Ebook: Luther, conflict, and Christendom: Reformation Europe and Christianity in the West

Cover; Half-title; Title page; Copyright information; Dedication; Epigraph; Table of contents; List of figures; Preface; Introduction; A Question of Impact; Sense and Ambiguity; My Purpose; 1 The Birth of an Unconcluded Controversy; An Unlikely Story; Birth of an Unconcluded Controversy; A Bipolar Debate; Inbetween; Parameters of a Religious Conflict; 2 Calming the Rebel Masses; Cloister-Rage; Rebels in Town and Country; Disambiguation; Luther and Urban Reform; 3 The Political Anatomy of the Luther Affair; A Priest Struggles for His Incomes; "Political" Conversion; An Imperial Fantasy;Martin Luther - monk, priest, intellectual, or revolutionary - has been a controversial figure since the sixteenth century. Most studies of Luther stress his personality, his ideas, and his ambitions as a church reformer. In this book, Christopher Ocker brings a new perspective to this topic, arguing that the different ways people thought about Luther mattered far more than who he really was. Providing an accessible, highly contextual, and non-partisan introduction, Ocker says that religious conflict itself served as the engine of religious change. He shows that the Luther affair had a complex political anatomy which extended far beyond the borders of Germany, making the debate an international one from the very start. His study links the Reformation to pluralism within western religion and to the coexistence of religions and secularism in today's world.