Confessional Cross-Pollination
Basel Humanists as Suppliers of Lutheran and Catholic Exempla
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4314451 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Serena Strecker (Yale University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 1247 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-15 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel15101247 |
| OpenAlex | W4403429983 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 7 |
Basel humanists shaped religious discourse beyond the Reformed sphere through their collections of exempla, short narratives designed to illustrate a moral or doctrinal message. Because scholars of early modern exempla typically focus on either Lutheran or Catholic exempla collections, the role of Reformed compilers as mediators between confessions has been obscured. This article uses methods from the field of digital humanities and corpus linguistics to examine the lasting influence of Theodor Zwinger (1533-1588), Conrad Lycosthenes (1518-1561), and Johannes Herold (1514-1567) on Lutheran and Catholic exempla collections in a newly quantitative way. Using the concordance software AntConc, this study identifies numerous citations that demonstrate that Zwinger and Lycosthenes facilitated confessional cross-pollination of exemplary narratives from the mid-sixteenth through the early eighteenth century. Although citations of Zwinger, Lycosthenes, and Herold are more frequent in Lutheran exempla collections, the existence of several Catholic editions of Zwinger's Theatrum vitae humanae indicates that Catholic readers also valued Zwinger's work. This examination showcases the vital role of Swiss humanists in cross-confessional networks of information exchange and religious discourse in early modern Europe
Art · Confessional · Humanism · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Theology · Classics · Historical Influence and Diplomacy · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
| Highly cited | No |
|---|