Die Macht des Bösen

Based on the popular pictorial motif of the temptations of St Anthony around 1500, the insistent presence of evil is emphasised as a cultural dispositive of Reformation-era theological positions towards evil. The sacral-hierarchical channelling of evil in Roman Catholicism is thereby accentuated in its visualisation and focus on the papal church as the epitome of evil, following on from the Hussite tradition. Different types of theological approaches to evil can be reconstructed among the theologies of the Reformation. They oscillate between its final overcoming and the necessity of constantly dealing with and fighting against it.