The “Luther
Affair”
and Clerical Reformation Primers: 1) A Synopsis
of
Reformation Theologies; 2) The Reformation Doctrine of Justification
Graph: Penitential
Cycle of Medieval Catholicism |
I. The Doctrine of Justification: Basic Precepts II. Clerical Audiences of the
‘Luther
Affair,’ 1517-1522 Map: The Holy Roman Empire, 1618 III. Secular Audiences: The Popular Appeal Image: Nuremberg, ca. 1493 Image: Titlepage of Haug Marschalck, Ein Spiegel der Blinden (1523). The image makes its point by visual contrast between two readily identifiable groups of figures. In the foreground, a blinded bishop and doctor of theology, so identified by their mitre and doctor's cap, respectively, listen to a tonsured and blindfolded preacher identified as "Scotus," i.e., Duns Scotus, the great fourteenth-century Scholastic theologian. The futility of his doctrine is indicated by the mirror he holds up. It is covered so that neither churchman can recognize himself in it; but they are blindfolded anyway. To the right, by contrast, a simple peasant exults in a vision of Christ as lord surrounded by personifications of the gospels. The message is clear: turn away from human teachings, turn toward the true word of God in scripture. The mirror is also a wordplay on the late medieval literary genre of "Mirrors," advice books for conduct in everyday life. Source: Robert W. Scribner, For the Sake of Simple Folk: Popular Propaganda for the German Reformation (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994), 47. |
Major Reformers of the “First Generation”: Martin Luther (1483-1546), Wittenberg |
More Reformation Satires: Text and Image: The Pope Holds a Council in Germany |