The same but different: the problem with the ‘Radical Reformation’

Hill, Katherine (2021) The same but different: the problem with the ‘Radical Reformation’. Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte: Schriften des Vereins für Reformationsgeschichte , ISSN 0341-8375. (In Press)

Abstract

Despite numerous critiques, the classical model of the radical reformation as proposed by George Williams has enjoyed surprising longevity. However, it is a problematic way to approach the nonconformist and heterodox religious movements of the reformation era. There was no overarching theology or set of practices which drew all radical movements together, and nonconformists often had much in common with their magisterial neighbours. Archival records and systems of classification have unhelpfully shaped our understandings of radicalism, as have the terms of insult and othering inherited from the reformation era. Drawing on the most recent scholarship on reformation radicalism and examples from central German Anabaptism, this article argues that the definition proposed by Williams is no longer. Instead of these essentialist frameworks, it suggests that approaches to reformation radicalism should focus on close contextual analysis of the lived experience of nonconformist and heterodox religion.

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