BiographiesofaReformation:ReligiousChangeandConfessionalCoexistenceinUpperLusatia,c.1520-1635investigateshowreligiouscoexistencefunctionedinsixtownsinthemulticonfessionalregionofUpperLusatiainWesternBohemia.LutheransandCatholicsfoundafeasiblemodusvivendithroughwrittenagreementsandregularnegotiations.ThismeantthattheHabsburgkingsofBohemiaruledoveraLutheranregion.LutheransandCatholicsinUpperLusatiasharedspaces,objects,andrituals.CatholicsadoptedelementspreviouslyseenasafirmpartofaLutheranconfessionalculture.Lutherans,too,werewillingtoincorporateCatholicelementsintotheirreligiosity.Someoftheseoverlapsweresubconscious,whileotherswereaconsciouschoice.ThisbookprovidesanewnarrativeoftheReformationandshowsthattheconceptofthe’urbanReformation’,wheretownsareseenascentresofLutheranismhastobereassessed,particularlyintownsinformerEastGermany,wheremuchworkremainstobedone.ItshowsthatinaregionlikeUpperLusatia,whichdidnothaveapoliticalcentreandunderwentacomplexReformationwithmanydifferentactors,therewasnoclearconfessionalization.ByapproachingtheUpperLusatianReformationthroughimportantindividuals,MartinChristshowshowtheyhadtonegotiatetheirreligiosity,resultingincross-confessionalexchangeandsyncretism.
