IUPUI

Fall 2005

Dr. E.L. Saak

CA 504P

Office Hours: Tues.: 10:00-12:00

(and by appointment)

Phone: 274-1687

Email: esaak@iupui.edu

 

B421/H509

 Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany

Sect. 6050/3888

MW 9:30-10:45

 

Perspectives and Goals

 

This course focuses on the figure of Martin Luther, and the role he played in the transformation of European culture from medieval forms to early modern during the period, in general, from 1300 to 1555.  Based on extensive and intensive reading of Luther’s writings, this course seeks to analyze not only how Luther’s thought developed within the context of the late medieval world, but also the impact his writings and person had on the emergence and early development of the Reformation in Germany.  As such, it compliments History H354, The Reformation, and can serve as an excellent preparation for the broader course, as well as  offering students a more indepth look at a particular facet of the more general survey.  One of the major historical questions we will examine is the role of the individual in historical change.  The Reformation cannot be reduced to Martin Luther, and yet, the Reformation would have been very different indeed without his central part therein.  In addition, we will be looking at the impact of ideas, and particularly religious and theological ideas as historical factors, on historical change, analyzing the relationship between theology, religion, politics, society, and culture.  And finally, the third major question this course addresses is how historical figures have been portrayed by modern historians, and how historiography affects our understanding of the past, and the present.   Based on these three major issues, 1.) the role of the individual in historical change; 2.) the relationship between ideas and society and how that relationship contributed to historical change; and 3.) the place of historiography in historical understanding; and based on extensive and intensive reading and writing assignments, this course takes as its fundamental starting point the IUPUI Principles of Undergraduate Learning, focusing particularly on critical thinking and analysis, and communicative skills. 

 

The goals of this course are as follows:

1.       to further develop the Principles of Undergraduate Learning through extensive reading and writing assignments;

2.       to give the students an indepth understanding of a major historical figure and his role in historical change;

3.       to give the students a “hands on” experience of seeing how history, interpretation, and historiography  affect our understanding of the past and of the present;

4.       to give the students a greater, and more indepth understanding of the Reformation in Europe and its contribution to the major paradigm change in European culture from medieval to early modern;

5.       to give graduate students the opportunity to develop and execute research projects with clearly defined scope and focus on a major period of European history;

6.       to integrate on-going scholarly research into the classroom

 

Course Policies:

 

Attendance

I expect each and every student to attend each and every lecture.  More than three absences will result in a loss of  a half a grade (e.g.: from a B to a B-); more than six absences will result in a loss of a full grade.  Excused absences must be cleared with me.  Only the most extraordinary of circumstances will excuse more than three absences. 

 

Policy on Cheating

Please note that I will not tolerate cheating, and will punish any student caught cheating with the full severity allowed me by IUPUI regulations.  Please refer to the IUPUI handbook for Student Conduct.  I view cheating any of the following: 1) Plagiarism of any kind, by which I mean: copying all or part of another student’s paper; handing in papers written for you by someone else; failure to properly footnote direct quotations, paraphrased passages, or opinions of other scholars (including authors of Cliff Notes and other such study aids) in essays written outside of class. Plagiarism also consists of using material from the WWW without using quotation marks and proper citation.  Plagiarism is easy to detect.  Do not do it!  If you have any questions whether you are plagiarizing material, please ask me about it before hand!  Once a paper is turned in, it is too late and the paper, if plagiarized, is subject to the penalties mentioned above; 2) collaborating on any in-class exam;  3) copying the answers of any other student during an in-class exam  In short, DO NOT CHEAT AND DO NOT PLAGIARISE!  YOU WILL BE CAUGHT AND PUNISHED!

 

Adaptive Educational Services

I have had experience working with Adaptive Educational Services and will do what ever I can to accommodate students participating in Adaptive Educational Services and to facilitate the success of students participating in Adaptive Educational Services.  If there are any questions and/or concerns in this regard, please do not hesitate to see me and/or contact: Adaptive Educational Services (CA 001E), 278-3241; http://life.iupui.edu.aes.

 

 

Required Books:

 

Martin Luther, Basic Theological Writings. Ed. Timothy Lull (Mineapolis, 1989)

Martin Luther, Luther’s Works: Lectures on Romans. Glosses and Scholia (Minneapolis, 1972)

Erik Erikson, Young Man Luther. A Study in Psychoanalysis and History  (New York, 1962)

Martin Brecht, Martin Luther: His Road to Reformation, 1483-1521 (Philadelphia, 1985)

Heiko Oberman, Luther: Man Between God and the Devil (New Haven, 1989)

Reader


 

Requirements/grades

 

Undergraduates:

1.) 10-15 page essay comparing, contrasting, and analyzing

the three assigned biographies of Luther                                                                30%

2.) 10-15 page essay analyzing one of Luther’s writings, placed

                in context of 1.) his own developments; 2.) late medieval

                developments; and 3.) the historical, political, and social

                setting of the writing itself                                                                           30%

3.) class participation                                                                                                     10%

4,) Final exam                                                                                                                     30%

 

Graduates:

1.)  15-20 page historiographical essay on recent research

 on Luther and the Reformation in Germany                                                        45%

2.) 25-30 page research paper                                                                                      45%

3.) class participation                                                                                                     10%

 

 

Schedule of Lectures and Assignments

 

W 24 Aug.           Introduction: The Enigma of Martin Luther

 

Part I

Preludes to Luther: The Reformation of the Later Middle Ages

 

M 29 Aug.            The Late Medieval World             

W 31 Aug.           The Crisis of Church and State

Assignments: Reformation of the Emperor Sigismund (Reader); Hamm, “Normative Centering” (Reader); Hamm, “Between Severity and Mercy” (Reader)

 

M 5 Sept.              Labor Day, no class

W 7 Sept.             Humanism and Textual Culture

Assignments: “Renaissance Humanism” (Reader)

 

M 12 Sept.            The Augustinian Renaissance

W 14 Sept.           The Observant Reform Movement

Assignments: Oberman, Luther. Man Between God and the Devil

 

M 19 Sept.            The Rise of Catechetical Literature and Pastoral Theology

W 21 Sept.           The Longed-For Reformation: The Rise of Apocalypticism

Assignments: Oberman, Luther


 

Part II

From Friar to Reformer

 

M 26 Sept.            Luther Becomes a Monk

W 28 Sept.           Early Theological Develoment: Luther becomes a theologian

Assignments: Erikson, Young Man Luther; Lull, Part I, sect. 1-3; Part III, sects. 11-12

 

 

M 3 Oct.                Luther’s “Reformation” Breakthrough: The “Tower Experience” and the Medieval Augustinian

W 5 Oct.               The Problem of Indulgences

Assignments: Brecht, Martin Luther, chs. 1-6

 

M 10 Oct.             Luther’s Lectures on Psalms and Romans

W 12 Oct.             Luther’s Lectures on Galatians, Hebrews, and Psalms

Assignments: Luther, Lectures on Romans

 

 

M 17 Oct.             Luther’s Discovery

W 19 Oct.             The De-frocking of Martin Luther

Assignments: Brecht, Martin Luther, chs. 7-12

 

Part III

Theology, Politics, and the Reformation in Germany

 

M 24 Oct.             The Wittenberg Team

W 26 Oct.             The Reformation of Worship and Society

Undergraduate Essay on the Biographies Due, 10/26; Graduate Historiographical Essays Due, 10/26

Assignments: Hamm, “Reformation ‘from below’ and Reformation ‘from above’” (Reader); Hamm, “How Innovative was the Reformation?” (Reader); Brady, “The German Reformation,” and “The Formation of German Protestantism” (Reader);  Lull, Part III, sects. 12-14; Part IV, sects. 15-16; Part V, sects. 20-23

 

M 31 Oct.             The Gospel of Social Unrest: The Peasants’ War

W 2 Nov.             Luther’s Lieutenant: Philip Melanchthon

Assignments: Lull, Part VI, sects. 26-29; The Twelve Articles of the Peasants (Reader)

 

 

M 7 Nov.              The Reformation of Education

W 9 Nov.             The New Christians?—the “Reformation” of the Laity

Assignments: Lull, Part VI, sects. 30-31; Part IV, sects. 17-19; Part III, sects. 6-10

 

M 14 Nov.            The Reformation of the Princes

W 16 Nov.           The Politics of Belief: From the Birth of the Protesants to the Beginnings of

Confessionalization and the Early Moern State


 

Part IV

Images/Representations of Luther

 

M 21 Nov.            Luther in Print: The Power of the Word—and Image

W 23 Nov.           Thanksgiving, no class

 

M 28 Nov.            Luther: Hero or Heretic?

W 30 Nov.           Young Man Luther—Erickson

 

M 5 Dec.                Luther’s Road to Reformation—Brecht

W 7 Dec.               Luther: Man Between God and the Devil—Oberman

                                Undergraduate Source Analysis due 12/07

 

M 12 Dec.             So What?

 

Classes End

 

Final Exam:  Friday, December 16: 8:00-10:00 a.m.; Graduate Research Papers Due