Illuminating the situation of different early modern Protestant majorities and minorities

The contributors to this volume examine the complex and dynamic role that Protestant majorities and minorities played in shaping the Reformations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In doing so, it offers an important perspective on the range of intellectual, social, economic, political, theological and ecclesiological factors that governed intra- and inter-confessional encounter in the early modern period. While the principal focus is on the situation of different Protestant majority and minority groups, many of the contributions also engage the relation of Protestants and Catholics, with a number also considering early modern Christian dialogue with Muslims and Jews. The volume is organised into five sections, which together provide a comprehensive picture of Protestant majorities and minorities. The first section explores intellectual trajectories, especially those which promoted confessional unity or sought to break down confessional boundaries. The second section, taking the neglected Spanish Reformation as an important case-study, examines the clandestine aspect of minority activities and the efforts of majorities to control and suppress them. The third section pursues a similar theme but examines it through the lens of Flemish and Walloon Reformed refugee communities in Germany and the Netherlands, demonstrating the way in which confessional factors could lead to the integration or exclusion of minorities. The fourth section examines marginal or peripheral Reformations, whether geographically or doctrinally understood, focussing on attempts to implement reform in the shadow of the Ottoman Empire. Finally, the fifth section looks at confessional identity and otherness as a principal theme of majority and minority relations, providing both theoretical and practical frameworks for its evaluation.

Autorentext
Simon J.G. Burton is John Laing Senior Lecturer in Reformation History at the School of Divinity in Edinburgh.Leon van den Broeke is Senior Lecturer Theology of Law and Church Polity at Theologische Universiteit Kampen and Associate Professor Religion, Law and Society at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.Frances Luttikhuizen (+ 2022) was an interdisciplinary scholar, an applied linguist turned historian, a retired educator, a teacher-trainer, text-book writer, researcher, and lecturer. She held a Ph.D. from the University of Barcelona.Micha Choptiany is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Artes Liberales of the University of Warsaw.Dr. habil. Piotr Wilczek is Professor Ordinarius at the Faculty of Artes Liberales of the University of Warsaw, Poland.Simon J.G. Burton is John Laing Senior Lecturer in Reformation History at the School of Divinity in Edinburgh.Micha Choptiany is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Artes Liberales of the University of Warsaw.Dr. habil. Piotr Wilczek is Professor Ordinarius at the Faculty of Artes Liberales of the University of Warsaw, Poland.Herman J. Selderhuis ist Professor für Kirchengeschichte an der Theologischen Universität Apeldoorn, Direktor von Refo500, Wissenschaftlicher Kurator der Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek sowie Präsident des Internationalen Calvinkongresses.Dr. Christopher B. Brown is Associate Professor of Church History at Boston University.Dr. Günter Frank ist Direktor der Europäischen Melanchthon-Akademie Bretten und außerplanmäßiger Professor am Karlsruher Institut für Technologie.Dr. Bruce Gordon is Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale Divinity School.Barbara Mahlmann-Bauer ist Professorin em. für Neuere deutsche Literatur an der Universität Bern.Tarald Rasmussen ist Professor für Kirchengeschichte an der Universität Oslo.Dr. Violet Soen is Associate Professor for Early Modern History at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Leuven.Dr. Zsombor Tóth is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Literary Studies at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.Dr. Günther Wassilowsky ist Professor für Kirchengeschichte an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.Prof. Dr. Siegrid Westphal ist Inhaberin des Lehrstuhls für Geschichte der Frühen Neuzeit an der Universität Osnabrück sowie Direktorin des Forschungszentrums Institut für Kulturgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit.