Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- List of Illustrations / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- List of Figures / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- Acknowledgments / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- Abbreviations in Notes / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- Introduction: The Laity and Their Pamphlets—Different Modes of Discourse / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- 1 The Social Order / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- 2 Fear of Injustice: The Warning Pamphlets and Accounts of Judicial Actions / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- 3 The Knights as Propagandists / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- 4 The Nobility Define Christian Life and Practice / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- 5 Angry Men, the Devil, and Social Reform / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- 6 The Urban Elite and the Convents / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- 7 The Artisans, Scripture, and Christian Practice / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- 8 The View From Below: Order in a Divided Society / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- 9 The City Secretaries and the Magistrates Legislate the New Order / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- Conclusion / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- Back Matter -- Primary Sources / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- Works Cited / Miriam Usher Chrisman -- Index / Miriam Usher Chrisman.

Cultural, historical and textual analysis of 3 propaganda pamphlets written by 166 German laymen and women reveals that each social class heard the Reformation message differently. The writers enthusiastically interpreted the Bible for themselves, finding justification for social and economic changes which suited the aims of their own class. The new ideology deepened the existing divisions in rural and urban society. The book presents, for the first time, a comprehensive selection of 166 lay authors. Knights, rural civil servants, technicians, patricians, lawyers and artisans describe the existing social order, their new beliefs and their hopes for change. They are eloquent and immensely human.

English

Description based on print version record.