The Concept of "Confessionalization": a Historiographical Paradigm in Dispute

Since the 1980s the concept of "confessionalization" has been one of the leading interpretive categories in the historiography on early modern Germany. This article will, firstly, explain the paradigm of confessionalization as it was developed by Wolfgang Reinhard and Heinz Schilling in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Secondly, it will recapulate the critique that has been voiced against the concept, which can be broadly differentiated into four categories: first, macro-historical criticism; second, the discussion about the periodization of the processes of confessionalization; third, the controversy about the role of theological "truth" in the process of confessionalization and about the specific characteristics of the different confessions; and fourth, the criticism of what has been called the "etatistic narrowing" or "top to bottom approach" of the concept of confessionalization. In this context, the paradigm of confessionalization has in recent years become a hotly debated subject in the field of tension between micro and macrohistory

'Protestantism' as a historical category

The term ‘Protestant’ itself is a historical accident, but the category of western Christians who have separated from Rome since 1517 remains a useful one. The confessionalisation thesis, which has dominated recent Reformation historiography, instead posits the two major Protestant confessions and Tridentine Catholicism as its categories, but this can produce a false parallelism in which the nature of the relationship between the confessions is oversimplified. Instead, this paper proposes we think of a Protestant ecosystem consisting of self-consciously confessional Lutheranism, a broad Calvinism which imagined itself as normative, and a collection of radical currents much more intimately connected to the ‘magisterial’ confessions than any of the participants wished to acknowledge. The magisterial / radical division was maintained only with constant vigilance and exemplary violence, with Calvinism in particular constantly threatening to bleed into radicalism. What gives this quarrelsome family of ‘Protestants’ analytical coherence is neither simple genealogy nor, as has been suggested, mere adherence to the Bible: since in practice both ‘radical’ and ‘magisterial’ Protestants have been more flexible and ‘spiritual’ in their use of Scripture than is generally allowed. It is, rather, the devotional experience underpinning that ‘spiritual’ use of the Bible, of an unmediated encounter with grace

Correct and discipline behavior: attitude of the Catholic Church against popular violence (XVI-XVIII centuries)

Durante el Antiguo Régimen asistimos a un interés creciente por parte de las autoridades religiosas por lograr controlar el orden público. Para conseguir este ambicioso objetivo emplearon distintos procedimientos en la búsqueda por lograr adoctrinar y corregir ciertas actitudes. Entre éstos nos encontramos con los manuales de confesores, los sermonarios y las constituciones sinodales. Siendo empleados para la prevención de futuros desórdenes públicos y con la idea de aumentar la seguridad ciudadana.During the Old Regime we attended an increasing interest on the part of the religious authorities to manage to control the public order. In order to secure this ambitious objective they used different procedures in the search to manage to indoctrinate and to correct certain attitudes. Between these we find with manual for confessors, sermons and synodal constitutions. Being used for the prevention of future public disorders and with the idea to increase the citizen security

From the strange death to the odd afterlife of Lutheran England

Research on the relationship between England and Protestant Germany during the sixteenth century has recently experienced a revival. A significant area of concentration for confessional interests among Lutherans a century ago, Anglo-German relations took a backseat in Reformation historiography during the twentieth century, but during the last decade or so a host of scholars in the UK, Germany, and USA have once again turned their attention to the topic. This review article surveys trends in scholarship on Reformation studies in both England and Germany before turning specifically to works considering instances of interaction, co-operation, and adaptation across the confessional and geographic divides. Gathering a considerable array of secondary materials, the article offers an overview of the merits and criticisms of previous analyses and concludes by pointing out a few areas for future inquiry

The Concept of "Confessionalization": a Historiographical Paradigm in Dispute

Since the 1980s the concept of "confessionalization" has been one of the leading interpretive categories in the historiography on early modern Germany. This article will, firstly, explain the paradigm of confessionalization as it was developed by Wolfgang Reinhard and Heinz Schilling in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Secondly, it will recapulate the critique that has been voiced against the concept, which can be broadly differentiated into four categories: first, macro-historical criticism; second, the discussion about the periodization of the processes of confessionalization; third, the controversy about the role of theological "truth" in the process of confessionalization and about the specific characteristics of the different confessions; and fourth, the criticism of what has been called the "etatistic narrowing" or "top to bottom approach" of the concept of confessionalization. In this context, the paradigm of confessionalization has in recent years become a hotly debated subject in the field of tension between micro and macrohistory