A people’s history of the Reformation

Arsacius Seehofer was a young student at the University of Ingolstadt in 1523 when he was expelled and put on trial for owning Reformation pamphlets. His greatest defense came from an unlikely source: Bavarian noblewoman Argula von Grumbach, who wrote a public letter defending Seehofer and the Reformation. In this short letter, von Grumbach shows a deep understanding of Scripture and makes compelling arguments about the need to follow Christ and the word of God on matters of faith.

Seehofer was eventually released from jail and would become a professor. Von Grumbach’s letter became one of the most distributed pamphlets of the Reformation, cementing her reputation as a central theologian and reformer in her own right. Yet she is rarely talked about today, overshadowed as she is by such figures as Martin Luther, John Calvin, Philipp Melanchthon and Huldrych Zwingli.

With his landmark book A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn set out to write a more expansive history of the country than was typically taught in classrooms, grounded in labor, justice and social movements. In an introduction to a companion volume he writes, “From the start of my teaching and writing, I had no illusions about ‘objectivity,’ if that meant avoiding a point of view. I knew that a historian … was forced to choose, out of an infinite number of facts, what to present, what to omit. And that decision inevitably would reflect, whether consciously or not, the interests of the historian” (Voices of a People’s History of the United States).

When we Lutherans talk about the Reformation, we too often focus on the works of a few men.

Zinn leaned into a subjective approach to history, arguing that objectivity in such a context doesn’t truly exist. He suggested that self-proclaimed “objective” histories are often actually highly subjective, omitting the experience of the average person, ignoring the racial and gender diversity of those who made history and dropping any facts deemed irrelevant to the hegemonic story of the United States as it has been carefully developed and curated since this country’s founding. In so doing, Zinn created a richer history—a people’s history.

When we Lutherans talk about the Reformation, we too often do the same, focusing on the works of a few men—most notably Luther and his major works of the Reformation such as the 95 Theses and The Freedom of a Christian. In so doing, we can miss how the Reformation was a truly far-reaching social movement that affected the everyday person, as well as how the Reformation was influenced by and influenced politics, the arts, the sciences and economics. We can miss out on the diversity of its thinkers and writers and the witness they left behind.

Enriching our understanding

Most who are familiar with the Reformation know that Katharina von Bora, along with several of her sisters, escaped from a convent through the aid of fish merchant Leonhard Köppe and how, after the escape, von Bora married Luther. Less known is the story of Katharina Schütz, the first woman of noble standing to marry a priest, Matthias Zell, and the pushback they received.

Katharina Zell’s works, including pamphlets and letters, were widely distributed, giving voice to a laywoman theologian and shaping the theological vocation of being a pastor’s spouse. She was notable for following Luther’s teachings but also for being more expansive in her theological understanding than Luther, and for being open to the breadth of Reformation thought beyond his.

Or the story of Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, who made the kingdom of Navarre a place of refuge for Protestants and Catholics alike. She also wrote her own theological and mystical poetic reflection, The Mirror of the Sinful Soul, which expressed a deep, personal relationship with Christ. She even described herself as the mother of God, writing “But, Lord, if you are my father, may I think of myself as your mother, give birth to you, you by whom I am created?” (lines 261-263), describing the mystical way that Christ is born in our hearts through the happy exchange in baptism.

How did the European reformations affect the average parishioner, the laborer, the citizens of early modern Europe?

Mirror of the Sinful Soul is also notorious for its first English translation by none other than the future Protestant reformer and queen Elizabeth I, who translated it at age 11 as a gift for her stepmother, Catherine Parr.

Missing from even this expansive view of reformers, though, is average people—many of whom would have been unable to read or write and thus unable to contribute to the written record of the Reformation. How did the European reformations affect the average parishioner, the laborer, the citizens of early modern Europe?

One example is the German Peasants’ War of 1524-1525, in which laborers and farmers, inspired by the teachings of the reformers, crafted the Twelve Articles to argue for greater religious, social and economic autonomy. Another example is found in how the Reformation affected queer people: As monasteries and convents were closed and the importance of marriage was emphasized, many queer people were forced out of the safety of same-sex community and into societal expectations around family and child-rearing. Additionally, the influence of the Reformation gave rise to witch and sodomy trials, policing gender expression and sexuality.

A people’s history of the Reformation is one that is broad, inclusive and expansive, noticing which voices are missing or forgotten. Our Lutheran understanding benefits from looking at the richness of our theological heritage beyond the most well-known figures, which accounts for its great diversity and expression of faith.

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