WOMEN AND THE REFORMATION

Part 1: DON'T LET'S MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AGAIN!

Next year we will be celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. It was in November 1517 that Martin Luther lit the blue touchpaper of this explosive sequence of events with his famous 95 Theses. There will be hundreds of books and academic articles published and TV programmes aired as well as conferences, seminars and festivals on both sides of the Atlantic. That means that all the old favourites will be brought out for re-examination: Luther and Calvin and Henry VIII, and Cranmer and all the other theologians, kings, writers, revolutionaries and martyrs who played prominent parts in the 16th century upheaval.

Well, at this point - before the brouhaha gets under way - I want to say, Stop! Think! Look at this foundational movement with eyes unclouded by male assumptions.

THE REFORMATION CHANGED WOMEN'S LIVES

and

WOMEN CHANGED THE REFORMATION

'We ought not, any more than men, to hide and bury within the earth that which God has revealed to us women' - Marie Dentière

'I believe women, no less than men, must embrace such studies [literature] alone for the pleasure and enjoyment they contain' - Cassandra Fedele

'When no man will or can speak, I am driven by the word of the Lord - "Whoever confesses me on earth will I confess [in heaven]"' - Argula von Stauff

'It is better to be hated by men than by God, who is able to torture, not only the body, but also the soul in perpetual fire' - Olympia Morata

'Being of the female sex did not turn me from the enterprise of publishing, nor the fact that it is usually a calling followed by men' - Jeanne Giunta

'Since we are assured of our creation in the image of God, and of an interest in Christianity equal unto men ... we cannot help but wonder, and grieve that we should appear so despicable in your eyes as to be thought unworthy ... to present our grievances to this honourable house' - A petition to parliament.

These were not the words of 19th century pioneers campaigning for women's rights nor 21st century feminist crusaders assailing the battlements of male domination. They were Reformation heroines freed by their religious experience from the conventions that had bound their foremothers. In next week's blog I will be telling some of their remarkable stories.

Or, of course, you could buy the book.