Martin Bohme and Ludwig Hollonius: Lutheran Apologists for Drama

Abstract

The phenomenon of the concomitant rise of Lutheranism and dramatic productivity in 16th century Germany is at once explicable and puzzling. Drama served the propagandistic ends of nascent Protestantism. In the countless Judith-plays, for example, the heroine's deed represents the triumph of a pious minority over a godless majority, of Lutheranism over the Roman Church. The acting out of paradigmatic existential situations, as in the Prodigal Son dramas, fulfilled the pedagogical and rhetorical goals of Christian humanism, as well as demonstrated the strength of 'faith alone' in fatherly grace. The centrality of drama, a position encouraged by Luther, is nevertheless puzzling, for it appears to bridge the traditional separation of scriptura from literatura, of the sacred from the profane text. What is more, the toleration of literature in a religious context would seem to infringe on the role of the Lutheran pastor as the interpreter of the Word. The problem is intensified when taken a step further, namely when the Lutheran pastor writes dramas. The intent of this paper is to discuss the theoretical remarks of two Lutheran pastor-dramatists with respect to their religiosity and literariness. In their apologetic stance they are shown to address concerns essential to a comprehension of literary trends in the Germany of their times. In the introduction to a collection of his hymns Martin Bohme (1 557-1622),' the Lutheran pastor primarius of Lauban / Oberlausitz, establishes a typology of the ideal Jungfraw, while warning her of the evils of popular literature: Sollen Jungfrawen auch einen reinen und keuschen Mund haben/ das sie nicht schlepffen mit Bulerischen Historien und andern Schertz und Schimpffbutchern/ welche dazu erdacht sind/ das siejunge Hertzen anstecken und beflecken. Sie sollen auch alle schandbare wort und Schertzreden meiden/ welche Christleuten nicht geziemen.2