Early Protestantism Research Articles

The Self and the Sacred: Conversion and Autobiography in Early American Protestantism. By Rodger M. Payne. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1998. x + 126 pp. $27.00 cloth.

The Self and the Sacred: Conversion and Autobiography in Early American Protestantism. By Rodger M. Payne. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1998. x + 126 pp. $27.00 cloth.

The Self and the Sacred: Conversion and Autobiography in Early American Protestantism.

From about 1740 to 1850, evangelical Protestantism became a major cultural force in virtually all areas of America. Emerging from this religious movement was a rich vernacular literature of conversion narratives and spiritual autobiographies - writings in which believers described their own salvation in hopes of converting others. In The Self and the Sacred, Rodger M. Payne examines these neglected texts in depth, focusing particularly on what they reveal about notions of selfhood and how those notions were incorporated into Christian orthodoxy.

The Self and the Sacred: Conversion and Autobiography in Early American Protestantism. Rodger M. Payne

<i>The Self and the Sacred: Conversion and Autobiography in Early American Protestantism</i>. Rodger M. Payne

The self and the sacred: conversion and autobiography in early American Protestantism

The self and the sacred: conversion and autobiography in early American Protestantism

The Self and the Sacred: Conversion and Autobiography in Early American Protestantism

The Self and the Sacred: Conversion and Autobiography in Early American Protestantism

The Self and the Sacred: Conversion and Autobiography in Early American Protestantism

The Self and the Sacred: Conversion and Autobiography in Early American Protestantism

Grundtvig og den lutherske tradition

Grundtvig and the Lutheran TraditionBy Theodor JørgensenThe essay analyses the relation of Grundtvig to the Lutheran tradition in the form it took in Orthodoxy and early Protestantism, primarily on the basis of Grundtvig’s essay from 1830: »Should the Lutheran Reformation Really Be Continued?«. Grundtvig gives an affirmative answer to this question. In elaboration the present writer points out that in his dispute with Lutheran orthodoxy as well as modem Protestantism Gmndtvig upholds the main concern of the Reformation, but in the context of Modernity.This finds its most significant expression in Gmndtvig’s rejection of the ’sola scriptura’ of the Reformation, the Scriptures as the foundation of Christian Faith. The foundation of Faith is the living Christ, present in the word of Faith, Baptism and Eucharist amidst the congregation celebrating the divine service. On the other hand the Holy Scripture retains its authority as the best book of enlightenment for Faith. Grundtvig is convinced that with this view of the Scriptures he legitimizes the freedom for Bible research and theology which they rightly demand.

Response: Old Games and New

Professor Macinnes has established a wide-ranging critique and pro posed a clearly signposted agenda with much to commend it. There is little point in covering the same ground in the many areas where most historians of the period would broadly agree with him: amongst these are the need for more work on Scotland's continuing links with northern Europe (although such history is difficult to excavate other than in small, manageable portions1); and on the related issues involving landownership, social mobility, demography, social and economic structures, price inflation, and debt and credit. Also, the need for further study of popular belief and culture, witchcraft (neglected since Christina Larner's pioneering work), and the position of women of various sorts is obvious. And there are still several lacunae ? none more striking than the 'black hole' in the Restoration period, although the Revolution of 1688-90 comes a close second. On the other hand, I wish to take issue with a number of points which he raises and to ask whether his picture of the early modern period is sufficiently rounded. Noticeably, he has chosen to concen trate on the period between the Reformation and 1707. That not only omits half a century or so, including topics such as the Rough Wooing and themes such as royal minorities, not to speak of the debate about the state of the Church and the nature of early Protestantism; it also alters perspectives. The early modern historian needs to use long lenses, which, I suggest, give a different focus on several issues. Interdisciplinary study is rightly commended as a way forward, but his remarks, which mostly deal with linkages between history (generally socio-economic) and archaeology or historical geography, could be extended to other disciplines, including architecture, fine art, philosophy, music and literature ? all part of the contemporary humanist agenda. Some other important themes are not mentioned, including the rise of a 'middling sort'; others are underplayed, including the changing inter-relationship between centre and the localities, which is linked to the vital question of the nature of power within what most contemporaries still called their 'country' ? their

‘Églises plantées’ and ‘églises dressées’ in the Historiography of Early French Protestantism

During the seven years between 1555 and 1562, a transformation took place in the character of early French Protestantism. Before 1555 reformed communities in the kingdom of France were relatively scarce, and only loosely affiliated; by 1562 they had become more numerous, and more centralised. Before 1555 a typical congregation would meet, without either a minister or a system of ecclesiastical discipline, for prayers, the singing of hymns and bible-reading; by 1562, the same group would probably have not only its own pastor to preach and administer the sacraments, but also a consistory to enforce church discipline. In the most recent secondary literature this development is commonly described as the transformation of églises plantées into églises dressées. It is said, for example by Prestwich, that ‘the consistory became the mark of a true church, termed an église dressée, in contrast to the amorphous Bible gatherings, known as églises plantées’. The purpose of this brief article is to question whether these terms were ever contrasted in this way in the mid-sixteenth century, and to suggest that other phrases express the development more accurately.

Religious Preambles in Early Modern English Wills as Formulae

For the great majority of English men and women in the Reformation the principal indication of individual religious beliefs is the initial clause in their testaments, bequeathing their souls to God. Cast in the form of a personal bequest and frequently composed on the testator's deathbed, the religious statement appears to provide a revealing personal comment upon the individual's beliefs, unlike seemingly more public acts or protestations of faith. Unfortunately for the historian interested in tracing the presence of early Protestantism, Calvinism or religious conservatism within individuals or communities, will-making by the early modern era had become a cultural ritual. With a strong potential for ritualised statements, the pitfalls in using these preambles in isolation as indications of faith are generally well known. It is the intention of this paper to outline evidence for considering testamentary declarations as formulae, in indeterminate relationship with the specific religious convictions of the testators.

Colloquium on Early Protestantism and Eastern Europe

Colloquium on Early Protestantism and Eastern Europe

Is Luke an Exponent of ‛Early Protestantism’? Church Order in the Lukan Writings

Is Luke an Exponent of ‛Early Protestantism’? Church Order in the Lukan Writings

Is Luke an Exponent of ‛Early Protestantism’? Church Order in the Lukan Writings

Is Luke an Exponent of ‛Early Protestantism’? Church Order in the Lukan Writings

Johann Sleidan and the Origins of History as a Profession

Johann Sleidan was not only father of Reformation history, he was one of the greatest of all modem historians.' A man of action, he was also trained in the best traditions of classical scholarship and was a pioneer in the use of European archives. A passionate Lutheran, he was at the same time an extraordinarily accurate, fairand international-minded observer of the upheavals of his time, the Thucydides as well as the Eusebius of early Protestantism. The period spanned by his life (1506-56) and book (1517-56) was one of the most revolutionary in European history. He was born into a world in the course of being illuminated by the humanist discovery of the classical and Christian past, his childhood coincided with the emergence of the national state and modern power politics, and his adult career with the Protestant Reformation, the first social and ideological revolution of modern times. Corresponding to these three transformations were three new perspectives on the European past: The first created by the humanist sense of associated with scholars like Leonardo Bruni, Flavio Biondo, and Lorenzo Valla; the second shaped by the new politics observed and interpreted by such actor-critics as Niccolo Machiavelli, Francesco Guicciardini, Philippe de Commines, and Claude de Seyssel (whose work Sleidan translated into Latin); and the third a kind of fundamentalist church history derived from Martin Luther and Phillip Melanchthon's radical reevaluation of the Christian tradition.2 Such was Sleidan's mixed heritage, and such the ingredients of his own contributions to modern historiography.

Social Change and Early Protestantism in France: Normandy, 1520-62

Social Change and Early Protestantism in France: Normandy, 1520-62

Luther and Butzer

Previous articleNext article No AccessLuther and ButzerWilhelm PauckWilhelm Pauck Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Religion Volume 9, Number 1Jan., 1929 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/480800 Views: 7Total views on this site PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.