Reordering Marriage and Society in Reformation Germany [Hardcover]

This book examines the impact of the Reformation on the ideal and practice of marriage in sixteenth-century Germany.This book: 1) describes marriage in both theory (theological and legal) and practice in Reformation Germany; 2) puts the Protestant Reformation in its full social context; 3)provides broad synthesis of the latest international research on marriage, the family, gender and sexuality, statebuilding, and theology.This book: 1) describes marriage in both theory (theological and legal) and practice in Reformation Germany; 2) puts the Protestant Reformation in its full social context; 3)provides broad synthesis of the latest international research on marriage, the family, gender and sexuality, statebuilding, and theology.This book examines the impact of the Protestant Reformation on both the ideal and practice of marriage in sixteenth-century Germany. Unlike previous specialized and esoteric monographs, this study synthesizes the author's extensive archival work with a broad array of scholarly research in legal, theological, and, especially, social history. His most important conclusion is the minimal impact of Protestant marriage reforms, and the striking similarity in this respect to concurrent Catholic measures, particularly in the actual formation and preservation of marriages.Part I. The Nature and Origins of Sixteenth-Century Marriage Reform: 1. Marriage reform and reformers; 2. Marriage and the Church: the ideological reformation; 3. Marriage and the state: the bureaucratic reformation; Part II. The Social Impact of Sixteenth-Century Marriage Reform: 4. In loco parentis: public approval of private consent; 5. 'Against the marriage devil': sexual discipline and marital stability; 6. Conclusions. ...this well-documented, convincingly-argued book shows the aims of both religious and secular reformers in both Protestant and Catholic territories to have been conservative in nature, committed to enforcing the view of marriage that had been developing for l#+