RT Article
T1 Revisiting Humanism and the Urban Reformation
JF Lutheran quarterly
VO 35
IS 4
SP 373
OP 400
A1 Burnett, Amy Nelson 1957-
LA English
YR 2021
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1780159137
AB It is generally accepted that humanism paved the way for the success of the Reformation, but German humanism was not a uniform movement in the decade before the Reformation. An analysis of the correspondence of German humanists and future reformers suggests that there were several distinct groups. The first was centered around Gotha/Erfurt and included both Wittenberg and Nuremberg, while the second was associated with Vienna. In southern Germany there were close connections but also some distinctions between the Upper Rhine circle, which stretched from Basel to Heidelberg, and the humanist circles found in the imperial cities of southeastern Germany. There was no direct epistolary contact between the Erfurt and Upper Rhine groups, and humanists in the lower Rhine did not participate in this correspondence network. Humanists in each of these areas responded differently to the early evangelical message. Most of those in Erfurt became Luther's supporters, but the Viennese circle showed little interest in religious issues and remained loyal to Rome. In the Upper Rhine, Luther's message combined with the prior concern for educational and religious reform associated with Erasmus to produce a Reformation in the south that differed from Wittenberg, while Catholic humanism was strongest along the lower Rhine.
DO 10.1353/lut.2021.0093