The Imaginative World of the Reformation by Peter MathesonReview by: David WhitfordThe Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 32, No. 4 (Winter, 2001), pp. 1224-1225Published by: The Sixteenth Century JournalStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3649066 .

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1224 Sixteenth CenturyJournal XXXII/4 (2001) 1224 Sixteenth CenturyJournal XXXII/4 (2001)

allowing the reader to explore those topics through other sources. Nonetheless, some of Hanlon's choices may be questioned. While the aristocracy gets a chapter of its own, for example, peasants and artisans must fight for space in chapters on Italian economics. By the same token, the chapters discussing medicine and science look only at elite practices while ignoring the vast assortment of activities that existed at the popular level. Rome and Venice each get a chapter discussing their rebirth or decline, but no other city merits such treatment. Women, both as individuals and as a group, do not get nearly as much space as they might.While these are, in some respects, quibbles, these are still important omis- sions. Overall this book is clearly written and meets the avowed purposes for which Han- lon wrote it: it weaves together a variety of approaches; it presents recent scholarship to an English-speaking audience; and it gives students a good starting point from which to comprehend the complexities of early modern Italy. Michael R. Lynn ...................................... Agnes Scott College

The Imaginative World of the Reformation. Peter Matheson. Edinburgh:T&T Clark, 2000. 153 pp £ 14.95. ISBN 05670871 15. Peter Matheson begins this beautifully printed and illustrated work (which origi-

nated as the 1998 Gunning Lectures) with a brief summary of recent Reformation histo- riography and argues that church history and social history are both far too reductionist and therefore contribute to a pervasive negative assessment of the Reformation. Mathe- son calls for a new approach to the Reformation, one that speaks to the postmodern age. He argues that by examining the imaginative world of the Reformation (he shies away from "Reformations" purposefully), a more complete and accurate picture of the era will come into focus. Fundamentally, he argues the Reformation was about the rejection of one imaginative framework and the birth of a new one.

Birth is a terrifying and awesome experience. It is a mixture of joy and pain, wonder and fear, hope and insecurity. So too was the Reformation; the Reformation knew both the heights of elation and depths of disillusionment. The bulk of the book turns to exam- ine these experiences and seeks to demonstrate how charting a course through this birth- ing process and examining the "shift in the basic paradigms through which people perceived their world" (119) might best explain the Reformation.

The bulk of the book is in chapters 2 through 5 which are heavily dependent upon his 1998 The Rhetoric of the Reformation (T&T Clark; reviewed in SCJ, XXX/1: 175-177). Chapter 2 examines how and why the proclamation of the Gospel in the early Reforma- tion captured the imagination of the sixteenth century. The Gospel erupted not only be- cause of the content of its message but the way in which it was presented; preaching was vital and enthusiastic, singing was passionate and celebratory, printing and propaganda were vivid and engaging. In other words, an information revolution captured the peo- ple's imagination. Matheson argues, however, that all the glitz and glamor in the world would have been of little use if the message did not resonate. And this message did reso- nate! It answered the insecurity of salvation, certainly. But equally importantly, it spoke a message of liberation and hope to the marginalized and forgotten.

Chapter 3 moves on to argue that for too long historians ofthe Reformation (and here he means mostly church historians) have focused only on the first aspect of the Reformation and have ignored the equally important latter aspect of social and political liberation.This has led to presentations of Reformation that are pale and toothless reflections of the true anima- tion of the era.To compensate for this, Matheson believes that we must reclaim the margins

allowing the reader to explore those topics through other sources. Nonetheless, some of Hanlon's choices may be questioned. While the aristocracy gets a chapter of its own, for example, peasants and artisans must fight for space in chapters on Italian economics. By the same token, the chapters discussing medicine and science look only at elite practices while ignoring the vast assortment of activities that existed at the popular level. Rome and Venice each get a chapter discussing their rebirth or decline, but no other city merits such treatment. Women, both as individuals and as a group, do not get nearly as much space as they might.While these are, in some respects, quibbles, these are still important omis- sions. Overall this book is clearly written and meets the avowed purposes for which Han- lon wrote it: it weaves together a variety of approaches; it presents recent scholarship to an English-speaking audience; and it gives students a good starting point from which to comprehend the complexities of early modern Italy. Michael R. Lynn ...................................... Agnes Scott College

The Imaginative World of the Reformation. Peter Matheson. Edinburgh:T&T Clark, 2000. 153 pp £ 14.95. ISBN 05670871 15. Peter Matheson begins this beautifully printed and illustrated work (which origi-

nated as the 1998 Gunning Lectures) with a brief summary of recent Reformation histo- riography and argues that church history and social history are both far too reductionist and therefore contribute to a pervasive negative assessment of the Reformation. Mathe- son calls for a new approach to the Reformation, one that speaks to the postmodern age. He argues that by examining the imaginative world of the Reformation (he shies away from "Reformations" purposefully), a more complete and accurate picture of the era will come into focus. Fundamentally, he argues the Reformation was about the rejection of one imaginative framework and the birth of a new one.

Birth is a terrifying and awesome experience. It is a mixture of joy and pain, wonder and fear, hope and insecurity. So too was the Reformation; the Reformation knew both the heights of elation and depths of disillusionment. The bulk of the book turns to exam- ine these experiences and seeks to demonstrate how charting a course through this birth- ing process and examining the "shift in the basic paradigms through which people perceived their world" (119) might best explain the Reformation.

The bulk of the book is in chapters 2 through 5 which are heavily dependent upon his 1998 The Rhetoric of the Reformation (T&T Clark; reviewed in SCJ, XXX/1: 175-177). Chapter 2 examines how and why the proclamation of the Gospel in the early Reforma- tion captured the imagination of the sixteenth century. The Gospel erupted not only be- cause of the content of its message but the way in which it was presented; preaching was vital and enthusiastic, singing was passionate and celebratory, printing and propaganda were vivid and engaging. In other words, an information revolution captured the peo- ple's imagination. Matheson argues, however, that all the glitz and glamor in the world would have been of little use if the message did not resonate. And this message did reso- nate! It answered the insecurity of salvation, certainly. But equally importantly, it spoke a message of liberation and hope to the marginalized and forgotten.

Chapter 3 moves on to argue that for too long historians ofthe Reformation (and here he means mostly church historians) have focused only on the first aspect of the Reformation and have ignored the equally important latter aspect of social and political liberation.This has led to presentations of Reformation that are pale and toothless reflections of the true anima- tion of the era.To compensate for this, Matheson believes that we must reclaim the margins

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Thu, 18 Dec 2014 19:58:34 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Book Reviews 1225 Book Reviews 1225

of history (women, the laity, Anabaptists, etc.) and reject the demonized portraits of some of the more vibrant figures of the Reformation (Miintzer, Karlstadt, and others). Matheson ar-

gues that the era was a time ripe with utopian dreams and communal aspirations.The Gospel message both reflected these aspirations and energized them.

With dreams, however, come nightmares. This is especially true of utopian dreams. Whether it was Luther's vision of a re-Christianized church or Miintzer's of a New

Jerusalem, the early Reformation's dreams collapsed into the nightmare of confessional

warfare, division, and slaughter. In chapter 4, Matheson forces his reader to confront this sad and horrible aspect of the Reformation. He believes that here, too, historians have failed to adequately and accurately tell the story of the early sixteenth century and have therefore failed to honor the lives of those who were killed. Too often, he charges, his- torians have become the unwitting accomplices of the oppressor.

Chapter 5 comes as a welcome respite after a journey through so many nightmares. Matheson, here, uses the life ofArgula von Grumbach to sketch the contours of daily life. This

aspect of the era-the lives of ordinary people-is as important as Luther for a proper under-

standing of the Reformation. For here we glimpse the real Reformation. The real Reforma- tion is not what happens only within the walls of universities, but in the lives of parishioners.

Chapter 6 serves as a summary of the book and a call to action. Matheson believes that the Reformation did erupt in a new spirit, a new imaginative world. This world is best glimpsed, not through doctrine or manifesto, but in its spirituality. The piety of the Reformation is its most vital element and this must be recovered.

This work is engaging if at times a bit overstated. Frankly, the farther I read in the

book, the more I wished I had been there to hear the lectures on which the chapters are based. My copy of the book is full of questions, critiques, and arguments just waiting for

question time. David Whitford .............................. . . Claflin University

Fryslan, staat en macht 1450-1650. Ed. J. Frieswijk, A. H. Huussen Jr.,Y. B. Kuiper and J. A. Mol. Hilversum:Verloren, 1999. 245 pp. n.p. ISBN 906550043X. In 1498 the Netherlandish province of Friesland came under the sovereign control

of Duke Albrecht of Saxony, effectively marking the end of the region's medieval auton-

omy and the beginning of its permanent integration into larger early modern state-build-

ing regimes (Saxon, Habsburg, and eventually the Dutch Republic). The five hundredth

anniversary of Albrecht's accession was marked by a historical conference in the Frisian

capital of Leeuwarden in 1998, and the collected essays in this volume comprise the pa- pers presented there. The various contributions by noted Dutch and Frisian historians cover a range of topics from primarily the political and economic history of the region during the late medieval and early modern eras.

The underlying theme of the collection is a stress on the importance of regional his-

tory in developing our understanding of early modern states. In the first essay Wim Blockmans makes a plea for a less teleological interpretation of state-formation, one that considers the perspective of the periphery (such as territory like Friesland) rather than the center. One of the most tenacious biases of modern historians, he argues, is that of the

state; unwittingly and anachronistically they tend to project the modern centralized, bu- reaucratic nation-state back onto the complicated political relationships and institutions of the territories of early modern Europe. To assume the modern state as the inevitable out- come of Western history is to miss the nuances, complexities, and diversity of the local

of history (women, the laity, Anabaptists, etc.) and reject the demonized portraits of some of the more vibrant figures of the Reformation (Miintzer, Karlstadt, and others). Matheson ar-

gues that the era was a time ripe with utopian dreams and communal aspirations.The Gospel message both reflected these aspirations and energized them.

With dreams, however, come nightmares. This is especially true of utopian dreams. Whether it was Luther's vision of a re-Christianized church or Miintzer's of a New

Jerusalem, the early Reformation's dreams collapsed into the nightmare of confessional

warfare, division, and slaughter. In chapter 4, Matheson forces his reader to confront this sad and horrible aspect of the Reformation. He believes that here, too, historians have failed to adequately and accurately tell the story of the early sixteenth century and have therefore failed to honor the lives of those who were killed. Too often, he charges, his- torians have become the unwitting accomplices of the oppressor.

Chapter 5 comes as a welcome respite after a journey through so many nightmares. Matheson, here, uses the life ofArgula von Grumbach to sketch the contours of daily life. This

aspect of the era-the lives of ordinary people-is as important as Luther for a proper under-

standing of the Reformation. For here we glimpse the real Reformation. The real Reforma- tion is not what happens only within the walls of universities, but in the lives of parishioners.

Chapter 6 serves as a summary of the book and a call to action. Matheson believes that the Reformation did erupt in a new spirit, a new imaginative world. This world is best glimpsed, not through doctrine or manifesto, but in its spirituality. The piety of the Reformation is its most vital element and this must be recovered.

This work is engaging if at times a bit overstated. Frankly, the farther I read in the

book, the more I wished I had been there to hear the lectures on which the chapters are based. My copy of the book is full of questions, critiques, and arguments just waiting for

question time. David Whitford .............................. . . Claflin University

Fryslan, staat en macht 1450-1650. Ed. J. Frieswijk, A. H. Huussen Jr.,Y. B. Kuiper and J. A. Mol. Hilversum:Verloren, 1999. 245 pp. n.p. ISBN 906550043X. In 1498 the Netherlandish province of Friesland came under the sovereign control

of Duke Albrecht of Saxony, effectively marking the end of the region's medieval auton-

omy and the beginning of its permanent integration into larger early modern state-build-

ing regimes (Saxon, Habsburg, and eventually the Dutch Republic). The five hundredth

anniversary of Albrecht's accession was marked by a historical conference in the Frisian

capital of Leeuwarden in 1998, and the collected essays in this volume comprise the pa- pers presented there. The various contributions by noted Dutch and Frisian historians cover a range of topics from primarily the political and economic history of the region during the late medieval and early modern eras.

The underlying theme of the collection is a stress on the importance of regional his-

tory in developing our understanding of early modern states. In the first essay Wim Blockmans makes a plea for a less teleological interpretation of state-formation, one that considers the perspective of the periphery (such as territory like Friesland) rather than the center. One of the most tenacious biases of modern historians, he argues, is that of the

state; unwittingly and anachronistically they tend to project the modern centralized, bu- reaucratic nation-state back onto the complicated political relationships and institutions of the territories of early modern Europe. To assume the modern state as the inevitable out- come of Western history is to miss the nuances, complexities, and diversity of the local

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Thu, 18 Dec 2014 19:58:34 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions