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- Title
Revisiting Humanism and the Urban Reformation.
- Authors
Burnett, Amy Nelson
- Abstract
It is generally accepted that humanism paved the way for the success of the Reformation, but German humanism was not a uniform movement in the decade before the Reformation. An analysis of the correspondence of German humanists and future reformers suggests that there were several distinct groups. The first was centered around Gotha/Erfurt and included both Wittenberg and Nuremberg, while the second was associated with Vienna. In southern Germany there were close connections but also some distinctions between the Upper Rhine circle, which stretched from Basel to Heidelberg, and the humanist circles found in the imperial cities of southeastern Germany. There was no direct epistolary contact between the Erfurt and Upper Rhine groups, and humanists in the lower Rhine did not participate in this correspondence network. Humanists in each of these areas responded differently to the early evangelical message. Most of those in Erfurt became Luther's supporters, but the Viennese circle showed little interest in religious issues and remained loyal to Rome. In the Upper Rhine, Luther's message combined with the prior concern for educational and religious reform associated with Erasmus to produce a Reformation in the south that differed from Wittenberg, while Catholic humanism was strongest along the lower Rhine.
- Subjects
HUMANISM; REFORMATION; HUMANISTS; EVANGELICALISM; CATHOLICS
- Publication
Lutheran Quarterly, 2021, Vol 35, Issue 4, p1
- ISSN
0024-7499
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/lut.2021.0093