The Reformation and Rural Society
The Parishes of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach, 1528–1603

An examination of the relationship between the Reformation movement of the sixteenth century and the rural population of Germany.

C. Scott Dixon (Author)

9780521893213, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 2 May 2002

244 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 1.5 cm, 0.401 kg

"Dixon's study is a fine addition to the small but growing literature on the Reformation in rural areas." Mary Jane Haemig, Lutheran Quarterly

What was the effect of the Reformation movement on the parishioners of the German countryside? This book examines the reform movement at the level of its implementation - the rural parish. Investigation of the Reformation and the sixteenth-century parish reveals the strength of tradition and custom in village life and how this parish culture obstructed and frustrated the efforts of the Lutheran reformers. The Reformation was not passively adopted by the rural inhabitants. On the contrary, the parishioners manipulated the reform movement to serve their own ends. Parish documentation reveals that the system of parish rule diffused the disciplinary aims of the church and rendered the pastors impotent. A look at parish beliefs suggests that the nature of parish thought worked to undermine the main tenets of the Lutheran faith, and that the legacy of the Reformation was a dialogue between these two realms of experience.

Introduction
1. The emergence and reception of the evangelical movement, 1521–1533
2. The Lutheran church in Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach
3. The clergyman in context: the extension of the Reformation on the parish
4. The Reformation and parish morality
5. The acculturation of the parish mind
Conclusions.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]