James M. Stayer

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James M. Stayer (* 1935 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania) is a Canadian historian who researches the European early modern period . His focus is on the Anabaptist Movement and the Radical Reformation .

Life

James Stayer taught at Ithaca College , Bridgewater College and Bucknell University before emigrating to Canada in 1968 . Here he taught at Queen's University in Kingston / Ontario , where he became a professor in 1978. In 2000 he was retired . He received Canadian citizenship in 1977. According to his own statements, he is politically connected to the Liberal Party and religiously connected to Reform Judaism .

Since receiving his PhD from Cornell University in 1964 , Stayer has studied the early radical Reformation and Anabaptism. He spent several years in Switzerland and Germany to study sources . In 1972 he published the book Anabaptists and the Sword , which is considered one of the most important texts on Anabaptism. With this book, he initiated a revision of traditional Anabaptist research. As one of the first non-church-bound Anabaptist researchers, he showed the broad differences in the attitudes of the early Anabaptists towards the use of violence. Another widely recognized text was From Monogenesis to Polygenesis: The Historical Discussion of Anabaptist Origins , which he wrote together with Werner O. Packull and Klaus Deppermann. In this essay the thesis is put forward that Anabaptism originated in at least three different areas of Europe at the same time and was not fundamentally due to the early Swiss Anabaptists.

With numerous essays, monographs, lexicon entries and editorships, Stayer continues to contribute to the history of Anabaptism. In 1999 a commemorative publication was published under the title: Radical Reformation Studies .

Works (selection)

Monographs

  • Anabaptists and the sword. Colorado Press, Lawrence KS 1972.
  • The German Peasants' War and Anabaptist Community of Goods (= McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religions. Series 1, Vol. 6). McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal et al. 1991, ISBN 0-7735-0842-2 .
  • Martin Luther, German savior. German evangelical theological factions and the interpretation of Luther, 1917-1933 (= McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religions. Series 2, Vol. 13). McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal et al. 2000, ISBN 0-7735-2044-9 .

Essays

  • with Werner O. Packull and Klaus Deppermann: From Monogenesis to Polygenesis: The Historical Discussion of Anabaptist Origins. In: The Mennonite Quarterly Review. Vol. 49, No. 2, 1975, ISSN  0025-9373 , pp. 83-121.
  • The Beginnings of Swiss Anabaptism in Reformed Congregationalism. In: Hans-Jürgen Goertz (Ed.): Controversial Anabaptism. 1525-1975. New research. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1975, ISBN 3-525-55354-4 , pp. 19-49.
  • The Swiss brothers. An attempt at a historical definition. In: Mennonite history sheets . Vol. 34, 1977, pp. 7-34.
  • Wilhelm Reublin. A picaresque hike through early Anabaptism. In: Hans-Jürgen Goertz (ed.): Radical Reformers. 21 biographical sketches from Thomas Müntzer to Paracelsus (= Beck'sche Schwarze Reihe. Vol. 183). Beck, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-406-06783-2 , pp. 93-102.
  • Polygamy as "inner-worldly asceticism". New concepts of marriage in the Reformation. In: Mennonite history sheets. Vol. 37, 1980, pp. 24-41.
  • New models of a common life. Community of property in Anabaptism. In: Hans-Jürgen Goertz (Ed.): Everything belongs to everyone. The experiment community of goods from the 16th century to today (= Beck'sche Schwarze Reihe. Vol. 289). Beck, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-406-09289-6 , pp. 21-49.
  • Radical early Zwinglianism: Balthasar Hubmaier, Faber's cause and the farmers' programs. In: Mennonite history sheets. Vol. 42, 1985, pp. 43-59.
  • Anticlericalism: A Model for a Coherent Interpretation of the Reformation. In: Hans R. Guggisberg, Gottfried G. Krodel (Hrsg.): The Reformation in Germany and Europe. Interpretations and Debates. = The Reformation in Germany and Europe. Interpretations and Issues (= Archive for Reformation History. Special Vol.). Contributions to the joint conference of the Society for Reformation Research and the Verein für Reformationsgeschichte, September 25-30, 1990, in the German Historical Institute, Washington, DC Gütersloher Verlag-Haus, Gütersloh 1993, ISBN 3-579-01712-8 , p. 39-47.
  • The Radical Reformation. In: Thomas A. Brady Jr., Heiko A. Oberman , James D. Tracy (Eds.): Handbook of European History 1400–1600. Late Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation. Volume 2: Visions, Programs, Outcomes. Brill, Leiden et al. 1995, ISBN 90-04-09761-9 , pp. 249-282.
  • Anabaptist / Anabaptist Communities (I). In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE). Volume 32: Spurgeon - Taylor. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2001, ISBN 3-11-016712-3 , pp. 597-617.

Editorships

  • with Werner O. Packull: The Anabaptists and Thomas Müntzer. Kendall / Hunt Publishing, Dubuque IA et al. 1980, ISBN 0-8403-2235-6
  • with Hans-Jürgen Goertz : Radicality and Dissent in the 16th Century. = Radicalism and Dissent in the Sixteenth Century (= journal for historical research. Supplement. Vol. 27). Duncker and Humblot, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-428-10744-6 .
  • with John D. Roth: A Companion to Anabaptism and Spiritualism, 1521-1700 (= Brill's Companions to the Christian Tradition. Vol. 6). Brill, Leiden et al. 2007, ISBN 90-04-15402-7 .
  • with Willem de Bakker and Michael Driedger: Bernhard Rothmann and the Reformation in Münster, 1530–35. Pandora Press, Kitchener 2009, ISBN 978-1-926599-06-9 .

Festschrift

  • Werner O. Packull, Geoffrey L. Dipple (Eds.): Radical Reformation studies. Essays presented to James M. Stayer. Ashgate, Aldershot et al. 1999, ISBN 0-7546-0032-7 (with a complete list of publications up to 1999).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry in the page of Queen's University. Archived from the original on December 10, 2010 ; accessed on January 15, 2010 (English).
  2. Beyond borders. A conversation between the editors and Hans-Jürgen Goertz. In: Norbert Fischer , Marion Kobelt-Groch (eds.): Outsiders between the Middle Ages and the Modern Era. Festschrift for Hans-Jürgen Goertz on the occasion of his 60th birthday (= Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought. Vol. 61). Brill, Leiden et al. 1997, ISBN 90-04-10498-4 , pp. 3-18, here p. 14.