Luther Abroad – Luther Received

I will be part of the keynote discussions for this conference on Luther. 

2017 marks the five-hundredth anniversary of Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses, and the beginning of Reformation in Europe.  Hull, UK City of Culture in 2017, was the site of the first trials for Lutheran heresy to take place in England.   In recognition of these two events, the Society for Reformation Studies will be meeting in Hull to explore the theme of ‘Luther Abroad, Luther Received’.

Luther’s ideas, and his critique of the Roman Catholic Church, spread rapidly both within and beyond the Holy Roman Empire.  We invite papers (25 minutes’ maximum) exploring the circulation and reception of Luther and his thought beyond Saxony and beyond the German lands.  Papers might consider Luther’s influence on the development of Lutheranism across the Empire and through Europe, in the shaping of Protestant churches and movements and on the direction of the Roman Catholic Church.  They might consider the circulation and dissemination of Luther’s writings, or of the image of Luther himself.  Equally, they might explore influence in the other direction – the effect on Luther of his own earlier travels to Rome, or of the foreign reception and response to his work on the development of Lutheranism in Germany.

Leading in consideration of this theme will be:

Kat Hill (UEA)
Peter Marshall (Warwick)
Bernward Schmidt (RWTH Aachen)
Herman Selderhuis (Theologische Universiteit Apeldoorn