Two Cultural Elements of the Reformation
Last week’s Church History post set up the religious context of the Reformation.
In understanding the Reformation we must think that at the turn of the 16th century there was one religious institution throughout Europe, and within fifty years the ideas of the reform had so transformed the continent, that a child born in the early 1500s would have no recollection of a day without a saturation of Protestant ideas. In the brief post today I want to look at two cultural aspects that allowed ideas to spread so rapidly at the time of the Reformation.
‘Social Networks’
There is a lot of historical work related to the print culture of the Reformation. Historians for centuries have noted the profound impact that the printing press had for the proliferation of ideas during the Reformation. Though I will not argue completely, often times the case for the impact of print is overstated–or it is given the only place within the argument–as the reason ideas in the Reformation could spread so quickly. We must remember in looking at the Reformation that the majority of the population was still illiterate in the 16th century (this is why Luther made such use of woodcuts to express the essence of his idea through illustrations). The fact of the matter is that the ‘social networks’ of 16th century Europe were highly elaborate, and quite conducive for the ‘rapid’ spread of ideas.
The printed word did have a great impact in the Reformation, but it was also the Reformer’s understanding of the cultural mediums of the people that caused ideas to move rapidly through Europe. The Reformers often would use woodcuts (mentioned above) to illustrate ideas related to their message. They would also use familiar ballads or tavern songs, changing their lyrics to communicate and teach ideas. The ideas of the Reformation were almost immediately popular among many guilds–whose members travelled all across Europe and would thus spread the ideas wherever they went. It was not just print that primed Europe for Reform (though the printing press was absolutely necessary), but a highly efficient (before globalization) system of social networks.
Urban
Another amazing thing about the Reformation is that it was almost entirely an urban event. For the first century there was very little in-roads to rural areas with the ideas of the Reformation (and, on an extreme side note–once the reformers/or Catholic counter-reformers did begin to make in-roads to the rural areas, they found that many of the areas were only nominally Christian. Many rural areas had a perish and local clergy, but were often times steeped in folk religion and lore–but I digress). Because of the nature of the ‘social networks’ of 16th century Europe, it was the cities–specifically cities with universities–that saw the lion’s share of reform.
