Topic of the Plenary Papers: Defining, Demonstrating, and Defending Identity and Alterity in the Reformation Era

Identity in the early modern era was shaped by various factors—religious, social, and, increasingly, national—which also influenced how people understood others as well as themselves. Religious identity, however, was not a self-evident preconception in the sixteenth century; it was itself a question at stake. Five hundred years ago, in the second half of the 1520s, religious and political parties had to reconceptualize their “new” identities.

The 16th Annual REFORC Congress on Early Modern Christianity will focus on early modern Christian identity in the context of the Reformation. It seeks to encourage discussion of the many ways in which identity was shaped, perceived, and presented in the Reformation era:

• How did concepts of religious or social identity (or alterity) develop after the Reformation took hold in an area or amongst certain individuals or groups?
  
  
• How were such identities positively established by (e.g.) the formulation of doctrinally normative texts and other integrative processes, and how were they defended by (e.g.) the means of confessional polemics and mechanisms of inclusion?
  
  
• What role did pamphlets, disputations, letters, and other genres play in establishing, demonstrating, questioning, and defending one’s own identity?
  
  
• How can conflicts and tensions between different parties be understood with regards to the question of identity (and/or alterity)?
  
  
• How did religious identity (and/or alterity) translate into religious, social, and political practice – and vice versa?
  
  
• How was (religious) identity staged by the means of liturgy, art, music, and architecture – and (how) did it manifest itself in the (urban or rural) space?