The Radical Reformation

This 1991 collection of writings by early Reformation radicals illustrates both the diversity and the areas of agreement in their political thinking.

Michael G. Baylor (Edited by)

9780521379489, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 31 October 1991

338 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.8 cm, 0.52 kg

"We have here a very useful reader on the radical wing of the Protestant Reformation of the early sixteenth century....After a compact but informed introduction, a six-page chronology, and a concise bibliographical note, Professor Baylor presents in fresh translation thirteen key documents illustrating core concerns of the radicals." Donald F. Durnbaugh, Utopian Studies

This 1991 book is a collection of writings by early Reformation radicals which illustrates both the diversity and the areas of agreement in their political thinking. The texts are drawn from the period 1521–7, centring on the German Peasants' War of 1524–6. The thinkers represented - Muntzer, Karlstadt, Grebel, Hut, Denck, and others - differed on important theological issues, yet all rejected the magistral reformation as serving the interests of society's elites. They advocated a strategy of Reformation from below, a sweeping transformation of society to the benefit of the lay commoner and the local community. With the start of the Peasants' War, radicals divided over the issue of the legitimacy of force. This division shaped the ways in which they confronted the failure of the Peasants' War and the alternate strategies for survival developed in its aftermath. Appended to the texts are a number of political programmes of the Peasants' War. These documents illustrate ways in which the radicals contributed to the uprising, and how the war itself led to greater clarity in the political theory of the radical Reformation.

Preface
Introduction
Chronology 1521–8
Bibliographical note
1. Thomas Müntzer, The Prague Protest
2. Thomas Müntzer, Sermon to the Princes (or An Exposition of the Second Chapter of Daniel)
3. Andreas Karlstadt, Letter from the Community of Orlamünde to the People of Allstedt
4. Conrad Grebel, Letter to Thomas Münzter
5. Andreas Karlstadt, Whether One Should Proceed Slowly
6. Thomas Müntzer, A Highly Provoked Defense
7. Felix Manz, Protest and Defense
8. Anonymous, To the Assembly of the Common Peasantry
9. Hans Denck, On the Law of God
10. Hans Hut, On the Mystery of Baptism
11. Michael Sattler, The Schleitheim Articles
12. Balthasar Hubmaier, On the Sword
13. Han Hergot, On the New Transformation of the Christian Life
Appendices: Programs of the Peasants' War: a) The Eleven Muhlhausen Articles
b) The Twelve Articles of the Upper Swabian Peasants
c) The Memmingen Federal Constitution
d) The Document of Articles of the Black Forest Peasants
e) The Forty-six Frankfurt Articles
f) Michael Gaismair's Territorial Constitution for Tyrol
Biographical notes
Notes to the texts.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]