Research in Progress

“Reforming Church and Society in Denmark: Johannes Bugenhagen and King Christian III in the Scandinavian Reformation”

“Johannes Bugenhagen and the Church Order in Braunschweig: Implementation and Resistance”

“Pious City: Community, Discipline and Charity in Calvin’s Geneva”

“Women Reformers: Midwives, Nurses and other Working Women”

Developing urban societies challenged the medieval notion of poverty as a virtue. Religious reformers in the sixteenth century supported this movement by sanctifying most types of labor and supporting the appropriation of church property for the common good, including schools, hospitals and poor relief. Initially, religious reformers in the sixteenth century envisioned a type of wealth distribution that would support a centralized welfare system whose main task was to diminish the causes of poverty and render begging unnecessary. The practical applications aimed at wealth distribution, such as a common chest, establishment of schools, limitations on interest rates, donation bags and new programs for poor relief, reveal the continuous negotiation between religious ideals, political goals, and social realities.