Protestant theater of the 16–17th centuries as a historical and cultural phenomenon

Lurie Zinaida Andreevna, Institute of History, Saint-Petersburg State University (Saint-Petersburg, Russia), zinaidalourie@gmail.com

Lurie Z. A. Protestant theater of the 16–17th centuries as a historical and cultural phenomenon, 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. 282–297.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2014-00013

Language: Russian

The article discusses the phenomenon of the 16–17th centuries Protestant theater as a unique feature of the age. The author discusses the main characteristic of drama and performances and features out several steps of development of the Protestant scene. She makes an attempt to speak about the theater from the angle of its social role and its cultural relevance with same respect to its printed versions (Protestant drama) and visual and scene components. Protestant theater was an original phenomenon only in the first half of the 16th century, later dealing the stage with the Jesuits. Existed mainly as forms of public school theater (teachers were responsible for organization of city performances) both phenomena were invariants of confessional theater based on the humanist tradition. Since the second half of the 16th century such half-professional institutions were overshadowed by professional English and Italian troupes and Court Theater as well. However, in German lands with their sets of provincial cities school theater was an important social structure for a long time. Relevance of the article is in examination of the theatrical practice from various angels (its content and esthetics, occupation in propaganda, author’s social role and professional level). The researcher tries to avoid generalizations that are inherent to formal or instrumentalist approaches.
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Key words: Sixt Birk, Joachim Greff, Cornelius Crocus, Martin Luther, Melanchthon, Reformation, Humanism, theater

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

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The formation of the confessional borders between Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Protestant duchies in the 16th century

Dmitriy Ivanovich Weber PhD in history, assistant, Institute of Philosophy, Saint-Petersburg State University (Mendeleevskaya linia, dom 5, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 199034), d.veber@spbu.ru, weber-deutsch@yandex.ru

Weber D.  I. The formation of the confessional borders between Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Protestant duchies in the 16th century, 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, 2015, vol. 4, pp. 298–313.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2015-00015

Language: Russian

The article discusses the phenomenon of confessional change of borders between Poland, Grand Duchy of Lithuania on the one hand and Protestant duchies on the other. The focus is on the formation of the Duchy of Courland and Semigalia as a result of the secularization of the Teutonic Order’s possessions in Prussia and Livonia. In the first half of the 16th century there were not only political, but also religious changes in the Baltics that were associated with the spread of Protestantism in the region. The new confessional borders were made between protestant duchies and Catholic Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
This process is considered through the Borderland theory. It including two types theories — boundary theory and border theory. Border theory focuses on the border as the “demarcation line” both politically and socially. In contrast with it the boundary theory, formed in the movement of cultural studies not so much physical as mental and cultural characteristics of borderlands. However, boundary-studies refers to the existence of certain cultural differences surrounding regions. One of the used approaches in this article was the concept so-called “Kulturtranfer”. This allows to consider the impact of the role of the preachers of the Holy Roman Empire in the spread of Protestantism in the Baltic region.
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Key words: Order, Kettler, confessionalisation, Reformation, secularization

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/weber-2015-en/

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Court of Faculties, secular and ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the English monarch during the Reformation

Anastasia Andreevna Palamarchuk, PhD in history, senior lecturer, Institute of History, Saint-Petersburg State University (Mendeleevskaya linia, dom 5, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 199034)

a.palamarchuk@spbu.ru

Palamarchuk A. A. Court of Faculties, secular and ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the English monarch during the 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, 2015, vol. 4, pp. 282–297.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2015-00014

Language: Russian

Royal Reformation in England opened the way to a high-scale discussion on the substance of the supreme power and its practical implementation. As the English crown usurped the very jurisdiction considered as the proper to the See of Rome, all the concepts of jurisdictions and functions attached to both secular and ecclesiastical institutes had to be revised, as well as devices of their activities. The Court of Faculties (or the Office of faculties) was created due to this process. This institute regulated two jurisdictional domains that traditionally belonged to the See of Rome or its deputies, i.e. granting of dispensations and licensing of public notaries. Its jurisdiction was based on the new status of the English monarch as the head of the Church of England. In practice the whole work of the Court of Faculties was carried by the lawyers (civilians) and clerks representing accordingly the King, the archbishop of Canterbury and the Chancery. It demonstrated the unique position of the Court of Faculties on the edge of the secular and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The rise of the Court of faculties, its activities and regulating documents demonstrate the complexity of the process when ideas and practices of medieval canon lawyers were adapted and transformed in accordance with post-Reformation conditions.
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Key words: Court of faculties, dispensation, jurisdiction, Reformation, Tudors, England

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/palamarchuk-2015-en/

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Review on the monography «Lyuterane v Karelii: Istoricheskie zametki» [Lutherans in Karelia: Historical notes] by S. E. Yalovitsyna (Petrozavodsk, 2016)

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

Krylov P. V. Review on the monography «Lyuterane v Karelii: Istoricheskie zametki» [Lutherans in Karelia: Historical notes] by S. E. Yalovitsyna (Petrozavodsk, 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, 2016, vol. 5, pp. 314–320.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2016-00016

Language: Russian

The monograph of S. E. Yalovitsyna «Lutherans in Karelia: Historical essays» (Petrozavodsk: IP Markov N. A., 2016. 216 p.) is reviewed. The book examines the main stages of the history of Lutherans in Karelia, which originated from the time of reforms of Peter the Great and due to emergence of a large number of Lutheran professionals, who formed a basis of the local communities. The author gives a high estimation of the work of S. E. Jalovitsyna, marking out extensive source base, clarity and reasonableness of the material, absence of significant factual errors. Special attention is given to the general idea of the monography, i. e. the evidence of the harmonious coexistence of representatives of different Christian denominations in Karelia, which can serve as a good example for our contemporaries.
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Key words: Peter the Great, Protestantism, Reformation, parish activities, Laestadius

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/krylov-p-v-2016-en/

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The problem of the Middle Ages in the Martin Luther’s Theology

Alexey Igorevich Ivanenko PhD in Philosophy, assistant professor, Theological Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (der. Kolbino, 25a, Leningrad region, Vsevolozhsk district, Russia, 188680), iwanenkoalexy@hotmail.com

Ivanenko A. I. The problem of the Middle Ages in the Martin Luther’s theology, 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, 2016, vol. 5, pp. 34–41.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2016-00003

Language: Russian

The article is devoted to the interpretation of the Middle Ages from the engle of the Martin Luther’s theology. The main problem is dual status of the Middle Ages. It’s the time of Christian hegemony, but also the period of negative pre-Reformation tendencies. The Lutherans found a middle position between negative humanistic and positive Catholic estimations. In Luther’s texts the Middle ages are seen within two general concepts — of Millenialism and the Babilonian captivity of the Church. According to Luther, millenialism is not in future, it describes the ancient period of the Church’s history. Here Luther bases on ecclesiology of St. Augustine. Millenialism was the time of undivided Church. The Babylonian captivity of the Church began from the Great Schism in 1054. Luther here concentrates not on the question of procession of the Holy Spirit «from the Son» (Filioque), but on the role of priest and understanding of the sacraments. He critisized the idea, that during the liturgy eucharistic bread transformed into the Body of the Lord. This magical interpretation was invented by Thomas Aquinat in the 13th centure. According to Lutheranism, a priest is a pastor, who predicts the Word of God, but not a wizard, who transforms the substance of bread. Another aspect of the Babylonian captivity of the Church is absence of national language in the liturgy. Western Church had a Latin liturgy in the Middle Ages, because Latin was a national language at the time of St. Jerome and St. Augustine, but it was a dead language by the 10th centure.
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Key words: the Middle Ages, Millennialism, Babylonian captivity of the Church, Reformation, Lutheranism

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/ivanenko-a-i-2016-en/

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Truth and tolerance: what are the borders of the acceptable plurality in Christian faith?

Juha Pihkala Doctor in theology, docent of dogmatics, University of Helsinki (Universitetsgatan, 4, Helsingfors, Finland, 00100), juha.pihkala@jpihkal.pp.fi

Pihkala J. Truth and tolerance: what are the borders of the acceptable plurality in Christian faith?, 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. 44–67.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2017-00003

Language: English

This article, based on the lecture read in St. Petersburg (24.10.2017), at first discusses the Christian concept of truth. It differs from the philosophical concept of truth, which relies on the commonly accepted knowledge-based arguments. The Christian concept of truth relies on events experienced in history whose existential meaning, it’s most important identity, is recorded in the rule of the faith – regula fidei. Within the core domains of the rule of faith, the Christian concept of truth does not know the tolerance liked by modern thinking. It is, however, also necessary for the Church mission to interpret the rule of the faith in different cultures in their own language and to apply practices that differ from the original. This means: tolerance also is needed. Religious freedom is necessary concerning the assumption of the faith. In the history, however, this freedom has been damaged, causing great harm. When Constantine used the Christian faith as an ideological creator of the unity of the state, he still did not change the old Roman law of religion: the religion of the ruler was also during the Christian era necessarily the religion of the empire. This principle has been followed until the new era (cuius regio, eius religio).
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Key words: Confessio Augustana, Luther, Church, creed, confession, Reformation, ecumenism

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

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