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Pontianus Polman re‐imagined : how (not) to write a history of religious polemics
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Bauer, Stefan (2021) Pontianus Polman re‐imagined : how (not) to write a history of religious polemics. Renaissance Studies, 35 (1). pp. 24-42. doi:10.1111/rest.12638 ISSN 0269-1213.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/rest.12638
Abstract
This historiographical essay discusses several examples of how religious polemics have been studied with regard to their use of history. Only one book has ever treated the subject in a systematic way: Pontianus Polman’s L’élément historique dans la controverse religieuse du XVIe siècle (Gembloux, 1932). Applying a rigid scheme, Polman dealt first with Protestants and then with Catholics. For each side, he presented two sections: the first entitled ‘The accumulation of material’ (subdivided into ‘history of dogma’ and ‘church history’) and the second ‘The synthesis of material’. Polman’s general conclusion was that religious polemics stimulated historical research but that theological ideas were often considered to be of greater importance than evidence derived from historical documents and sources. After a consideration of contemporary reviewers such as Hubert Jedin and Lucien Febvre, I discuss Irena Backus' book Historical Method and Confessional Identity (2003) and argue that a new history of religious controversies should build on an ‘anatomy of polemics’, that is, on the study of scholarly conventions, their modification and rupture in Reformation polemics, giving particular attention to the criteria of religious knowledge as exemplified by debates about forgeries.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Alternative Title: | |||||||
Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BR Christianity P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > History | ||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Polemics, Christianity -- Controversial literature, Religion -- Historiography, Polman, P. (Pontien), 1897-1968, Backus, Irena, 1950- | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Renaissance Studies | ||||||
Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. | ||||||
ISSN: | 0269-1213 | ||||||
Official Date: | 27 January 2021 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 35 | ||||||
Number: | 1 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 24-42 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1111/rest.12638 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Bauer, S. (2021), The uses of history in religious controversies from Erasmus to Baronio. Ren. Stud., 35: 9-23., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/rest.12637. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
Copyright Holders: | The Society for Renaissance Studies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 30 August 2022 | ||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 30 August 2022 |
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