TA 4/2010 (115. vuosikerta)

Continuity and Change: The Poor and Poor Relief in Catholic Reform from the Late Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era — Many scholars have argued that the Protestant Reformation changed the structures of poor relief and charity in various ways which were important to the subsequent development of the welfare state in northern Europe. These changes were based, for instance, on the expansion of state (or lay) engagement in poor relief, the centralization of resources and the rationalization of functions. The scholars also maintained that the development was due to differences between Catholic and Protestant religious motivation. This article aims to demonstrate that none of these changes had much to do with the Reformation, since the processes had begun much earlier.

The Poor, the Hungry and the Infirm in Agricola’s Prayer Book of 1544 — The article explores the terms for describing poverty, hunger and infirmity in the Rucousciria (Prayer Book, 1544) of Agricola and how they are used. In the context of prayers with a scriptural origin, Agricola was dependent on the meanings of texts in the Bible, and here the terms ’poor’, ’hungry’ and ’infirm’ are used in their concrete meaning. By contrast, in prayers for private devotions and in liturgical prayers Agricola often uses these concepts more freely and in some cases allegorically.

The Blind Beggar on the Road to Jericho (Luke 18:31–43) as Interpreted by Ericus Erici Sorolainen and His Sources — At the beginning of the modern era, poverty was a grow-ing problem particularly in towns and cities. However, it is difficult to find reliable estimates on how many beggars there actually were. This article, related to the ”Books in transition” project of the Academy of Finland, discusses how Ericus Erici Sorolainen, Bishop of Turku, viewed poverty. The basis for this discussion is the sermon on the Gospel story of the blind beggar at the gates of Jericho (Luke 18:31–43) published by Sorolainen in his Postilla of 1621–1625, compared with his sources – 16th-century and early 17th-century German postillas, particularly the extensive Gospel postillas of Nathanael Tilesius of Silesia, Johannes Avenarius (Habermann) of Bohemia and Siegfried Saccus, a preacher at Magdeburg Cathedral; and the apocryphal books of Sirach and Tobit quoted by Sorolainen. These sources reflected and supported the movement prompted by the Reformation in Germany aimed at eradicating poverty through communal responsibility and community chests to help the poor, and by declaring that begging in public was improper. It was emphasized in this movement that paupers who were genuinely un-able to survive on their own were to be helped by the com-munity, but that these had to be distinguished from ”false paupers” whose misery was considered self-inflicted. In some postillas, poverty was reduced to a spiritual metaphor. Differences of emphasis between postillas may be detected. Sorolainen, like some of his sources, considered the blind man in the Gospel story a ”true pauper” who could not make a living without his eyesight. Therefore he would have been entitled to poor relief from the citizens of Jericho. Sorolainen’s interpretation relies heavily on the theological message of the Gospel story (trust in the potential of God), but poverty also retains its concrete meaning. Sorolainen’s sermon is thus both a theological and a concrete statement in social ethics focusing on the dilemma of poverty in early Lutheranism.

Current Challenges and Perspectives in Baptist Research: From Irrelevant Marginalia to the Importance of Marginalia — Studies of the Baptist movement and radical Reformation have not been particularly fashionable in recent years. In Finland, there is practically no tradition of Baptist re-search. This article discusses the present state of Baptist research worldwide and opens up perspectives for future research. New approaches are provided by micro-history, gender studies and forensic history relying on court records. Expanding the source base, hitherto consisting of a rather narrow range of printed sources, also broadens horizons, as certain recent studies demonstrate. This can serve to help Baptist research, often regarded as marginalia, enrich the mainstream research on the early modern era.