Tag Archives | Mark Correll

Correll, Mark R. Shepherds of the Empire: Germany’s Conservative Protestant Leadership–1888-1919. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2014.

The late nineteenth century was a time of rapid industrialization, mass politicization, and modern philosophy. The resulting political and cultural upheaval confronted the German protestant church with deep questions of identity. On the one side sat an educated academic guild whose explorations of history, philology, and emerging social scientific disciplines gave rise to serious questions about the Christian faith and its meaning for today. On the other sat parish clergy faced with the complexities of daily life and leadership in common communities. For these parish clergy the pressure was great to support and bolster people not only in their life as Christians, but in their life as Germans.

Shepherds of the Empire engages timeless questions of identity and faith through the time-bound work of four key thinkers who attempted, and ultimately failed, to carve a middle way for the German parish clergy in that environment.

Correll, Mark R. “The Reformation of Feeling: Shaping the Religious Emotions in Early Modern Germany.” Fides et Historia 43, no. 1 (December 1, 2011): 73–75.

Abstract: In a well-written study, The Reformation of Feeling: Shaping the Religious Emotions in Early Modern Germany, Susan C. Karant-Nunn has introduced a new lens by which to study the Reformations. Karant-Nunn takes a broad range of published sermons from pre-and post-Tridentine Catholics, as well as both Lutheran and Reformed Protestants, and reads them for their affective language. In doing this, she confirms and deepens many other historical interpretations of the Reformation era.

Correll, Mark R. “A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy.” Fides et Historia 43, no. 1 (December 1, 2011): 81–84.

Abstract: The Enlightenment has fallen on hard times as an ideological force for change in history. When it is not simply ignored in the developments of early modern Europe, it is described as a product of social forces. In this sharply written essay, A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy, Jonathan Israel sets out an ambitious project to restore the Enlightenment as the central focus for the entire historiography of the eighteenth century and the French Revolution. This work functions as an introduction to his much larger three volume set published by the Oxford University Press. This book is meant for a broader audience than his other works, it has a sharply polemical tone, and his argument does not digress into fine detail typical of a scholarly volume. Nevertheless, it is a powerfully effective challenge to early modern historiography.

Correll, Mark R. “Kevin P. Spicer, Hitler’s Priests: Catholic Clergy and National Socialism.” Fides et Historia no. 1 (2009): 111.

Abstract: Kevin P. Spicer’s new work, Hitler’s Priests: Catholic Clergy and National Socialism, examines Catholic-Nazi cooperation by inspecting the role of the small but vocal group of clerical Nazi supporters, the so-called “brown priests.” Hitler’s Priests explores the brown priests’ lives through their correspondence, parish records, and publications. Spicer describes the pastoral and theological results of the brown priests’ worldview, as well as the rationale for their open support of the Nazi party. Taking nine of the most active clerical supporters of the Nazis, he sketches biographies of these individual priests, outlining their respective entries into a pro-Hitler stance, their agitation for the Nazis, and the difficulties they encountered either with the church hierarchy or party leadership.