'To his Most Learned and Dearest Friend': Reading Luther's Letters

Roper, Lyndal

doi:10.1093/gerhis/ghq063

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Luther was a "brilliant, engaging correspondent" (Roper 2017:xxxiii). He used letters to stay in contact with students and colleagues, rally supporters, address theologians and critics, answer requests for assistance or advice, and persuade powerful people like princes and city councilors to adopt reform (Brecht 1985:77-80;Greengrass 2016;Roper 2010Roper , 2017. In short, Luther was well steeped in the art of humanist letter writing (Greengrass 2016; McLean 2007).…”

Section: Relational Bases Of Diffusion: What Luther's Ties Reveal Abomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…He left behind a trove of letters, a record of his travels and visits to places, and matriculation lists of the students who studied with him. As one eminent historian noted, “[t]here is probably no other sixteenth-century figure who has left such a wealth of ego-documents as Luther” (Roper 2010:283). These records allow us to reconstruct influence networks.…”

Section: Influence Multiple Diffusion and Spread Of The Reformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, by the end of 1522, Luther’s ties are indicative of the personal network of a movement leader, linking him to a diverse set of elites across the empire. As Roper (2010:294) observes of his letter writing, “Always carefully crafted and mostly written with an eye to a public beyond the ostensible correspondent, Luther’s letters were strategic masterpieces.” Such activities extended Luther’s personal influence to dispersed circles of humanist intellectuals, theological dissidents, and reform-minded rulers.…”

Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…He used letters to establish and shore up the “vivid friendships” that sustained him and gave the Reformation its first foothold in Wittenberg. Letters to a wider circle of friends and supporters beyond Wittenberg helped propel a movement in which Luther was the central figure (Brecht 1985; Roper 2010:283, 2017:xxiii).…”

Section: Relational Bases Of Diffusion: What Luther’s Ties Reveal Abomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Humanists knew that letters were semi-private and that they were frequently read aloud in company and passed along to others. In the case of Luther and other famous people, letters might be collected and printed for a wider readership (Greengrass 2016; Roper 2010).…”

Section: Relational Bases Of Diffusion: What Luther’s Ties Reveal Abomentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multiplex Network Ties and the Spatial Diffusion of Radical Innovations: Martin Luther’s Leadership in the Early Reformation

et al. 2020

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This article analyzes Martin Luther’s role in spreading the early Reformation, one of the most important episodes of radical institutional change in the last millennium. We argue that social relations played a key role in its diffusion because the spread of heterodox ideologies and their eventual institutionalization relied not only on private “infection” through exposure to innovation but also on active conversion and promotion of that new faith through personal ties. We conceive of that process as leader-to-follower directional influence originating with Luther and flowing to local elites through personal ties. Based on novel data on Luther’s correspondence, Luther’s visits, and student enrollments in Luther’s city of Wittenberg, we reconstruct Luther’s influence network to examine whether local connections to him increased the odds of adopting Protestantism. Using regression analyses and simulations based on empirical network data, we find that the combination of personal/relational diffusion via Luther’s multiplex ties and spatial/structural diffusion via trade routes fostered cities’ adoption of the Reformation, making possible Protestantism’s early breakthrough from a regional movement to a general rebellion against the Roman Catholic Church.

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Section: Relational Bases Of Diffusion: What Luther's Ties Reveal Abomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Influence Multiple Diffusion and Spread Of The Reformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Relational Bases Of Diffusion: What Luther’s Ties Reveal Abomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Relational Bases Of Diffusion: What Luther’s Ties Reveal Abomentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations