Thomas Müntzer: Theology and Revolution in the German Reformation

by Tom Scott, Albert Abane

In this book, the author re-examines the career and thought of the most militant figure of the Radical Reformation in Germany, Thomas Muntzer. Muntzer's theological vision is integrated into his gradual commitment to violent social rebellion and it is suggested that it was his religious convictions that limited his appeal and effectiveness as a leader and prevented him from drafting the blueprint of a new society.

Genres: Biography

222 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

(NB. There are several authors with the same name.) This the author page for Tom Scott, historian, MA, PhD, LittD, FRSA. Honorary Professor, University of St Andrews.

Before joining the Institute of Reformation Studies in St Andrews in 2004, Tom Scott was based in the School of History at the University of Liverpool. Before that he was a research fellow at Clare College, Cambridge.

Tom Scott has worked principally on social and economic issues in the German Reformation, including the Peasants’ War, and more generally on town-country relations, regional economic systems, and regional identity. In 1997 his monograph Regional Identity and Economic Change: The Upper Rhine, 1450‒1600 was published by Oxford University Press. A volume of fifteen essays on Town, Country, and Regions in Reformation Germany followed in 2005 (Brill Publishers). More recently he has published The City-State in Europe, 1000-1600: Hinterland‒Territory‒Region (OUP, 2012), and, in the St Andrews Reformation Studies Institute series, The Early Reformation in Germany between Secular Impact and Radical Vision (Ashgate Publishers, 2013). He has just published The Swiss and their Neighbours, 1460-1560. Between Accommodation and Aggression (OUP, 2017).

As well as major articles on ‘The Agrarian West’ (Oxford Handbook of Early Modern European History, 2015) and ‘The Economic Policies of the Regional City-States of Renaissance Italy’ (Quaderni Storici, 145 (2014)), he has recently written surveys on Unresolved Problems in the German Peasants’ War, the Urban Reformation in Germany, and ‘The Problem of Nationalism in the Early Reformation’ (Renaissance and Reformation, Autumn 2015), as well as contributing to the forum on Peter Wilson’s Heart of Europe (Central European History, Autumn 2017).

His current research project focuses on the politics of the Swiss Confederation in the first half of the sixteenth century.

Reviews

[Brett Dulle]

One of the saddest history books I've read. Muntzer was never a great success. He did not the education that Luther had. His unique theology dealing with the idea that suffering was necessary for faith, never had large numbers of adherents. The things he's most famous for, the peasant rebellion, he's shown to not really be in control of and to have had a minor influence in inspiring. None the less, he suffered as if he was the ringleader. He was tortured, forced to reject his own doctrines, decapitated, and his head and corpse were put on pikes and public displayed. Book could have been better, allows the history of his life faithfully and continually talks about his theological ideas. His theological ideas could have been clarified more. Luther's contempt is mentioned at several points but it's not too clear why Luther hated Muntzer's ideas.Was it as a result of Muentzer's invective against Luther, was it Muntzer's theology, political ideas. Could have been handled better.