Reformation of the Senses: The Paradox of Religious Belief and Practice in Germany (Studies in Sensory History)

Through careful examination of religious beliefs and practices in the German-speaking world from approximately 1400 to 1600, this book challenges the centuries-old narrative of the transition from late medieval Christianity to Protestantism as a process of “de-sensualizing” religion. The common assumption that Protestant Christianity is somehow more intellectual and less sensual than its late medieval and Catholic counterparts has its origins in the culture of the German evangelical movements of the early sixteenth century, and continues to influence how we think and talk about religious difference generally to this day. This study develops a critique of this narrative in two parts, integrating periods of late medieval and early modern history, often treated as distinct fields of study. In part 1 of the study, critical scrutiny of the practical provisioning for sensuous worship and discussions about its meaning in the church of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries reveals that late medieval religion was a far more complex, locally variegated, and dynamic thing than scholarly and popular narratives of the “sensuous” Middle Ages often assume. Part 2 turns to the early Protestant Reformation’s relationship to the late medieval paradigm. It shows that popular discourse framed the early Reformation as inaugurating a fundamental break with the world that came before it. Despite this, considerable continuities in belief and practice persisted, particularly in the Lutheran tradition, but also, significantly, among reformed traditions often perceived as representing a more definitively modern, and correspondingly less sensuous, form of Christianity. We see the Protestant Reformation as the dawn of an austere, intellectual Christianity that uprooted a ritualized religion steeped in stimulating the senses—and by extension the faith—of its flock. Historians continue to use the idea as a potent framing device in presenting not just the history of Christianity but the origins of European modernity. Jacob M. Baum plumbs a wealth of primary source material from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to offer the first systematic study of the senses within the religious landscape of the German Reformation. Concentrating on urban Protestants, Baum details the engagement of Lutheran and Calvinist thought with traditional ritual practices. His surprising discovery: Reformation-era Germans echoed and even amplified medieval sensory practices. Yet Protestant intellectuals simultaneously cultivated the idea that the senses had no place in true religion. Exploring this paradox, Baum illuminates the sensory experience of religion and daily life at a crucial historical crossroads. Provocative and rich in new research, Reformation of the Senses reevaluates one of modern Christianity's most enduring myths.| Cover Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Late Medieval Worship: A Sensory Production 2. The Senses and Sacramentality in Late Medieval Intellectual Discourse 3. The Senses and Religious Experience in Vernacular Theology 4. The Reformation of the Senses in Early Evangelical Culture 5. Implementing the Reformation of the Senses in Practice 6. Thinking with the Senses in the Second Reformation Conclusion Notes Bibliography of Primary Sources Index |"Based on a broad array of sources, the author illuminates vital aspects of sensory culture—norms, ritual practices, beliefs, intellectual assumptions, and lived experiences. His conclusions offer a probing critique and correction of traditional theories about the nature and impact of the German Reformation."—Wietse de Boer, coeditor of Religion and the Senses in Early Modern Europe "This is a pioneering history of the senses in the age of Reformations. Focusing on German Protestantism, Baum shows that changes in sensuous regimes were shaped by political and economic frameworks as well as modes of communication. Change was incomplete but pronounced, yet the myth of Protestantism as anti-sensual faith is comprehensively debunked. Based on a wide range of manuscripts and printed works from different localities, this is a significant contribution to our understanding of Reformation history which is at the cutting edge of the field."—Ulinka Rublack, author of The Astronomer and the Witch: Johannes Kepler's Fight for his Mother | Jacob M. Baum is an assistant professor of history at Texas Tech University. "Through careful examination of religious beliefs and practices in the German-speaking world from approximately 1400 to 1600, this book challenges the centuries old narrative of the transition from late medieval Christianity to Protestantism as a process of 'de-sensualizing' religion. The common assumption that Protestant Christianity is somehow more intellectual and less sensual than its late medieval and Catholic counterparts has its origins in the culture of the German evangelical movements of the early sixteenth century, and continues to influence how we think and talk about religious difference generally to this day. This study develops a critique of this narrative in two parts, integrating periods of late medieval and early modern history, often treated as distinct fields of study. In part one of the study, critical scrutiny of the practical provisioning for sensuous worship and discussions about its meaning in the church of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries reveals that late medieval religion was a far more complex, locally variegated, and dynamic thing than scholarly and popular narratives of the 'sensuous' Middle Ages often assume. Part two turns to the early Protestant Reformation's relationship to the late medieval paradigm. It shows that popular discourse framed the early Reformation as inaugurating a fundamental break with the world that came before it. Despite this, considerable continuities in belief and practice persisted, particularly in the Lutheran tradition, but also, significantly, among reformed traditions often perceived as representing a more definitively modern, and correspondingly less sensuous, form of Christianity"-- Provided by publisher