Konfession und Kultur

In the period of time between Luther's death, the Smalcaldic war (1546/47) and the Thirty Years War, the Lutheran denomination was confronted with particular challenges. Thomas Kaufmann examines the formation of Lutheran Protestantism against the setting of these conflicts as a process of identity development in denominational culture. The individual analyses of various subjects, which are joined by the interpretational concept of Lutheran denominational culture, are based on the hypothesis that Lutheran Protestantism developed its »identity« during crises, controversies and conflicts. The author deals mainly with source material of a »popular« character (leaflets, sermons, expert's reports etc.) which had largely been ignored up to now and shows that these text forms are of considerable significance for the reconstruction of the early modern denominational cultures.