Reformation: Women of the Reformation

Professor Peter Matheson here translations of all Argula von Grumbach published works together with introductions. He gives a full biographical account of von Grumbach, analyses her use of Scripture and discusses her role as a woman of the Reformation. The rediscovery of Protestanism's first female theologian and author affords a wealth of new insight into the history of the Reformation; the role of women in Church, state and society; and a woman's use of Scripture, which in many ways anticipates the flowering of feminist theology today.

Biographies of influential women from the Reformation. Explores the social history and theology of women during the Reformation, analyzing the effects women had on the Reformation and beyond.

Focusing on the critical case of Catherine of Siena (d. 1380), the essays in this volume consider the role of texts, translations and images in various media in constructing and disseminating the cult of a saint in the late Middle Ages.

A biography of Jeanne d'Albret, focused on her political career and conflicts and her role in the Wars of Religion.

Dentière's Very Useful Epistle (1539) is the first explicit statement of reformed theology by a woman to appear in French. Addressed to Queen Marguerite of Navarre, sister of the French king Francis I, the Epistle asks the queen to help those persecuted for their religious beliefs. Dentière offers a stirring defense of women and asserts their right to teach the word of God in public. She defends John Calvin against his enemies and attacks the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. Her Preface (1561) to one of Calvin's sermons criticizes immodesty and extravagance in clothing and warns the faithful to be vigilant. Undaunted in the face of suppression and ridicule, this outspoken woman persisted as an active voice in the Reformation.

A biography of Katerina Shütz Zell. Though a popular level biography and not an academic analysis, it is an informative and readable volume.

Part one of Volume 1 paints Schütz Zell’s biography in the context of her age, part two explores the main features of her biblical theology and literary activity, giving particular attention to Schütz Zell’s convictions about the ministries of women and laity. Volume 2 provides access for the first time to the literary corpus of an outstanding lay leader of the early Protestant Reformation, one of the most articulate women authors of her age. An educated Strasbourg craftswoman and pastor’s wife, Katharina Schütz Zell wrote German fluently. Her works, some published in her lifetime, others preserved only in manuscript, are remarkable for their time-span (1524-1558) and the range of genres: from devotional, educational, and pastoral text to sermonic literature and theological polemic.

A biography of Catherine of Sienna and an analysis of her theology and influence. Includes an extensive chronology of Catherine of Siena's life.

An assessment of Hanna Luder's effect on Martin Luther's mental and theological development. Analyzes Martin Luther's later writings to discern Hanna Luder's influence.

The collected prayers of Catherine of Siena provide a uniquely intimate point of access to the spirituality and theology of this fourteenth-century Italian mystic and reformer. Here we are allowed to sit in on and learn from the spontaneous prayer of one who was amazingly honest before her God and in the face of the people and situations she encountered in her daily life. The prayers are rendered in sense lines to facilitate meditative reading. This new edition of the only complete English translation of Catherine's Prayers brings fresh insight through expanded annotation, relating the content of the prayers particularly to the broader contexts of her thought. The translation is based on the critical edition of the original by Giuliana Cavallini.