The Concept of "Confessionalization": a Historiographical Paradigm in Dispute

Abstract

Since the 1980s the concept of "confessionalization" has been one of the leading interpretive categories in the historiography on early modern Germany. This article will, firstly, explain the paradigm of confessionalization as it was developed by Wolfgang Reinhard and Heinz Schilling in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Secondly, it will recapulate the critique that has been voiced against the concept, which can be broadly differentiated into four categories: first, macro-historical criticism; second, the discussion about the periodization of the processes of confessionalization; third, the controversy about the role of theological "truth" in the process of confessionalization and about the specific characteristics of the different confessions; and fourth, the criticism of what has been called the "etatistic narrowing" or "top to bottom approach" of the concept of confessionalization. In this context, the paradigm of confessionalization has in recent years become a hotly debated subject in the field of tension between micro and macrohistory.