Conversion and the Politics of Religion in Early Modern Germany

1. Auflage 2012
ISBN: 978-0-85745-375-4
Verlag: Berghahn Books

Buch, Englisch, Band 3, 216 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 473 g

Reihe: Spektrum: Publications of the German Studies Association

The Protestant and Catholic Reformations thrust the nature of conversion into the center of debate and politicking over religion as authorities and subjects imbued religious confession with novel meanings during the early modern era. The volume offers insights into the historicity of the very concept of “conversion.” One widely accepted modern notion of the phenomenon simply expresses denominational change. Yet this concept had no bearing at the outset of the Reformation. Instead, a variety of processes, such as the consolidation of territories along confessional lines, attempts to ensure civic concord, and diplomatic quarrels helped to usher in new ideas about the nature of religious boundaries and, therefore, conversion. However conceptualized, religious change— conversion—had deep social and political implications for early modern German states and societies.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Luebke, David M.

Poley, Jared

Ryan, Daniel C.

Sabean, David Warren

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Protestantismus, evangelische und protestantische Kirchen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Katholizismus, Römisch-Katholische Kirche

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

Introduction: The Politics of Conversion in Early Modern Germany

David M. Luebke

Chapter 1. Paths of Salvation and Boundaries of Belief: Spatial Discourse and the Meanings of Conversion in Early Modern Germany

Duane J. Corpis

Chapter 2. Conversion Concepts in Early Modern Germany: Protestant and Catholic

Eric-Oliver Mader

Chapter 3. Turning Dutch? Conversion in Early Modern Wesel

Jesse Spohnholz

Chapter 4. The Right to be Catholic—The Right to be Protestant? Perspectives on Conversion Before and After the Peace of Westphalia

Ralf-Peter Fuchs

Chapter 5. Conversion and Diplomacy in Absolutist Northern Europe

Daniel Riches

Chapter 6. Irenicism and the Challenges of Conversion in the Early Eighteenth Century

Alexander Schunka

Chapter 7. Mish-Mash with the Enemy: Identity, Politics, Power, and the Threat of Forced Conversion in Frederick William I’s Prussia

Benjamin Marschke

Chapter 8. Pietist Conversion Narratives and Confessional Identity

Jonathan Strom

Chapter 9. Conversion and Sarcasm in the Autobiography of Johann Christian Edelmann

Douglas H. Shantz

Afterword

Jared Poley

Bibliography

Notes on the Contributors

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Poley, Jared
Jared Poley is Associate Professor of History at Georgia State University. He is the author of Decolonization in Germany: Weimar Narratives of Colonial Loss and Foreign Occupation (Peter Lang 2005).

Sabean, David Warren
David Warren Sabean is the Henry J. Bruman Endowed Professor of German History at University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Property, Production, and Family in Neckarhausen, 1700-1870 (Cambridge University Press 1990) and Kinship in Neckarhausen, 1700-1870 (Cambridge University Press 1998). He recently edited, with Simon Teuscher and Jon Mathieu, Kinship in Europe: Approaches to Long-Term Development, 1300-1900 (Berghahn Books 2007).

Luebke, David M.
David M. Luebke is Professor of History at the University of Oregon. His publications include His Majesty’s Rebels: Factions, Communities, and Rural Revolt in the Black Forest (Cornell University Press 1997) and many articles, most recently “Confessions of the Dead: Interpreting Burial Practice in the Late Reformation” (Archiv fu¨r Reformationsgeschichte 101: 2010).

Ryan, Daniel C.
Daniel C. Ryan is currently Visiting Assistant Professor at the College of Charleston. He was awarded his PhD in 2008 from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a study on conversion and peasant protest in Imperial Russia.

David M. Luebke is Professor of History at the University of Oregon. His publications include His Majesty’s Rebels: Factions, Communities, and Rural Revolt in the Black Forest (Cornell University Press 1997) and many articles, most recently “Confessions of the Dead: Interpreting Burial Practice in the Late Reformation” (Archiv fu¨r Reformationsgeschichte 101: 2010).