Hartmut Lehmann

When the Evangelical Church in Germany proclaimed a Luther Decade in 2008 in preparation for the great Reformation anniversary in 2017, Hartmut Lehmann had been dealing with the Luther anniversaries of the past centuries for many years. So it was obvious that he should also observe the activities undertaken by the EKD with regard to 2017 and comment on them at various points. In addition, between 2008 and 2017 he was repeatedly asked to give lectures about the upcoming anniversary. This resulted in a series of critical comments on the 2017 Reformation Festival, a selection of which is available here. Hartmut Lehmann's assessment is critical. On the one hand, it honors the restoration work on the original Luther memorials, the major national exhibitions that were shown in 2017, and some more recent academic work on Luther and the Reformation. On the other hand, however, he noticed that the EKD did not adequately involve the non-German Protestant churches in the preparations - this is why Refo500 was created in the Netherlands

This collection explores different approaches to contextualizing and conceptualizing the history of Pietism, particularly Pietistic groups who migrated from central Europe to the British colonies in North America during the long eighteenth century. Emerging in German speaking lands during the seventeenth century, Pietism was closely related to Puritanism, sharing similar evangelical and heterogeneous characteristics. Dissatisfied with the established Lutheran and Reformed Churches, Pietists sought to revivify Christianity through godly living, biblical devotion, millennialism and the establishment of new forms of religious association. As Pietism represents a diverse set of impulses rather than a centrally organized movement, there were inevitably fundamental differences amongst Pietist groups, and these differences - and conflicts - were carried with those that emigrated to the New World. The importance of Pietism in shaping Protestant society and culture in Europe and North America has long been recognized, but as a topic of scholarly inquiry, it has until now received little interdisciplinary attention. Offering essays by leading scholars from a range of fields, this volume provides an interdisciplinary overview of the subject. Beginning with discussions about the definition of Pietism, the collection next looks at the social, political and cultural dimensions of Pietism in German-speaking Europe. This is then followed by a section investigating the attempts by German Pietists to establish new, religiously-based communities in North America. The collection concludes with discussions on new directions in Pietist research. Together these essays help situate Pietism in the broader Atlantic context, making an important contribution to understanding religious life in Europe and colonial North America during the eighteenth century.

English summary: There is a distinct German tradition in commemorating the achievements of the German reformer Martin Luther. For example, 1817 and 1917 come to mind, when huge celebrations were staged to remember the 95 Theses, or the anniversaries of Luther's birth in 1883, 1933 and 1983. This volume presents twenty studies of Hartmut Lehmann that discuss the specific character of these celebrations. They show that the more Luther was praised by one party, the more others who also had vital interests in Luther's legacy were excluded; that the more Luther's message was popularized, the more the distinct value of his theological message was ignored; that the more one side attempted to neglect Luther's mistakes, the more others were eager to point out the reformer's weaknesses. Some of the studies look at the Luther celebrations in the United States of America, thus offering a comparative perspective. This volume is essential reading for those preparing the Luther jubilee of 2017. German description: Untersucht man die Lutherjubilaen der vergangenen zwei Jahrhunderte, fallt auf, dass viele der Lutherdeutungen, die Festredner bei den verschiedenen Anlassen - von der dreihundertjahrigen Wiederkehr der Abfassung der Thesen 1817 bis zur Erinnerung an Luthers 500. Geburtstag 1983 - mit Pathos vortrugen, relativ rasch wieder in Vergessenheit gerieten. Je popularer der Ton des Lutherlobs, desto rascher schwand die Erinnerung an diese Stimmen. Je starker die Aktualisierung besonderer Leistungen Luthers, desto kurzlebiger der Eindruck. Je mehr Luthers Leben heroisiert wurde, desto weniger konnten diejenigen, die Luther skeptisch gegenuberstanden, fur die Sache des Protestantismus und speziell des Luthertums gewonnen werden. Je mehr die Deutschen ihren Luther beziehungsweise Luther als eine der grossten Gestalten ihrer Geschichte feierten, desto schwieriger wurde es fur die Angehorigen anderer Nationen, Luthers Leistungen unbefangen zu loben. Fast will es scheinen, dass diejenigen, die Luther feierten, immer zuerst und vor allem sich selbst feierten - ihre eigene politische Position, ihre eigenen kulturellen Werte, ihre jeweiligen kirchenpolitischen Ansichten. Mit anderen Worten: Immer wieder, von 1817 an, wurde das Luthergedachtnis fur bestimmte politische oder auch kirchliche und kulturelle Zwecke instrumentalisiert.

This collection explores different approaches to contextualizing and conceptualizing the history of Pietism, particularly Pietistic groups who migrated from central Europe to the British colonies in North America during the long eighteenth century. Emerging in German speaking lands during the seventeenth century, Pietism was closely related to Puritanism, sharing similar evangelical and heterogeneous characteristics. Dissatisfied with the established Lutheran and Reformed Churches, Pietists sought to revivify Christianity through godly living, biblical devotion, millennialism and the establishment of new forms of religious association. As Pietism represents a diverse set of impulses rather than a centrally organized movement, there were inevitably fundamental differences amongst Pietist groups, and these differences - and conflicts - were carried with those that emigrated to the New World. The importance of Pietism in shaping Protestant society and culture in Europe and North America has long been recognized, but as a topic of scholarly inquiry, it has until now received little interdisciplinary attention. Offering essays by leading scholars from a range of fields, this volume provides an interdisciplinary overview of the subject. Beginning with discussions about the definition of Pietism, the collection next looks at the social, political and cultural dimensions of Pietism in German-speaking Europe. This is then followed by a section investigating the attempts by German Pietists to establish new, religiously-based communities in North America. The collection concludes with discussions on new directions in Pietist research. Together these essays help situate Pietism in the broader Atlantic context, making an important contribution to understanding religious life in Europe and colonial North America during the eighteenth century.

Warum veränderte und verwandelte sich der Protestantismus in den Jahrhunderten seit Luthers Tod? Warum wurde die protestantische Tradition auch von Protestanten immer wieder in Frage gestellt? Drei kritische Perioden werden in dem vorliegenden Band anhand von spezifischen Beispielen untersucht: die Auswirkungen der Krisen des 17. Jahrhunderts, die weitreichenden Folgen der Erneuerungsbewegungen des späten 17. und des 18. Jahrhunderts und schließlich die Einwirkungen des Nationalismus auf Denken und Verhalten führender Protestanten im späten 19. und im 20. Jahrhundert. Hartmut Lehmann liefert in diesem Band erste Schritte hin zu einer neuen und umfassenden Analyse der Eigenart des Protestantismus.

The fourteenth, seventeenth and twentieth centuries in European history were marked by exceptionally intense experiences of power, violence and mass death. Power, Violence and Mass Death in Pre-Modern and Modern Times undertakes the ambitious and entirely new task of analyzing, through comparison, the importance of power, violence and mass death in these centuries. Death and the excesses of power were characteristics of the twentieth century, but this volume teaches about the causes and possible consequences of this oppressive individual and collective experience. We now have a more established historical perspective for understanding the importance of power and the causes and results of the rapid increase in mortality in the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. In this way, this volume makes progress towards reaching new perceptions of all three 'crisis' epochs. Appealing to a wide readership, Power, Violence and Mass Death in Pre-Modern and Modern Times will be of interest to scholars not only of the three centuries highlighted, but also to anyone with an historical and sociological interest in the larger questions raised about the nature of power, violence and mass death on European society.