reformation – Page 3

John Bergius, a prominent figure of the Brandenburg Reformation

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

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

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

Lurie Z. A. Protestant theater of the 16–17^th 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 16–17^thcenturies 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 16^thcentury, 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 16^th 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.

Key words: Sixt Birk, Joachim Greff, Cornelius Crocus, Martin Luther, Melanchthon, Reformation, Humanism, theater

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

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

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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 16^thcentury, 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.

Key words: Order, Kettler, confessionalisation, Reformation, secularization

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

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

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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.

Key words: Court of faculties, dispensation, jurisdiction, Reformation, Tudors, England

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