Konfession und Kultur by Thomas KaufmannReview by: Christian D. von DehsenThe Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Fall, 2008), pp. 899-900Published by: The Sixteenth Century JournalStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20479101 .

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Book Reviews 899

genre for understanding Reformation-era education made in his programmatic essay in Bildung und Konfession (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006). Moreover, its approach to the sources seems to resist actively the very trend toward interdisciplinarity that has reinvigorated discussions of the later sixteenth century in German church historical circles over the last decade.

Konfession und Kultur. Thomas Kaufmann. Tiibingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006. 522 pp. ?109.00. ISBN 978-3-16-149017-0.

REVIEWED BY: Christian D. von Dehsen, Carthage College

In a series of case studies, Thomas Kaufmann examines the development of the Prot estant church in the years from the death of Luther until 1600 to argue that this develop ment occurs through the interplay of confession and culture. Kaufmann engages his theme by dividing his argument into five subsections: "Prolegomena," "Krisen," "Kontroversen," "Konsolidierung," and "Kairos."

In the "Prolegomena," Kaufmann articulates his principal thesis, namely that the con fessional concerns in the latter part of the sixteenth century formed a Deutungsmatrix (matrix of meaning) in which Lutherans and other Reformation groups began to construct their own cultural identities.

In the next section of the book, "Krisen," Kaufmann engages three themes. He argues first that apocalyptic thought formed a cultural code which helped people to understand their lives. Second, Luther's theological legacy also became important during the last decades of the sixteenth century. Collections of his works began to assume a normative theological status. To illustrate this point, Kaufmann examines the work of Joachim Morlin, a Luther apologist who, in 1565, wrote a book on how to read Luther's work beneficially.

The final topic of this section is the attitude toward the Jews. Kaufmann rehearses the painful history of Luther's own writings, first expressing hope for conversion and then for removing them. This latter perspective became more prominent as the church addressed its own need for stability and the society's need to defend itself against the Turks. Kaufmann ends this section with the curious legend of Ahasver, a Jew assigned to assist in the crucifix ion, but who came to faith when he encountered Christ on the way to Golgotha. He became immortal and spends his existence witnessing to Christ. (It is with this legend that Kauf

mann abruptly ends this larger section. Given the sensitive nature of this topic, I think he could have tried to put this argument in historical perspective rather than just to end it without further comment.)

In the following section, "Kontroversen,' Kaufmann examines the question of images and the controversy with the Jesuits. Many of the Reformation congregations occupied church buildings established by the Roman Catholic Church that still contained iconic pic tures and statues. Some princes wanted these artifacts removed in order to remove the temptation to engage in idol worship. The question generated a conference of theologians in Mompelgard in 1586. They concluded that the icons would not be a danger to people

who were properly guided by the Word. By the end of the sixteenth century, Kaufmann argues, the Jesuits represented pro

papal support and a threat to the ongoing Reformation. There arose a curious argument over which church embraced "new theology." The Jesuits professed that the Roman church's teachings had remained for centuries, therefore the Reformers' theology must be an inno vation. Conversely, the Reformers argued that their theology stems from the Bible and is

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900 Sixteenth Century Journal XXXIX/3 (2008)

not based on subsequent, "new" tradition. In the section entitled "Konsolidierung, Kaufmann first examines the emerging roles

of the regional universities both in taking control of theological education and adjudicating conflict. Universities took responsibility for educating pastors in the vacuum created by the separation from the Roman Catholic ecclesial structure. Moreover, theological faculties, such as that at Rostock, began to serve as arbitrators both for political and ecclesial disputes.

Next Kaufmann examines the impact of the Peace of Augsburg. Many Lutheran theo logians objected to the role that the temporal authorities were now playing in religious affairs. There was also concern that the Augsburg Confession would not be uniformly inter preted, thereby creating contention instead of peace. The proponents of the radical Refor mation saw in it a threat to their existence.

The final section is entitled "Kairos," providing a look at the Reformation church in 1600. In the years just before the turn of the century, many expected the world soon to end. They even saw the advance of the Turk as a promised sign of the end time. Once 1600 arrived, many Lutheran preachers looked back on the previous century as a time analogous to that of the first century. In contrast, the Catholic Church declared 1600 a Jubilee Year, replete with a new indulgence to welcome it.

Kaufmann provides a richly documented treatise to support his claim about the inter play between confession and culture. However, the weakness of this work is that he does not synthesize the component pieces into a unified argument. Most sections could stand alone as historical studies; there is no attempt at the end to integrate the whole or even to draw together common threads, such as apocalyptic themes or the use of Luther's works as nor mative texts. Such integration would have solidified his argument and helped the reader to see the whole as more than the sum of its parts.

Couriers of the Gospel: England and Zurich, 1531-1558. Carrie Euler. Zurich: Theolo gischer Verlag Zurich, 2006. 350 pp. ?34.00. ISBN 978-3-290-17393-7.

REVIEWED BY: Andrew A. Chibi, University of Leicester

This book readdresses and reevaluates the importance of the Zurich Reformers (Zwingli, Bullinger) and subsequent Zurich-inspired theologians to the English Reforma tion, an importance underappreciated in the historiography because of the underlying assumptions of the essential separateness of the early English model and the clear connec tion in the later-English model with Genevan Reformers, as made clear in the previous work of MacCulloch. From the early 1530s, however, directly and indirectly, England can be placed within the Zwinglian-Zurich "Reformed" tradition via familiarity with the works of Heinrich Bullinger (expanding upon and exporting Zwingli's theology). Euler postulates three links: the rejection of the materialistic aspects of traditional Catholic piety; a shared anti-Anabaptism; and a shared stress on the authority of the temporal power (be it king, royal council, or magistrate) over an interactive, mixed religious and secular sphere. In evi dence, Euler draws to the reader's attention close to 1,000 letters (some not published in the Parker collections) as well as countless books, pamphlets, and manuscripts exchanged between English and Zurich scholars, as well as between Zwinglians interested in events in England. Euler calls this exchange the "process of transmission between cultures" in his introductory notes. Six chapters are organized thematically and then, within each chapter, chronologically from the 1530s, the 1540s, reign of Edward VI, reign of Mary. In this way Euler is better able to trace the ebb and flow of the cultural transmissions. The sheer weight

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