The Reformation of the Dead: Death and Ritual in Early Modern Germany, C.1450-1700

by Craig M. Koslofsky

Koslofsky examines the human encounter with death in Germany from the eve of the Reformation to the rise of Pietism. The Protestant Reformation transformed the funeral more profoundly than any other ritual of the traditional church. Luther's doctrine of salvation 'by faith alone' made the foundation of the traditional funeral, intercession for the dead in Purgatory, obsolete. By drawing on anthropological interpretations of death ritual, this study...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0333666852
• ISBN13: 9780333666852
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
• Length: 223 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"