Published since May 28, 2014

Journal of Early Modern Christianity

ISSN: 2196-6656

Editors-in-chief: Wim François, Violet Soen

Edited by: Grażyna Jurkowlaniec, Tarald Rasmussen, Rady Roldan-Figueroa

About this journal

The Journal of Early Modern Christianity (JEMC) is published with our partner Refo500 and its academic department RefoRC. It intends to contribute to interdisciplinary, interconfessional, and comparative research on early modern Christianity.

The journal bears out its interdisciplinary character by including a variety of relevant disciplines, such as church history, social history, cultural history, art history, literary history, history of ideas, history of music and archeology. Its interconfessional approach means that it includes contributions covering the major confessions of early modern Christianity, as well as Christian minorities and dissenters that were not recognized by any of these mainstream confessional traditions.

JEMC also incorporates topics concerning the relationship between Christianity and other religions in the early modern period (Judaism, Islam, etc.). The journal’s comparative approach gives expression to a broader intellectual ambition of stimulating research that is not restricted to a local or national scope, but takes advantage of the rich theoretical possibilities of comparing and synthesizing at a European, international, and even global level. In terms of chronology, the Journal primarily covers the period from 1450 to 1700.

Subscription to the Journal of Early Modern Christianity is part of the membership benefits of RefoRC. For further details visit www.reforc.com.

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Supplementary Materials

Topics

Volume 9 Issue 1

April 2022

Publicly Available March 24, 2022

Frontmatter

Page range: i-iv

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Research Articles

March 24, 2022

Porter assistance aux assistants: Jean Gerson (1363–1429) et sa postérité dans le domaine des soins de fin de vie

Yelena Mazour-Matusevich

Page range: 1-15

Abstract

The article deals with the history of palliative care, and examines several relevant documents from the late Middle Ages and Early Modern Era. The study is divided into two parts. The first part explores the contribution of the great theologian of the late Middle Ages Jean Gerson (1363–1429) to the field of end-of-life care, and is based on his texts La médecine de l’âme , Pour l’Hôtel Dieu , Lettre à un inconnu , Lettre à un vieillard , and Nova epistola pro instructione episcoporum et prelatorum . The second part follows Gerson’s legacy in the field of end-of-life care and is based on the texts by important theologians of the second half of the 15th and early 17th centuries.

March 24, 2022

Music, Ritual and Death in a Windesheim Community in the Early Modern Low Countries

Miriam Wendling

Page range: 17-43

Abstract

The manuscript B 78741 held in the Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience in Antwerp contains the liturgy for the last rites, death and burial of a religious sister. Copied in the late fifteenth century, this small paper book hides its origins well. However, its Dutch rubrics and Latin texts make clear that the book is for the use of a community of sisters, led by a prioress, with the assistance of a priest. The rituals have aspects in common with those from other communities – the Dominicans, in particular – but they also have some striking differences. In the following article, I compare the music, texts and rituals held in the manuscript with those from known traditions. I argue that the manuscript was made for a community of Augustinian canonesses from the Windesheim congregation, most likely Beata Maria de Galilea in Ghent.

March 24, 2022

Alfonso Carrillo y Acuña and His Attempts to Reform the Toledan Church within the Context of the Castilian Succession Conflict (1465–1479)

Ana Roda Sánchez

Page range: 45-66

Abstract

This article studies the attempts of Archbishop Alfonso Carrillo y Acuña to reform the Archdiocese of Toledo. In particular, I will focus on the Provincial Council of Aranda (1473), which addressed issues like priestly concubinage, absenteeism of priests from their parishes and the level of education of the clergy. Though the Council’s constitutions certainly contain reformative exhortations, it is not so clear that Carrillo convened the Council out of pastoral concerns exclusively. Contrarily, there are reasons to believe the Archbishop mainly sought to assure his political position in the midst of the conflict for the Castilian succession. Overall, scholarship has greatly studied Carrillo’s political deeds, but usually not in relation to the pastoral and reformative enterprises simultaneously undertaken by the Archbishop. This article aims to start filling this gap, linking those two aspects and demonstrating to what extent the latter was dependent on the former. Moreover, this article will bring more clarity on the pastoral turn of the Archbishops of Toledo in the Late Middle Ages. Though Cisneros is recognized for his pastoral leadership and acknowledged as the great promoter of Church reform in Castile, all this already started before. I intend to clarify when and how it happened.

March 24, 2022

Establishing the Jesuit Province of Mexico: The Development and the Institutions of a Missionary and Educational Province (1572–1615)

Pablo Abascal

Page range: 67-91

Abstract

The Society of Jesus has been characterized as a global order, as it could adapt to different social and political contexts. The initial purpose of the Jesuit province in New Spain was to convert the Indians to Catholicism. However, when the Jesuits arrived they found that the social diversity of the viceroyalty, particularly the large contingent of Creole inhabitants, made it impossible for them to focus solely on the Indians. Consequently, the Order in New Spain had to forge a path between the orders issued by the King of Spain and the General of the Order based in Rome and the needs of the local inhabitants, which resulted in the Province of Mexico acquiring a missionary and educational character. The main aim of this article is to analyze the foundation and development of the Province of Mexico during the generalates of Everard Mercurian and Claudio Acquaviva by examining the institutions they opened, and the different strategies of education and evangelization that they pursued throughout the viceroyalty. It will pay special attention to the designs of the central powers in Europe, the views points and discussions on education and evangelization by actors in New Spain, and how transatlantic decisions on the Order’s role in the viceroyalty affected the evolution of the province. To do this, the article will discuss three main aspects of the Jesuits’ mission in New Spain, (1) the type of missions and colleges that the Jesuits opened, (2) how Jesuit institutions were shaped according to the group of people that they aimed to evangelize or educate, and in turn (3) how that influenced the languages that the Jesuits taught to the local inhabitants.

Open Access March 24, 2022

Publicus–Privatus The Divine Foundations of Authority in Dietrich Reinking

Paolo Astorri, Lars Cyril Nørgaard

Page range: 93-119

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Abstract

This article examines the relationship between the magistrate and his subjects as developed in the Tractatus de regimine seculari et ecclesiastico (1619) by the German jurist Dietrich Reinking (1590–1664). The Tractatus represents the magistrate-subject relationship by reference to the adjectives publicus and privatus . We argue that these adjectives carry particular weight within the context of Reinking’s political theory that bases itself upon the Lutheran doctrine of the two kingdoms. Publicus is associated with a figure of authority that has been divinely ordained and governs the world, while privatus refers to the inferior subjects, who must obey the political authorities, even when these authorities act unjustly. This obedience has limits, however. If the magistratus issues a precept that contradicts divine and natural law, private subjects are entitled to disobey. Indeed, subjects, who participate in public administration, may actively resist, if the magistrate violates the fundamental laws of the empire. Such violations amounts to committing a sin against the divine authority that has ordained the officium of the magistrate, and which defines him as something more than a private man. Thus, the adjectives publicus and privatus belong to the worldly kingdom, where personae privatae are governed by personae publicae : this governance is parcelled into different officia that govern the res publica and are constrained by divine and natural law. In the spiritual kingdom, this distinction between private and public collapses, and individuals are placed on the same level vis-à-vis Christ, who is the sole persona publica .

Open Access March 24, 2022

Knowledge Communication and the Translation of Devotional Literature within Samuel Hartlib’s Circle

Jan van de Kamp

Page range: 121-144

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Abstract

In earlier research, Stephen Clucas observed a slight decrease in the frequency of theological and religious topics in Hartlib’s Ephemerides , from about 1640 to 1659. However, in Hartlib’s circle during this period and beyond, a serious commitment to collecting and translating English devotional literature into German can be observed. In this article, therefore, I would like to establish from the current state of The Hartlib Papers : 1) what kind of projects were carried out and by whom, 2) how these persons became involved and for how long, and 3) to what extent their work fits into the general aims and methods of members of Hartlib’s circle. From the analysis, it transpires that a network of Palatine men engaged with English devotional books from about 1632/1633 until 1662. These persons used Hartlib’s network as a platform for their projects, which were associated with several of the overall aims and methods of Hartlib’s circle.

March 24, 2022

An Analysis of the Dissertation on the Conformity of Faith and Reason in G.W. Leibniz’s Theodicy

Meine Veldman

Page range: 145-169

Abstract

This article analyzes Leibniz’s “Dissertation on the Conformity of Faith and Reason,” which is the preamble to his Theodicy . This dissertation can be considered Leibniz’s candid assertion and defense of the relation and conformity between faith and reason. Despite Leibniz’s very careful and nuanced arguments in favor of a conformity between faith and reason, I attempt to show that reason nonetheless emerges as the predominant principal. In the system of Leibniz faith is primarily a putting in perspective of evil and suffering as they are experienced and appear to the believer. By reason we know better, have superior insight, and are connected to the ultimate cause and essence of things.

Ahead of Print / Just Accepted

Ahead of Print / Just Accepted

Volume 9 (2022)

Issue 1

Volume 8 (2021)

Volume 7 (2020)

Volume 6 (2019)

Volume 5 (2018)

Volume 4 (2017)

Volume 3 (2016)

Volume 2 (2015)

Volume 1 (2014)

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Submit

The main language of the Journal is English. Occasionally, contributions in German and in French are also accepted. Usually contributions will range between 12 and 28 pages (approx. 31.250-68.750 characters or 5.000-11.000 words).

All articles will be double-blind peer reviewed.

Before submitting your manuscript, please get familiar with our Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement and our Code of Conduct for Publication Procedures and Ethics.
Once your article is accepted you have the option to publish it Open Access.

Editorial

Editor-in-Chief:
Wim François (KU Leuven, Belgium) and Violet Soen (KU Leuven, Belgium)
jemc@reforc.com

Editors:
Grazyna Jurkowlaniec (University of Warsaw, Poland)
Tarald Rasmussen (University of Oslo, Norway)
Rady Roldan-Figueroa (Boston University, MA, USA)

In cooperation with:
Sarah Covington (City University of New York, USA)
Ignasi Fernández Terricabras (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain)
Mercedes García-Arenal (Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, Madrid, Spain)
Heiner Lück (Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany)
Volker Leppin (Yale University, USA)
Mia M. Mochizuki (New York, USA / Abu Dhabi, UAE)
Zsombor Toth (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary)
Anna Vind (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

(Deutsch)

Online ISSN: 2196-6656
Print ISSN: 2196-6648
Type: Journal
Languages: English, German, French
Publisher: De Gruyter
First published: May 28, 2014
Publication Frequency: 2 Issues per Year