Devotio moderna

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The Devotio moderna ( Latin ; "new piety ") was a religious renewal movement within the church . It originated in the late 14th century in the Netherlands and in the 15th century it spread mainly in north-west Germany . In the 16th century it lost its strength, but continued to influence the thinking of the German Renaissance humanists and the reformers .

history

The origins of the Devotio moderna are connected with Geert Groote (1340–1384) from Deventer , from whose activity the non-monastic movement of the brothers in common life was derived; later the Windesheimer Congregation came into being , an Augustinian canon community reformed in the spirit of the Devotio moderna . The movement was particularly widespread in the 14th and 15th centuries in Dutch and Lower Rhine-Westphalian areas. It is sometimes viewed as the forerunner of Lutheranism and Calvinism . Even Erasmus was brought up in this mindset.

Since the Devotio moderna valued the legally constituted church, the external reception of the sacraments and the vows and rules of the monastic orders less than the individual relationship with Christ, the Dominicans accused them of heresy at the Council of Constance (1414-1418) . However, Johannes Gerson defended them and prevented a trial.

The most important work of the Devotio moderna is the " Imitatio Christi " by Thomas a Kempis .

Quirk

The Modern Devotion arose about the same time noticeable, the in humanism with Christianity linked to the Christian humanism. The latter required studying the basic texts of Christianity in order to establish a personal relationship with God . The brothers who lived together found their main task and source of income in copying and binding books. In the 16th century, the development of the printing press made the texts more and more accessible.

The Devotio moderna drew from the sources of Christian mysticism and was close to late medieval spiritualism . It "aimed [...] at a special personal and inward piety which drew its strength not so much from the celebration of the ecclesiastical liturgy and the sacraments as from the silent contemplation of the passion of Christ and from the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount". However, she remained “completely loyal to the Church” ( August Franzen ).

See also

literature

  • Christoph Benke: A short history of Christian spirituality. Herder, Freiburg a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-3-451-29608-6 , pp. 95-98.
  • Karl Egger , Willem Lourdeaux, Alypia van Biezen: Studies on the Devotio moderna . Borengässer, Bonn 1988, ISBN 978-3-923946-12-9 .
  • Georgette Epiney-Burgard: The Paths of Education in the Devotio Moderna. In: Hartmut Boockmann, Bernd Moeller , Karl Stackmann (eds.): Life lessons and world designs in the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern age. Politics - Education - Natural History - Theology. Report on colloquia of the commission to research the culture of the late Middle Ages 1983 to 1987 (= treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen: philological-historical class. Volume III, No. 179). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1989, ISBN 3-525-82463-7 , pp. 181-200.
  • Elias H. Füllenbach : Devotio Moderna (I. Christianity) , in: Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR), Vol. 6 (2013), Col. 716-717.
  • Manfred Gerwing : The so-called Devotio moderna. In: Ferdinand Seibt (Ed.): Jan Hus - Between times, peoples, denominations. Munich 1997 (= publications of the Collegium Carolinum, 85), pp. 49–58.
  • Erwin Iserloh : Thomas von Kempen and the Devotio Moderna. In: ders. (Ed.): Church - Event and Institution. Essays and lectures, I: Church history as theology. Münster / Westphalia 1975, pp. 111-136.
  • Hans Rupprich , Hedwig Heger : The German literature from the late Middle Ages to the Baroque. First part. The late Middle Ages, Humanism and Renaissance 1370–1520 . 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-406-37898-6 , p. 336-340 (first edition: 1970).
  • Beat von Scarpatetti : The Church and the Augustinian Canons of St. Leonhard in Basel (11th / 12th century – 1525). A contribution to the history of the city of Basel and the late Devotio Moderna . Basel 1974

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heiko Augustinus Oberman : Luther. Man between god and devil . Berlin 1981, p. 101.
  2. ↑ Brief Church History . Freiburg 6, 2000, p. 248.