Early Modern Europe is that period in the history of Europe that spans between the end of middle ages and way to the commencing of the industrial Revolution period. The Early Modern Europe period can notably be marked and identified with events and trends like the Reformation and its associated conflicts in religion, the pronounced rebirth of capitalism and modern nation states, and the European Americans’ colonization among others. The early modern period may not have specific span of date, but is generally believed and agreed to have in it seen the reformation, renaissance, enlightenment, and scientific revolution. Notable changes have been attached to the early modern period with the increase in science and technology, political secularization the Roman Catholic Church diminution among the most notable changes. The period was such an epoch with many people beginning to have an alt in thinking breaking from medieval self-identification mode, affiliated to religion, feudal proclamation or language, to thinking of themselves as a people who belong to a national polity. To clearly understand the European reformation and the religion-political climate in the Early Modern Europe, the confessionalization thesis is of confessionalization thesis is a great route to take (Reinhard, 1999).

The European Reformation aka the protestant Reformation was quite a major movement that principally aimed at making total reforms on the practices and beliefs underlined by the Roman Catholic Church.  Confessionalization is the development of three confessions which include: Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed, which happened in the second half of the 16nth Century particularly emphasizing on how the state related to the growth of religious denominations. It is believed that social discipline courtesy of the state amounted to the birth of distinctive confessional denominations and identities. Since politics and religion were both players in the process, confessionalization therefore significantly had a role in the reformation and development of the early modern Europe. Therefore, understanding the confessionalization thesis is quite important for understanding European Reformation and the religion-political climate in early modern Europe (Reinhard, 1999).

Developed in the 1970s by two German historians, Heinz Schilling and Wolfgang Reinhard, in their independent scholarships, the confessionalization thesis contrasted the socio-economic scholarship which was popular by then focusing attention on the intertwined roles that were played by religion and politics in the early modern state development. As developed by Walter Zeeden and Gerhard Oestreich, the social disciplining and confession building concepts were highly influential in the development of confessionalization thesis. Combining the two concepts, confession building and social disciplining the two historians, Reinhard and Schilling came up with the confessionalization thesis as they sought to explain the early modern state development (Reinhard, 1999).

Ideally, the confessionalization thesis has its focus on the intertwine and interplay of four vital elements that are concerned with the religio-political early modern Europe atmosphere including the medieval precedent of an intertwined church-state relationship, the religious homogeneity desire, confessions defining their differences, and the highly competitive early modern Europe political climate. Though the church had been somehow bound together long before confessionalization, as pointed out by William Bradford Smith, confessionalization marks the dying days of the last phase of a reformation process that had ensued Europe for at least two centuries before the year 1550. The confessionalization thesis traces its origin from the policies of then church officials in the Roman Catholic, other protestant churches and the bureaucrats of the European state. Confessionalization historians just like those that advocated for reforms in church, much emphasize on the uniformity of developments in the German Roman Catholic. The confessionalization thesis stresses on the close proximity cooperation relationship between the state and the church yet it is common to find a whole state/church spectrum within catholic Germany (Reinhard, 1999).

In its initial stages, the confessionalization thesis greatly had its focus on studying the Holy Roman Empire with most of its affiliated events more German-centered. Maybe the most essential level headed discussion that confessionalization has propelled is whether the spread and dispersion of confessionalism in Europe is the consequence of a top-down spread of “conventionality,” or if a base up model is more fitting. The significance of this level headed discussion goes past the confessionalization proposition, analyzing the elements of culture and its spread through society. At first centered around how elites passed on particular confession booth conventions and implemented ethical quality on the lower populaces, the confessionalization proposition normally fit a top-down model. In any case, this view has been genuinely tested by Marc Forster, Bodo Nischan, and numerous different history specialists. Marc Forster’s study is particularly imperative, since it uncovers a lot of imperviousness to the presentation of Tridentine changes. As the underlying receptors and propagators of the Council of Tent, the Jesuits tried to convey the Catholic Reformation to Speyer. Meeting resistance drove by the nearby ministers and common elites, who did not wish to offend the larger part Protestant populace, the Jesuits observed authorizing the chamber’s changes to be a relentless errand. By the onset of the eighteenth century, through appearances and the presentation of outside ministers, the change of the neighborhood pastorate succeeded (Reinhard, 1999).

Just like politics, religion and religious faiths and beliefs were part and parcel of the day to day life in Early Modern Europe especially between the years 1450 and 1700. There were quite significant changes religiously in Europe thus religion and so confessionalization cannot be left out in making the reformation history of early modern Europe. The religio-political climate in early modern Europe can be drawn from confessionalization bearing in mind that the Roman Catholic empires were against Protestantism and went even to war. Since the Roman Catholics was affiliated to princes and other designated rulers, in such a connection, there was some influence of politics in the early modern Europe religious climate with political rulers having an upper hand in religious issues (Reinhard, 1999).

In a nutshell, confessionalization thesis which is ideally a combination of two concepts that were evident in the early modern Europe, social disciplining and confession building, is a powerful tool in  understanding the religio-political climate in early modern Europe. Confessionalization period brought about significant reformations in Europe as people began to discern their own ways religiously protesting from the norms of the rulers who just wanted a single denomination, notably the Roman Catholic. As people across Europe started to be divided along confessional affiliations, secular people too began to bring people together to a common community with the communion celebration becoming a symbol of unity with all the confessions having recognition of breaking the bread as a unifying aspect. The confessionalization concept is made up of both political and social dimensions and defines the religio-political climate in early modern Europe and European Reformation as a whole (Reinhard, 1999).

 

Reference

Wolfgang Reinhard, (1999), Pressures towards Confessionalization? Prolegomena to a Theory of the Confessional Age, Blackwell Publishers.