Christian Witt (Wuppertal, Germany)

Luther’s Reformation of Marriage. Theological Form and Cultural Impact

The core of Luther’s reformatory ideas is a creative re-definition of the relationship between God and human beings. This re-definition was also elaborated upon by Luther in his thinking about marriage. In doing so, he came to an understanding of marriage which presented a cut with the theological tenets concerning marriage given by the Roman Church. Using examples where these cut surfaces can exactly be found, this contribution describes which theological ideas are at their foundation and how those are condensed in Luther’s speaking on marriage. Against this background, this presentation can be understood as a theological-historical part of an interdisciplinary debate about a topic through which one can both discuss the cultural-historical classification of reformatory thinking as well as its impact and adoption to date.

 

Christopher König (Bochum, Germany)

Staging Manhood. Masculinity and Male Role Models in Reformation Dramas

Presumably, the Reformation is one of the best examined eras in gender history. Since the question of the cultural impact of the Reformation is still topical, it seems worthy to take into consideration the ideas of the history of the body, and the question regarding ›anthropological Reformations‹.

This contribution scrutinizes to what extent the Reformation stimulated a reformulation and reconstruction of masculinity. What implications did the highly cited ›Pater familias model‹ have, what alternatives were accepted? These questions will be examined by analysing and contextualising several Reformation dramas as a specific sort of sources which aimed for catechesis, admonition and mindset formation.

 

Benedikt Brunner (Bonn, Germany)

The Re-formulation of the Mind-Body Relationship in the Reformation and its Impact on Body Awareness, Sexuality and Marriage

This contribution focuses on the question of whether 16^th century Lutheranism developed a confessionally shaped particular idea of man. The root of this problem can be found in Luther’s re-formulation of mind and body and its impact on body awareness, sensory perception and emotions. Looking at the writings of Argula von Grumbach and Katharina Zell, the issues of sexuality and marriage will be analysed as examples. At large, this contribution tries to connect theological and cultural historical problems in an innovative way.

 

Julia Schmidt-Funke (Jena, Germany)

»Appetitus ad mulierem est creatio Dei«. On the Problem of Chastity in Protestantism

During the Reformation, the rejection of celibacy and the re-valuation of sexuality became crucial elements of Protestantism. But that does not mean that a binding Protestant way of life was developed. But whereas in Lutheranism and Calvinism, marriage was understood as the only relationship where sexuality was legitimated, divergent conceptions emerged in Anabaptism, which became the crucial criterion for distinguishing orthodoxy and heterodoxy in the stage of confessionalization. Thus, representatives of the Lutheran and Reformed Church stamped on such groups practising extramarital sexuality or polygamy. Those conflicts were renewed when piety movements originating in the 17^th century brought up again the question of the spirituality of sexual acts.

 

Wolfgang Breul (Mainz, Germany)

Marriage in Early Modern Protestantism. From Affirmation of Corporeality to its Crisis

In contrast to Luther’s theology of marriage, which resulted from anti-celibate opposition in the early stages of the Reformation and affirmed a binary conception of gender and sexuality in principle, Pietism tried to integrate love, marriage and sex in a concept of sanctification of the whole Christian life, and decidedly included even all celibate ways of life. The efforts led to divergent approaches in different forms of the Pietistic movement. Their similarity could be found in the fact that they all were not sustainable in the long run.

 

Katherine Faull (Lewisburg, USA)

Speaking to Body and Soul. Moravian Pastoral Care in the 18^th Century

The 1785 Instructions for the Choir Helpers contain detailed advice for the spiritual counselors of the men, women, and children in Moravian congregations on how to address concerns about one’s body and soul. This paper will examine how the Moravians translated Luther’s concepts of marriage and the family into a remarkably positive evaluation of human sexuality. Despite scholarly arguments that the era of Spangenberg heralded a conservative turn in the Unity of the Brethren, the paper will argue that the Instructions provide rare insights into an interpretation of the body as a holistic system that should be cared for as a vessel for the spirit.

 

Susanne Hennecke (Bonn, Germany)

Equality and/or Difference? Reception of Reformation in the Context of Early Women Movements

In this contribution, Susanne Hennecke investigates the religious and political contribution of Sarah Moore Grimké, Sojourner Truth and Elisabeth Cady Stanton to the early civil-rights movement in the United States. It seems that these three 19^th century female protestants represent a typical form of modern Protestantism, which can be interpreted as a modernization of modern Protestantism in a gendertheoretical way. The example makes clear that the modernity of modern Protestantism itself is ›semper reformanda‹ to fulfill its own promise.

 

Gerhard Schreiber (Darmstadt, Germany)

›Semper reformandum‹? Gender Pluralism as a Challenge and a Chance for Protestantism

As scientific research shows, gender as a complex category clearly allows for a broader spectrum than only the binary classification of human beings as ›male‹ or ›female‹. The acknowledgment of gender pluralism is both a challenge and a chance. A challenge concerning traditional presumptions of theological anthropology. A chance insofar as a theology of pluralism fits to and doesn’t abandon the Protestant traditions, but unfolds them in the context of modern thinking and action and accounts for them in the horizon of the current awareness of truth within modern society which is getting more and more complex and differentiated.