- The Reformation

Catalog description

The Protestant and Catholic Reformations were major movements in early modern Europe with far-reaching effects still felt globally today. In the sixteenth century, religious arguments interacted with political concerns, economic fluctuations, and social tensions to transform European states and societies. In 1500, the idea of a unified European Christendom, though imperfect, could still be defended. By the beginning of the seventeenth century, while Europeans as a group still believed in God, the influence of the Roman Church and of Christianity more generally had begun to change. This course examines the religious ideas and arguments that burgeoned in the sixteenth century, the social and political contexts in which they developed, and the transformations in European society, culture and religious practices that resulted. Course materials focus especially on examining the relationships between ideas and actions/practices in order to understand the wide-ranging social impacts of the religious changes during the Reformation.