Protestant Hagiography and Sermons on the Turks. The Transformations of two Central Genres of Religious Communication in Confessional Invectives in the 16th Century

The establishment of a Lutheran hagiography in the 16th century faced the problem that it was preceded by Luther's sharp rejection of the veneration of saints and the disparagement of legends as "lying." Protestant sermons on the Turks faced similar difficulties: Sermons on "war against the Turk" contradicted Luther's earlier positioning against papal calls for a Turkish crusade. In both fields, therefore, it was not easy for the Protestant side to legitimize the change of its positions in the confessional conflicts of the 16th century. However, both fields were too central for the self-positioning as true representatives of the Christian faith to leave them to the Catholic Church alone, which could present itself as the guardian of salvation capital with the legends of the saints and as the defender of Christianity with the sermons against the Turks.

The project therefore asks what means the Protestant side used to establish its own hagiographic tradition and in what way it tried to present itself as the true defender of Christianity against the infidels in the sermons against the Turks. Subsequently, it will be investigated how the Catholic side fought the development of a Protestant hagiography and how it countered the Lutheran assessment of the Ottoman expansion and its dissemination in sermons. Research Area A examines the transformation of hagiographic narrative in Lutheran collections of martyrs and confessors histories, as well as calendars of saints, as distinct from Catholic legends. Work Area B analyzes the interweaving of invective communication about a third party in conjunction with reciprocal invectives in Lutheran and Catholic Turkish sermons. Research Area C is dedicated, on the one hand, to Catholic invectives against Luther's 'sanctification' as a counterpoint to his sharp criticism of Catholic veneration of saints and, on the other hand, to Luther's publication and commentary on the Dominican Ricold of Montecroce's translation of the Koran as an example of the reception and transformation of Catholic 'knowledge' about Islam.

The proposed project thus aims to investigate the transformation of two central genres of religious communication under the pressure of mutual disparagement and the question of the effects of invectivity on the development of religiously shaped genres in the 16th century.

Description of the working areas