The history of belief, piety, and theology ("Frommigkeitsgeschichte") has long stood in the center of Erlangen church historian Berndt Hamm's research interest. Inspired by his work, scholars from Europe and the U.S. have produced this interdisciplinary volume covering topics from the early Middle Ages to the present and dedicate it to him on his sixtieth birthday. Theologie- und frommigkeitsgeschichtlichen Phanomenen gilt das besondere Forschungsinteresse des Erlanger Kirchenhistorikers Berndt Hamm. Die Impulse aus seinen Forschungen aufnehmend, widmen ihm Forscher/-innen aus Europa und den USA zum 60. Geburtstag diesen interdisziplinar angelegten Sammelband mit Beitragen vom Fruhmittelalter bis zur Gegenwart.

The contributions reflect a broad range of interdisciplinary research interests in the field of lay piety and learned theology in the Middle Ages, Reformation, and Later Times as well as their representation through certain media such as book printing.

Der Band versammelt mehrere Aufsätze von Volker Leppin aus den vergangenen eineinhalb Jahrzehnten. Die Sammlung beginnt mit theoretischen Reflexionen zu einem historiographisch angemessenen Verständnis von Reformation. Dabei wird der Gedanke entwickelt, dass diese weniger als Bruch mit der gängigen Theologie, Frömmigkeit und Kirche zu sehen ist, denn als eine Transformation des Vorgegebenen. Konkret werden diese Überlegungen durch Studien, die mit der Auseinandersetzung um Aristoteles im 13. Jahrhundert einsetzen, sich dann der Theologie und Frömmigkeit der Mystik bei Meister Eckhart, Tauler und Nikolaus von Kues zuwenden und schließlich in die Reformation im engeren Sinne münden. Hier stehen Person und Theologie Martin Luthers im Zentrum. In sorgfältigen Detailstudien zeigt Volker Leppin insbesondere, wie sich dessen Kernthemen - Solus Christus, Sola gratia, Sola fide und Sola scriptura - herausschälen. Daraufhin arbeitet der Autor einzelne Konkretionen von Luthers Theologie in Gebet, Gotteslehre oder Kirchenraumgestaltung heraus und überprüft und bestätigt an ihnen das Modell der Transformation. So wird Luther an seinen historischen Ort gesetzt - jenseits von Monumentalisierungen und Verspottungen, denen sich die abschließenden Studien zuwenden. Die Studien zeigen Luthers markantes reformatorisches Profil, mit dem er sich zwar in Gegensatz zur herrschenden Kirche stellte, seinen Wurzeln in Mystik, Frömmigkeitstheologie und auch Scholastik und Humanismus aber verbunden blieb.

The development of Martin Luther's thought has commanded much scholarly attention because of the Reformation and its remarkable effects on the history of Christianity in the West. But much of that scholarship has been so enthralled by certain later debates that it has practically ignored and even distorted the context in and against which Luther's thought developed. In The Early Luther Berndt Hamm, armed with expertise both in late-medieval intellectual life and in Luther, presents new perspectives that leave old debates behind. A master Luther scholar, Hamm provides fresh insights into the development of Luther's theology from his entry into the monastery through his early lectures on the Bible to his writing of the 95 Theses in 1517 and The Freedom of a Christian in 1520. Rather than looking for a single breakthrough, Hamm carefully outlines a series of significant shifts in Luther's late-medieval theological worldview over the course of his early career. The result is a more accurate, nuanced portrait of Reformation giant Martin Luther.

Thomas Kaufmann, the leading European scholar of the Reformation, argues that the main motivations behind the Reformation rest in religion itself. The Reformation began far from Europe's traditional political, economic, and cultural power centres, and yet it threw the whole continent into turmoil. There has been intense speculation over the last century focusing on the political and social causes that lay at the root of this revolution. Thomas Kaufmann, one of the world's leading experts on the Reformation, sees the most important drivers for what happened in religion itself. The reformers were principally concerned with the question of salvation. It could all have ended with the pope's condemnation of Luther and his teaching. But Luther believed the pope was condemned to eternal damnation, and this was the root cause of the great split to come. Hatred of the damned drove people to take up arms, while countless numbers left their homes far behind and carried the Reformation message to the furthest corners of the earth in the hope of salvation. In The Saved and the Damned, Thomas Kaufmann presents a dramatic overview of how Europe was transformed by the seismic shock of the Reformation--and of how its aftershocks reverberate right down to the present day.

Pro Ecclesia is a quarterly journal of theology published by the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology.

"Protestant spirituality" might sound like an oxymoron. Reformation scholar Scott Hendrix contends, however, that the spiritual tradition found among early Protestants was vibrant because spirituality meant all the ways they practiced their faith. Accordingly, these representative texts are grouped into nine categories: Personal Voices, Interpreting Scripture, Preaching, Admonishing and Consoling, Living the Faith, Singing, Praying, Reconstructing Sacraments, and Worshiping. This unique anthology of writings by twenty-five early Protestants is a rich resource for every teacher and student of Reformation Christianity. Book jacket.