Konfessionelle Polemik in der Begräbnishomiletik. Fünf Leichenpredigten des Kontroverspredigers Georg Scherer aus den Jahren 1583–1603

• Authors: Pavlíčková Radmila

Title variants

EN

Confessional Polemics in Funeral Homilies: Five Funeral Sermons by the Controversial Preacher Georg Scherer from 1583–1603

• Languages of publication: DE

Abstracts

EN

Of the extensive literary work of the Jesuit and the controversial preacher Georg Scherer (1540–1605), a collection of five funeral sermons delivered and printed in 1583–1603 has up to now escaped attention. The first thing that marks the set as exceptional is the “earliness” of its origin, for it dates from the early period of Roman Catholic funeral homilies of which only a few examples are known. A second point is that they represent one of the most extensive sets from the pen of one author known from this period. Thirdly, like Scherer’s polemical works, the funeral sermons reached a wide public and were repeatedly published, often in translation, sometimes as independent publications, sometimes as part of larger compendiums and collections. Fourthly, two of the funeral sermons, by the standards of Catholic funeral homilies, contain abundant graphic detail. Finally, two of the sermons were delivered over members of the Habsburg line (Archduke Ernest in 1585 and the Emperor’s widow Maria in 1603) and are closely connected with Scherer’s career as a Viennese court preacher. This study first assesses the set of five funeral sermons in their connection with Scherer’s other literary work, and puts them in the context of the development of Catholic funeral homilies. It then analyses each sermon from the point of view of its themes, of key importance for the celebration of the deceased individual, and devotes especial attention to the varied and variously intense confessional argumentation (references to the confessional identity of the deceased, to passages of the catechism, to theological polemics – for example, about purgatory – and to celebrations of conversion to Roman Catholicism). The presence of explicit statements and arguments of a confessional colouring is certainly connected with the general nature of Scherer’s religious polemical literature; it is at the same time, however, connected with the confessionally distinctive expression of funera homiletics in the last decades of the sixteenth and first decades of the seventeenth century.

Keywords

EN

Georg Scherer; funeral sermons; confessional polemics; Jesuits

Discipline

• THEOLOGY: THEOLOGY
• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Acta Comeniana (International review of Comenius studies and early modern intellectual history)
• Year: 2010
• Volume: 24
• Pages: 7-41

Contributors

author

Pavlíčková Radmila

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