Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Humanism and Lutheran Confessional Culture

Svensson, Johanna LU (2015) Sixteenth International Congress of the International Association for Neo-Latin Studies (IANLS)
Abstract
The seventeenth century saw the culmination of what has traditionally been called “Lutheran Orthodoxy”. Earlier a rather underestimated period, the time of “Lutheran Orthodoxy” has started to attract a fairer share of attention within the concept of Confessional Culture (recently coined by Professor Dr. Thomas Kaufmann). An enormously important but sometimes slightly overlooked part of this culture was the classical heritage. In Denmark, the parishioners of rural villages may have associated their pastor principally with Luther’s Catechism, but the pastor himself (whose first name was, by the way, often (E)rasmus) was quite as familiar with Erasmus’ Adagia and the works of Cicero, Pliny and Seneca. The Danish clergy of the seventeenth... (More)
The seventeenth century saw the culmination of what has traditionally been called “Lutheran Orthodoxy”. Earlier a rather underestimated period, the time of “Lutheran Orthodoxy” has started to attract a fairer share of attention within the concept of Confessional Culture (recently coined by Professor Dr. Thomas Kaufmann). An enormously important but sometimes slightly overlooked part of this culture was the classical heritage. In Denmark, the parishioners of rural villages may have associated their pastor principally with Luther’s Catechism, but the pastor himself (whose first name was, by the way, often (E)rasmus) was quite as familiar with Erasmus’ Adagia and the works of Cicero, Pliny and Seneca. The Danish clergy of the seventeenth century was often remarkably well educated, and probably took it for granted that a pastor should be able to express himself in a beautiful and elaborate Latin. A collection of Latin letters written by clergymen in the Danish (later Swedish) province of Scania in the late seventeenth century gives a fascinating insight, but also food for thoughts. Was the Latin culture as thriving as the letters seem to indicate, or was it in fact in decline? And was the interplay between humanist and Lutheran elements always without friction? (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
unpublished
subject
keywords
Neo-Latin, Lutheran confessional culture, Humanism
conference name
Sixteenth International Congress of the International Association for Neo-Latin Studies (IANLS)
conference location
Vienna, Austria
conference dates
2015-08-02 - 2015-08-07
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5dbb2651-3b30-497d-942f-debca0a9f52f (old id 7868790)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 13:26:42
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:14:01
@misc{5dbb2651-3b30-497d-942f-debca0a9f52f,
  abstract     = {{The seventeenth century saw the culmination of what has traditionally been called “Lutheran Orthodoxy”. Earlier a rather underestimated period, the time of “Lutheran Orthodoxy” has started to attract a fairer share of attention within the concept of Confessional Culture (recently coined by Professor Dr. Thomas Kaufmann). An enormously important but sometimes slightly overlooked part of this culture was the classical heritage. In Denmark, the parishioners of rural villages may have associated their pastor principally with Luther’s Catechism, but the pastor himself (whose first name was, by the way, often (E)rasmus) was quite as familiar with Erasmus’ Adagia and the works of Cicero, Pliny and Seneca. The Danish clergy of the seventeenth century was often remarkably well educated, and probably took it for granted that a pastor should be able to express himself in a beautiful and elaborate Latin. A collection of Latin letters written by clergymen in the Danish (later Swedish) province of Scania in the late seventeenth century gives a fascinating insight, but also food for thoughts. Was the Latin culture as thriving as the letters seem to indicate, or was it in fact in decline? And was the interplay between humanist and Lutheran elements always without friction?}},
  author       = {{Svensson, Johanna}},
  keywords     = {{Neo-Latin; Lutheran confessional culture; Humanism}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{Humanism and Lutheran Confessional Culture}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}