Thursday, October 1, 2015

What story do the pictures of ( Anabaptist Martyr - Reformation map - Katharina Von Bora - Zwingli and Calvin ) Tell me how these images and the people and events represented in them weave together to tell a singular story? What would you argue is the main theme of this story and who are the main characters? If you wrote this into a movie, what would your title be?

To begin, it should be noted that this question seems to be based on the interpretation of artwork, so without actually being able to look at and observe the various specific images, there's only so much I can do to provide any help for this question. (Zwingli, Katherina von Bora, Calvin—these are all real people, so there would be multiple potential portraits or images you could be working with, which could each provide their own divergent insights into the personality of the individual in question.) In any case, we could discuss these various themes and individuals to determine who they are and get a better sense for how this picture fits together.
The overall history of the Protestant Reformation begins in the Holy Roman Empire, with the teachings of Martin Luther. (Probably what many people consider the seminal moment in this came in 1517, when Luther set his "Ninety-five Theses" on the wall of the church at Wittenberg.) Katherina von Bora was very much in the center of Luther's career as a theologian. A former nun inspired by his ideas, she left the cloister and later married Luther in 1525. In the process, she became one of his closest and most critical supporters across the last two decades of his life.
That being said, just as Luther's teachings ultimately brought about a schism with Rome, so did Protestantism itself schism from within. This was not a unified church, with Luther standing at its center, dictating everything. We see this in the examples of both Zwingli and Calvin. Born in Switzerland, Zwingli had a critical disagreement with Luther concerning the nature of the Eucharist. We can move further afield toward Calvin, born in France (and later exiled from the country of his birth), who represents a defining influence in the Reformed tradition. Do be aware, the full reality of these different individuals is far more intricate and complex than these brief summations can attest to. The critical theme is more to consider just how far the Reformation expands, beginning in the Holy Roman Empire (modern-day Germany) and very rapidly taking on a life of its own.
This was also a deeply violent period of time. Your first image is titled "Anabaptist Martyrs," and, while I admittedly don't know what image that refers to, the title itself is telling. The early modern era was fiercely devotional, far more than modern-day secular society, and the Reformation created tremendous turmoil throughout Europe. In 1521, by the Edict of Worms, Luther himself was named a criminal within the Holy Roman Empire, and his experience was far from unique. There were conflicts (and often violence) between Catholics and Protestants, and there was also conflict within Protestantism as well. Persecution is embedded within this story, and I suspect this image reflects that.
So, with these things in mind, there are questions I would ask as well: when looking at these pictures, can you get a read for any kind of personality, or personality traits (for example, in facial expressions)? What impression would you make of these individuals based on the images and based on the backgrounds of these people? That in itself is critical to the task you are asked to accomplish. Beyond this, try to determine a narrative as to how all these images fit together within the larger story of the Protestant Reformation, and think carefully as to what kind of story it might be.

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