Challenging the Paradigms: Holy Writ and Lay Readers in Late Medieval Europe

Corbellini, Sabrina; Duijn, Mart van; Folkerts, Suzan; Hoogvliet, Margriet

doi:10.1163/18712428-13930202

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…I would like to take the "paradigm" further still to encompass the related generalization that, after the advent of the Reformation, the Catholic authorities, both ecclesiastical and civil, intensified their efforts to keep the vernacular Bible out of the hands of the laity. My definition builds upon the analyses offered by scholars such as Andrew Gow 94 and Sabrina Corbellini (including her Groningen research group), 95 whereas the existence of such an underlying "paradigm" is also recognized in publications written by Kenneth G. Appold 96 and Peter Marshall. 97 The "paradigm," and the various myths typically surrounding it, contributed to the construction of the Protestant identity beginning in the early modern period, an identity that was reinforced in the second confessional age between the 1850s and the 1970s and that unfortunately continues to hold firm in the minds of scholars today when looking at the materials before them.…”

Section: The Enduring Seduction Of Confessionally or Ideologicallmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Antwerpian Printer Jacob van Liesvelt, his Widow, and their Bibles: Myths and Facts from a Confessional Era

François

2020

Church Hist

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Jacob van Liesvelt, an Antwerpian printer, was executed in 1545 for publishing without the consent of the authorities. His sad story has been retold throughout the centuries. In an early Protestant tradition, it was argued that Van Liesvelt died because of certain Reformation-minded marginal notes contained in the Bible of 1542, an argument that has been continuously elaborated upon over the years, giving rise to the myth of Van Liesvelt as the martyr of the Word of God. This article critically questions the story of Van Liesvelt's execution, showing ways to “debunk” the myth. However, in her book Pragmatic Toleration (2015), the American scholar Victoria Christman reworks a theory earlier put forward in an article in The Sixteenth Century Journal (2011), building on the Van Liesvelt myth from husband to widow. She argues that the latter, Maria Ancxt, simply continued her husband's Protestant Bible production, uninhibited by his terrifying fate and without experiencing any form of judicial censure. This essay, in contrast, presents a painstaking study of Ancxt's entire Bible production, which firmly arrives at the conclusion that it was largely Catholic in character—although Ancxt explored the boundaries of what was possible—and that this is the reason why she was never disturbed by the authorities. This essay, therefore, also includes more general remarks on confessionally or ideologically colored history writing—in the past and present—while exploring its boundaries.

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Section: The Enduring Seduction Of Confessionally or Ideologicallmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Antwerpian Printer Jacob van Liesvelt, his Widow, and their Bibles: Myths and Facts from a Confessional Era

François

2020

Church Hist

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“…57 Other broad trends also increased the intellectual mobility of laypeople. 58 From the high Middle Ages onwards, the Bible was translated into various European languages, along with various adaptations and popularizations of biblical matter. 59 From the mid-fourteenth century-a full hundred years before the invention of printing with moveable type and the famous Gutenberg Bible-there was a marked increase in lay literacy, which enabled whole new segments of the population to practice an individualized religiosity based on religious reading.…”

Section: Conceptualizations Of Religious Community During the Early Modern Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Religious Movements before Modernity?

Pietsch¹,

Steckel²

2018

Nova Religio

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Can the study of new religious movements be extended historically towards a longue durée history of religious innovation? Several sociological theories suggest that fundamental differences between premodern and modern religious configurations preclude this, pointing to a lack of religious diversity and freedom of religion in premodern centuries. Written from a historical perspective, this article questions this view and suggests historical religious movements within Christianity as possible material for a long-term perspective. Using the Franciscans and the Family of Love as examples, it points out possible themes for productive interdisciplinary research. One suggestion is to study the criticisms surrounding premodern new religious movements, which might be used to analyze the historical differentiation of religion. Another avenue is the study of premodern terminologies and concepts for religious communities, which could provide a historical horizon for the ongoing debate about the typology of new religions.

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“…56 Indeed, in the preface to the Roseghaert, the author Eucharius 53 On the intermingling of religious and worldly aspects of medieval culture: e.g. Folkerts 2021; Vavra 2019; Barnes 2016;Buys 2015, 85;Smith 2014, 26;Corbellini et al 2013;Yoshikawa 2013;Reisch, Cunningham and Kusukawa 2010, xlvi-liv;Griffin 2007, 113-117;Jones 2006. 54 See for other examples of Dutch and German translations and adaptations where religious components were likely deliberately removed, and of English translations where they were added: Van Gijsen 1993, 134;Luff 2005, 303-307;Huizenga 2008, 440-441;Versendaal 2022, 240-242.…”

Section: Religion As An Overarching Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Woodcuts as reading guides. How images shaped knowledge transmission in medical-astrological books in Dutch (1500-1550)

Leerdam¹

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Challenging the Paradigms: Holy Writ and Lay Readers in Late Medieval Europe

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

The Antwerpian Printer Jacob van Liesvelt, his Widow, and their Bibles: Myths and Facts from a Confessional Era

The Antwerpian Printer Jacob van Liesvelt, his Widow, and their Bibles: Myths and Facts from a Confessional Era

New Religious Movements before Modernity?

Woodcuts as reading guides. How images shaped knowledge transmission in medical-astrological books in Dutch (1500-1550)

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