Here She Stands, and Can Do No Other: Argula von Grumbach, the Most Protestant of Women
Alysandra Residori and Dr. Kyle Robinson
In this episode, the heroic actions of the first published Protestant woman, Argula von Grumbach are examined. Argula grew up in the noble class in Bavaria, under the Holy Roman Empire. She received large amounts of education as a young woman. In her later years, her brave, historic actions pushed her into the spotlight. After being inspired by Martin Luther’s writings, Argula published her letter “To the University of Ingolstadt” which was revolutionary not only because it supported Lutheranism, but also because it was publicly written and published by a woman in the sixteenth century.
How can we study belief? What are the longer term implications of religious change in society? These connected questions form the core of our course and our investigation of Early Modern Europe (c. 1450-1789). Indeed, the meaning of belief was the central issue of contention in Europe from the dawn of the Renaissance until the twilight of the eighteenth century and its Revolutions.
The shattering of the Christian consensus and the rise of the empirical frame was a pathway cleared with the twin swords of Humanism’s cry of ad fontes and Luther’s injunction of sola fide. The route uncovered was a journey to the “Modern” in all its beauty and ugliness. Yet, stones lay upon this trail, rocky reminders whose pain and obstacle convey the irony that Europe’s greatest religious revolution resulted in the ultimate secularization of the continent and of the West in general. Still, secularization, caught as it is in a dialectic with Christianity, is a form of belief, and belief remains central.
The effort to experience, define, and understand both acceptable and unacceptable beliefs will be our compass to map Europe’s Early Modern world, the world of unfolding Reformations. This course will consist of primary and secondary readings, lecture, classroom discussion, as well as multiple student writing assignments culminating in a final research based student podcast.
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