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

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Marina Münkler; Dr. Antje Sablotny
• Subject Area: German Medieval Studies (Medieval German Literature)
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 523399202

The project investigates the transformations in content and form of two central genres of religious communication under the pressure of mutual disparagement and the question of the effects of invective for the development of literary-religious genres in the 16th century: the legend and the sermon on the Turks. Both the hagiographic narratives and the sermons on the Turks were crucial for the self-positioning as true representatives of the Christian faith in the context of Reformation and confessionalization. In the project, both fields are analyzed for the first time with the concept of Othering, especially with regard to the interrelation of Doing the Other and Doing the Self. 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. Overall the project thus contributes to the study of invectivity as a decisive factor of disturbance, stabilization, and dynamization of religious orders as well as to the question of the invective functionalization of genres of religious communication in the research field of Reformation and confessionalization.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants