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Downloaded from Brill.Com09/26/2021 12:09:05AM Via Free Access 2 Martin … Church History Church History and and Religious Culture 98 (2018) 1–29 Religious Culture brill.com/chrc More than Piety The Historiographic Neglect of Early Modern Lay Theology Lucinda Martin Gotha Research Centre, University of Erfurt [email protected] Abstract Histories of Early Modern religion in Europe typically contrast the activities of ordained theologians with those of laity.The thought and writings of the former usually constitute “theology” and those of the latter “piety.” The result has long been a divided history. Confessional church historians have written histories that were essentially genealogies of (male) officer holders, while scholars of folklore, culture or literature analyzed the contributions of laity. Since the so-called cultural turn, the contributions of laity as organizers, transmitters and patrons of Early Modern religious movements are being recognized. What has been less studied are the intellectual achievements of laity, many of whom possessed deep knowledge of theology, history, and ancient languages and played important roles in Early Modern religious history. This article provides an overview of the main issues and the development of lay theology in the period and argues for increased study of the phenomenon. Keywords devotional literature – Pietism – conventicles – Priesthood of All Believers – Invisible Church – heresy © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi: 10.1163/18712428-09801024Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 12:09:05AM via free access 2 martin … I beg you not to mention my name among the learned […] I seek in this neither reputation nor fame, rather Christ is my fame and my reward. jacob böhme1 ∵ 1 Theology versus Piety An autodidact who began as a shoemaker, Jacob Böhme (1575–1624) would become one of the most influential German authors internationally. Böhme hailed from Görlitz, in the seventeenth century a bustling town situated on a major trading route. Görlitz had a respected Gymnasium and there was an active intellectual community that the innately curious Böhme was evidently able to tap. Soon he was corresponding with a network of religious reformers, alchemists, astrologers, and other thinkers from Lübeck to Vilnius.2 Böhme’s overarching goal was to reconcile religion and natural philosophy in one eclec- tic, yet coherent system. Toward this end, he composed a corpus of writings that have fascinated readers since his own time and have made an impact on disciplines as diverse as philosophy, religion, art, and literature.Yethe has never received scholarly attention commensurate to his influence. Elsewhere I have written about the historiographical suppression of lay philosophy and theology, especially in regards to Böhme.3 He was neither an ordained theologian, nor a 1 Unless otherwise stated, all translations in this article are mine. Here the original German: “[Endlich] bitte ich, meines Namens bey den Gelehrten zu schweigen […] Ich suche mir damit keinen Namen noch Ruhm, sondern Christus ist mein Ruhm und mein Lohn.” In a letter from Böhme to Abraham von Sommerfeld (1620), printed in: Jacob Böhme, Theosophische Send- briefe: in Theosophia Revelata: Alle göttliche Schriften des Gottseligen und Hocherleuchteten Deutschen Theosophi Jacob Böhmens […], ed. JohannWilhelm Überfeld (n.pl.: n.pub., 1730), here: chap. 10, §34 (37–38). 2 On Böhme’s letters, see Leigh Penman’s recent pathbreaking article which lists other sources on Böhme’s networks, “The Broken Tradition: Uncovering Errors in the Correspondence of Jacob Böhme,” Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 18 (2018), 96–125. 3 Lucinda Martin, “Jacob Böhme at University: The Historiographic Exile of a Seventeenth- Century Philosopher,” Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 18 (2018), 3–20, esp. 10–15. Church History and ReligiousDownloaded Culture from Brill.com09/26/2021 98 (2018) 1–29 12:09:05AM via free access more than piety 3 university-educated philosopher and despite his great cultural significance has therefore not been an interesting object of study for historians of theology and philosophy. He fell, so to speak, between the disciplinary cracks. Histories of Early Modern religion in Europe typically contrast the activi- ties of ordained theologians with those of laity. The thought and writings of the former usually constitute “theology,” while those of the latter are under- stood as “piety.” The result has long been a divided history. Confessional church historians have written histories that were essentially genealogies of (male) officer holders, while scholars of folklore, culture, or literature have analyzed the contributions of laity. Since the so-called cultural turn in the humanities, most histories now include discussions of the activities of lay religious reform- ers, although often in a separate section including topics such as “Social Life,” “Women,” or “Piety and Prayer.”4 The contributions of laity as organizers, trans- mitters, and patrons of Early Modern religious movements are now beginning to be recognized. Yet historians still do not pay enough attention to the sub- stantial intellectual achievements of lay theologians, many of whom possessed deep knowledge of theology, history, and ancient languages as well as other dis- ciplines and who influenced the development of religious and cultural history. In fact, Protestantism has an impressive tradition of lay theologians. Martin Jung has pointed out that leading figures of the Reformation such as Zwingli and Melanchthon did not study theology at university. Jung further identifies as lay theologians a series of profound religious thinkers: Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig (1489–1561), Menno Simons (1496–1561), Katharina Zell (1497/98– 1562), Jacob Böhme, Nikolaus Ludwig Count Zinzendorf (1700–1760), and Ger- hardTersteegen (1697–1769).5This issue of Church History and Religious Culture 4 I take these examples from the 4-volume history of Pietism produced by the Historical Commission for the Study of Pietism. The first three volumes outline a chronological and geographical history of a primarily Lutheran inner-church movement, while a fourth vol- ume includes essays on aspects such as “Soziales,” “Frauen,” and “Frömmigkeit und Gebet.” Geschichte des Pietismus, ed. Martin Brecht, et al., (Göttingen, 1993–2004), Vol. 4, “Glaubens- welt und Lebenswelten” ed. Hartmut Lehmann, 2003. 5 Martin Jung, Nachfolger,Visionärinnen, Kirchenkritiker, (Leipzig, 2003), 59–63, here 60–61. On Zell, see Jung, “Katharina Zell geb. Schütz (1497/98–1562): Eine Laientheologin der Reforma- tionszeit?” in Jung, Nonnen, Prophetinnen, Kirchenmütter, (Leipzig, 2002), 121–168. English- language scholars have understood Pietism as something more international and more di- verse than most continental historians have and thus integrate the stories of laity: Cf. Douglas H. Shantz, An Introduction to German Pietism: Protestant Renewal at the Dawn of Modern Europe, (Baltimore, 2013); William Reginald Ward, The Protestant Evangelical Awakening, (Cambridge, 2002 [1992]). Carter Lindberg goes so far as to call some laity, including women, Church History and Religious Culture 98 (2018) 1–29Downloaded from Brill.com09/26/2021 12:09:05AM via free access 4 martin attests that this list could be greatly expanded. The present article problema- tizes the traditional historiographic division between professional theology and lay piety by surveying the main issues and development of lay theology in the Early Modern period, especially in Germany. The following four articles focus on case studies in Dutch and German territories to show that events on the ground were far more complex than the simple duality “theology” versus “piety” expresses. 2 The Literary Roots of Lay Theology Although it has ancient roots, Early Modern lay theology is a direct descendant of the Protestant Reformation. The doctrine of sola Scriptura demanded that believers be given the keys to their own salvation. Reformers thus sought to place the Bible in the hands of laity, but thought that clergy would continue to be responsible for interpreting Scripture. Once given access to inexpensive Bibles in vernacular languages, laity not only read voraciously, but also drew their own conclusions about possible meanings of Scripture. Soon reformers urged laity not just to read the Bible, but to carry out home worship services. To aid laity in their private devotions, theologians developed new genres of religious literature. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw an explosion of new religious publications to meet the needs of laity. Hymnals for home use (Hausgesangbücher) and “home worship books” (Hausandachts- bücher) that included short readings, songs, and biblical interpretations helped laity to perform services in their own homes. Many theologians also published their collected sermons for laity to study and to read aloud for home use. Although the authors of devotional texts clearly still privileged the institu- tional church and saw these publications as a support, not a replacement, for church services, there was nonetheless a pervasive sense that such publica- tions were necessary because of the wretched state of both church and society. Philipp Nicolai (1556–1608) refers to the “misery” of the period, and Johann Arndt (1555–1621) states that it was “Godlessness” that motivated him to write his “Books of True Christianity.”6 Martin Moller (1547–1606) criticizes pastors “theologians”: The PietistTheologians: An Introduction toTheology in the Seventeenth and Eigh- teenth Centuries,
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