Module Code - Title:
HI4056
-
NEW HEAVEN, NEW EARTH, POWER AND BELIEF IN THE EUROPEAN REFORMATION, 1517-1618
Year Last Offered:
2025/6
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
This module examines the history of the Reformation in central Europe. It interrogates how and why the theological interventions of a relatively unknown professor at a minor university (Martin Luther of Wittenberg) ultimately gave rise to fundamental changes in the religious, political, and social order of the period. The module explores varieties of Reformation thought from the conservative to the radical and aims to interrogate their social and political implications and general historical significance. The module is designed for third-year students of History. The module will enable these students to develop a thorough understanding of the European Reformation in its various guises. It is also intended to act as a bridge between the general surveys of early modern history offered in years 1 and 2 and the specialist electives offered in year 4.
Syllabus:
The late medieval Church; popular piety in the late medieval world; pre-Reformation patterns of heresy and reform; Christian Humanism; Martin Luther, a Wittenberg theologian; preaching, propaganda and cultures of persuasion; political responses to Luther in the Holy Roman Empire; Huldrych Zwingli and the Reformation in Zurich; iconoclastic fury and the populus unleashed; the early Reformation in the cities; the Radical Reformation; the German Peasants' War; Apocalypse Now: Anabaptist Münster and the New Jerusalem; the Magisterial Reformation; Calvin's Geneva and the Second Reformation; International Calvinism; Catholic Reform; the Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent; political conflict and settlements in the Holy Roman Empire; confessionalization and social discipline; religious exiles and refugees; the Reformation and the family; female religious congregations and the Reformation; the Reformation and education.
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
Upon successful completion of this module students should be able to:
• possess a detailed knowledge of the history of the Reformation in central Europe
• observe common and differentiated patterns in the historical development of the Reformation in central Europe
• understand the contexts in which Reformation theologies and ideologies were produced
• contextualize and analyse the political reception of Reformation ideas
• differentiate and evaluate the varied responses to the Reformation across the social spectrum
• analyse how the historiography of the Reformation has developed since the sixteenth century to the present day
• synthesize various and divergent historiographies to produce nuanced analyses of Reformation history
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
Upon successful completion of this module students should be able to understand the fundamental importance of religion and belief in early modern society and appreciate the enormity of the transformations - spiritual, social and political - that were a consequence of the European Reformation.
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
N/A
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
Teaching and learning on this module will take place in lectures and tutorials. In these settings, a variety of pedagogical techniques will be adopted to encourage student engagement and to facilitate meaningful, in-depth learning. These will include whole-class exercises (open discussion forum; more formal debates; quizzes) and small-group work (group presentations; group projects; reading circles). There will be an emphasis on primary source engagement which will be provided in translation. Intensive use of primary sources will encourage immersion in an unfamiliar world and should facilitate the challenging of assumptions and preconceptions (of students and those inherent in the scholarship). Primary source discussion will take place in tutorials but will also occur in online fora and assessment exercises. These pedagogical approaches will encourage engaged and collaborative learning. They will stimulate critical, creative and responsible approaches to the study of the past. They will assist in inculcating knowledge of the past and will also facilitate the articulation of that learning with coherence and clarity. The content of the module reflects the current state of scholarship on the subject and the teaching is led by the research interests of the lecturer.
Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):
Prime Texts:
Euan Cameron (1991)
The European Reformation
, Oxford
Carlos Eire (2016)
Eire, Carlos, Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650
, Yale
Mark Greengrass (2015)
Christendom Destroyed: Europe 1517-1648
, Penguin
H. J. Hillerbrand (ed.) (1996)
The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Reformation, 4 vols
, Oxford
Andrew Pettegree (ed.) (1992)
The Early Reformation in Europe
, Cambridge
Andrew Pettegree (ed.) (2000)
The Reformation World
, Routledge
Andrew Pettegree (2005)
Reformation and the culture of persuasion
, Cambridge
R.W. Scribner (1987)
Popular culture and popular movements in Reformation Germany
, Hambledon
George H. Williams (1962)
The Radical Reformation
, Weidenfeld & Nicholson
R. Po-chia Hsia (1998)
The World of Catholic Renewal
, Cambridge
Tom Scott (2013)
The Early Reformation in Germany: Between Secular Impact and Radical Vision
, Ashgate
Euan Cameron (2010)
Enchanted Europe: Superstition, Reason, and Religion, 1250-1750
, Oxford
Alister McGrath (1993)
Reformation Thought: an introduction
, Oxford
Michael B. Baylor (ed.) (1991)
The Radical Reformation
, Cambridge
Martin Luther ()
Luther's Works (American Edition, Concordia, 55 vols., 1955-)
, Concordia
R. Po-chia Hsia (1989)
Social Discipline in the Reformation: central Europe, 1550-1750
, Routledge
Carter Lindberg (1996)
The European Reformations
, Oxford
Carter Lindberg (ed.) (2014)
The European Reformations Sourcebook (2nd edition)
, Wiley
Diarmaid McCulloch (2004)
Reformation: Europe's House Divided
, Penguin
A. Ryrie (ed.) (2005)
Palgrave Advances in the European Reformations
, Palgrave
C. Scott Dixon (2002)
The Reformation Movement in Germany
, Wiley-Blackwell
C. Scott Dixon (ed.) (1999)
The German Reformation: The Essential Readings
, Wiley-Blackwell
Ulinka Rublack (ed.) (2016)
The Oxford Handbook of Protestant Reformations
, Oxford
Other Relevant Texts:
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
BAARTSUDA - Arts
BAEUSTUFA - EUROPEAN STUDIES
Semester(s) Module is Offered:
Spring
Module Leader:
josemaria.morenomadrid@ul.ie