1st Edition

The Making of a Reformation Man Martin Luther and the Construction of Masculinity

By David M. Whitford Copyright 2025
258 Pages 16 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

258 Pages 16 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

258 Pages 16 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This volume explores how Martin Luther’s life and teachings reshaped and redefined masculinity during the Reformation, offering a more nuanced portrayal of him as a man grappling with the complexities of fatherhood, marriage, and the battlegrounds of religious controversy. This book demonstrates how Luther forged a new ideal of Christian manhood by examining his struggles with monastic vows,... Read more

1. I, Luther, still live! Luther as Virile Monk and Godly Hero  Part 1: The Unmaking of the Monastic Man  2. Cockfights and Feathers Flying: Slander and the Academic Man  3. Brother Martin Is Dead: Lust, Sex, & Celibacy from the Wartburg to Wittenberg  Part 2: The Making of a New Reformation Man  4. Son and Husband of Strong and Ambitious Women: Margarethe Luder and Katharina von Bora  5. From Whore-Bride to Shared Suffering: Finding Empathy in Marriage and Fatherhood  6. A Grieving, Womanish Heart: Luther on Grief  Part 3: The Old Man and the New: Living in Both Worlds  7. The Limits of Empathy: Examining Sexual Violence among the Reformers  8. Sexualized Slander: Sodomy and the Defense of the Reformation  9. Finding the Godly Man: Reforming Masculinity

Biography

David M. Whitford is Professor of Reformation Studies at Baylor University, USA, and is a cultural historian of Early Modern Christianity. In 2023, he served as President of the Sixteenth Century Society. He co-edited Embodiment, Identity, and Gender in the Early Modern Age in 2021.