medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear John & Co:
Brad Gregory's wonderful book "Salvation at Stake: Christian Martyrdom in
Early Modern Europe" (Harvard UP 1999) is what made me stop drawing a clear
line between medieval Christian and Protestant notions of sanctity. He
presents a very large body of evidence that shows that Protestants and
Anabaptists viewed their martyrs very much in the terms that people of the
early sixteenth century understood---as "saints," at least in the fairly
broad sense of "people who in some way demonstrated their particular
closeness to God." Certainly saint as example is stressed, rather than
saint as miracle-worker. My impression reading Gregory's work and a little
supplementary material is that the hagiography and iconography shifted, but
there wasn't a clear break from the medieval past. In fact, just a couple
of weeks ago I was in a Lutheran church that included a stained glass
window of Martin Luther looking heavenward with a Bible in his hand, with
something suspiciously like a nimbus around him. And then of course
there's the Anglican branch of Protestantism, which acknowledges saints
both ancient and modern, including special commemorations of such
Protestant greats as Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley.
I happened across a little mine of early "Protestant saints" at the website
Oekumenisches Heiligenlexikon, at http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/. That's
what I'm using as my source.
Phyllis
>>
>>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>>
>>Dear Phyllis Jestice: I applaud your listing Protestant martyrs.
>>But was there any Protestant sect that considered them to
>>be "saints"? As to martyrs, you'll be flooded if you start to list
>>the anabaptists. Incidently, what is the printed source you are
>>using for these unhappy (or happy!) folk? Yours, with much thanks,
>>John Mundy
>>
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>
>--
>Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
>University of Southern Mississippi
Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
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