Eike Hinrich Thomsen (Leipzig, Germany)

Johannes Hus as Luther’s Forerunner and a Famous Martyr. A 16^th Century Idea?

Throughout the confessional debates in the 16^th century, Johannes Hus was already interpreted as a central identity marker for the Lutheran movement and as Luther’s »forerunner« and »prophet«. Even in the following centuries, Hus continued to be discussed in different contexts.

In this contribution, the history of Hus’ reception will first be outlined. His reception during the Reformation and today will be the main focus. Using chosen examples, Hus’ popular impact and perception will be presented. Secondly, it will be scrutinized whether and to what extent Hus’ remembrance can be described as a cultural transfer or continuous reception up to our current perception of the Bohemian reformer.

 

Jan Martin (Provo, USA)

William Tyndale as Remembered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

In the early 1500s, William Tyndale was the greatest threat to Catholic Christianity in England. Inspired by Luther, Tyndale became the father of English Protestantism. Unlike Luther, knowledge of Tyndale’s important role faded into obscurity as his influence was misunderstood or overlooked. In the late twentieth century, scholarly interest in Tyndale resurfaced, allowing modern Christian churches to honor him in unique ways. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, founded in 1830, remembers Tyndale as the father of the English Bible, as a martyr, and as a forerunner who prepared the way for the church’s founding.

 

Jason W. Stevens (Towson, USA)

Ingmar Bergman’s ›Autobiographical Phase‹. A Literary and Filmic Return to a Lutheran Childhood

After the publication of his autobiography, The Magic Lantern (1987), Ingmar Bergman wrote a trilogy of novels – The Best Intentions, Sunday’s Children, and Private Conversations – which were adapted into a corresponding trilogy of movies. The novels and their film versions tell the story of a Lutheran pastor’s family closely based on Bergman’s own. Noting thematic connections to Bergman’s masterpieces of the 1950s and 1960s, this paper will ask how his narrative of domestic turmoil in a priestly home explores the tension between life given in the nurturance of human love and life given in the service to God. Does Bergman revise any of the conclusions that he had reached by the 1970s, when he proclaimed that theological questions and religious yearnings were no longer part of his art?

 

Esther Wipfler (Munich, Germany)

Martin Luther in Film and Television. On the Transformation of an Image

In no other medium can the transformation of Martin Luther’s image be as clearly tracked as in film. This mass medium shows how scholarship, whether theological, historiographical or psychological, or the interpretation of the Reformation as a whole, has been popularized over the course of the past century. Moreover, the film image of the Reformer is also part of a specific Lutheran approach to the visual arts.

When the Lutheran Church has been involved in production, leading scholars of theology and church history have been invited to advise the scriptwriters, since the content of such films also refers to theological issues and mirrors the self-image of the contemporary Lutheran Church. Since films about Martin Luther are mostly a German and Anglo-American phenomenon, the transatlantic aspect is an important frame of reference, especially for productions after the Second World War.

 

Juliane Stückrad (Eisenach, Germany)

It’s Luthering! Ethnographic Discoveries in Eisenach

This contribution looks at the materialization and the productions of the 500^th Reformation anniversary in the »Wartburgstadt«. Around the many activities in memory of the Reformation, the neologism »luthern« (to Luther, as a verb) was created. Using case studies from the performative fields of customs, theatre and tourism, it will be scrutinized how Martin Luther as a source of identity affects how people act. This ethnographic study will consider the spring festival Eisenacher Sommergewinn (Benefit of Summer in Eisenach), the musical Luther Rebell wider Willen (Luther, a reluctant Rebel) performed by the Stadttheater, and a guided tour. The participants will be asked about their motivation to take part in the anniversary, the constructed images of Luther will be described and the local needs and contexts expressed in these images will be sought.

 

Michael Beyer (Leipzig, Germany)

Luther Days, Luther Plays, Luther Monuments, Luther Maps. Memoria and Folklore in the Leipziger Land in the Reformation Decade 2008 to 2017

Throughout the Reformation Decade, a »Luthergruppe« (Luther team) was created in the Leipziger Land. Its duty was to see the decade and the Reformation anniversary in the parishes through. Pastors, employees of museums, deputies of the administrative districts and of the Lutherweg (Luther path) activity, as well as church historians, tried to coordinate the initiatives about Luther and his wife. One example of these initiatives is, e. g. professional counselling for a modern Luther monument (constructed in 2011 in front of the Marienkirche and the Emmauskirche in Borna). This counselling included both the realisation of presentations in Borna and its surroundings in connection to the Borna Luther Days and the Middle Age market, and the performance of the Luther Play, which was created in Borna itself.

 

Miriam Tabea Kraaz (Frankfurt/Main, Germany)

The Reformation’s Personalisation and Symbolisation. Martin Luther as an Educational Institution in Medial Space

In his own time, Martin Luther produced himself as an erudite scholar and stimulated thinking about religious and social topics. This role and the way Luther shaped it have faded over time throughout Luther’s cultural reception.

Instead, he is mostly presented as an effective personality concerning the history of events, with an interesting biographical and psychological development. Luther is becoming the face and symbol of the historical, ecclesiastical and political transformation process known as the Reformation and the beginning of modern age.

The aim of this contribution is to show that Luther’s role drawn by the media is typical of the public perception of people as educational institutions in the context of the humanities and cultural sciences.