the text. Firstly, the researcher demonstrates little knowledge of both recent and classical Russian historiography on Swedish history. Secondly, the book lacks attention to the theme of Ingria and its Evangelical Lutheran Church. Thirdly, I. V. Makarov often explains religious or any other specific by “national character of Finns” that sounds quite a primordialist formula. In general, the book appears to be worth reading for everyone interested in the Finnish Church and intellectual history.

Key words: Reformation, Sweden, Ingria, Finland, confession

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/krylov-2014-en/

Confession and name: Male names of German Protestant nobility in the 16–17th centuries

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Prokopiev Andrey Yur’evich, PhD, professor, Institute of History, Saint-Petersburg State University (Mendeleevskaya linia, dom 5, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 199034)

prokopiev65@mail.ru

Prokopiev A. Y. Confession and name: Male names of German Protestant nobility in the 16–17^thcenturies, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2014, vol. 3, pp. 298–313.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2014-00014

Language: Russian

The article deals with names given the 16–17^thcenturies ruling elite in order to study influence of the confessional and other factors on naming. The author focuses on the male names of Württemberg and Dresden rulers within period after the Augsburg Peace to the Thirty Years’ War. Concerning house of Württemberg, offspring of Duke Friedrich I (1558–1608) up to the children of the Duke Eberhard III are studied. Saxon house of Wettin is limited to children of Elector August I and their offsprings up to the heirs of Johann Georg II. The study involves a wide amount of archival materials and, in particular, the funeral sermons, made by confessors. Author concludes that most names were absolutely neutral, regardless to the elite faith. Luther called to stop the practice of christening in honor of the old saints in favor to biblical and old German names, but for his adherents from elite social class this question was hardly relevant. In contrast, a significant influx of new names from Catholic houses, especially obvious in the history of Württemberg, or reproduction of Moritz-name in Wettin family, demonstrate that naming was influenced by dynastic interests. In spite the importance of confessional consciousness in the period, family roots and dynastic course were to overcome confessional limits.

Key words: confession, Reformation, the House of Wettin, the House of Württemberg, Luther, naming

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/prokopiev-2014-en/