Church mother : the writings of a Protestant reformer in sixteenth-century Germany

299 Pages·2006·3.039 MB·English, German

by  Katharina Schutz Zell & Elsie McKee

CHURCH MOTHER
A Series Edited by Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil Jr.
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Katharina Schütz Zell
CHURCH MOTHER
The Writings of a Protestant Reformer in
Sixteenth-Century Germany
Edited and Translated by Elsie McKee
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
Chicago & London
Katharina Schütz Zell, 1498–1562
Elsie McKeeis professor of Reformation studies and history of worship at the
Princeton Theological Seminary and author most recently of two volumes
on Katharina Schütz Zell, The Life and Thought of a Sixteenth-Century Reformer
andThe Writings: A Critical Edition(1999). McKee is also the editor and
translator of John Calvin: Writings on Pastoral Piety(2001).
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2006 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2006
Printed in the United States of America
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN: 0-226-97966-0 (cloth)
ISBN: 0-226-97967-9 (paper)
The University of Chicago Press gratefully acknowledges the generous support of
James E. Rabil, in memory of Scottie W. Rabil, toward the publication of this book.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zell, Katharina, 1497 or 8-1562.
[Selections. English. 2006]
Church mother: the writings of a Protestant reformer in sixteenth-century
Germany/Katharina Schütz Zell; edited and translated by Elsie McKee.
p. cm.—(The other voice in early modern Europe)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-226-97966-0 (pbk.: alk. paper)—IBSN 0-226-97967-9 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. Reformation—France—Strasbourg. 2. Strasbourg (France)—Church history.
3. Christian women—Religious life. I. McKee, Elsie Anne. II. Title. III. Series.
BR372.S8Z45 2006
274.4’395406—dc22 2005029655
(cid:2) The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Series Editors’ Introduction ix
Volume Editor’s Introduction 1
Volume Editor’s Bibliography 35
Note on Translation 39
I The Lay Reformer, Teacher, and Pastor 43
Introduction 43
Letter to the Suffering Women of the Community of Kentzingen 47
Introduction 47
Translation 50
Katharina Schütz’s Apologia for Master Matthew Zell, Her Husband 56
Introduction 56
Translation 62
Some Christian and Comforting Songs of Praise about Jesus Christ Our Savior 82
Introduction 82
Translation 92
Lament and Exhortation of Katharina Zell to the People at the
Grave of Master Matthew Zell 96
Introduction 96
Translation 103
The Miserere Psalm Meditated, Prayed, and Paraphrased with King
David by Katharina Zell . . . , Sent to the Christian Man Sir Felix Armbruster 123
Introduction 123
Translation 129
II Autobiography and Polemic: A Lay Theologian Amid
the Conflicts of Confessional Divisions 175
Introduction 175
To Sir Caspar Schwenckfeld 180
Introduction 180
Translation 186
A Letter to the Whole Citizenship of the City of Strasbourg from
Katharina Zell, . . . concerning Mr. Ludwig Rabus 215
Introduction 215
Translation 222
Appendix: Letter of Ludwig Rabus to
Katharina Schütz Zell (April 1557) 233
Series Editors’ Bibliography 235
Index 251
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the encouragement of colleagues, friends,
students, and family who have looked forward “to hearing Katharina
Schütz Zell speak English.” My warm thanks to Professor Merry Wiesner-
Hanks for suggesting that this lay reformer and theologian would be a good
addition to the Other Voice series. I am especially grateful to Professors
Albert Rabil and Margaret King for graciously welcoming Schütz Zell into
their series and generously providing an ample stage for her as well as help-
ful editorial advice to me. Also I would like to recognize with thanks the
invitation of Professor Thomas Kaufmann to share a seminar on Katharina
Schütz Zell with him and his students when I was a guest professor at the
University of Göttingen in the summer semester of 2004 and consultation
with Dr. Ruth Jörg of Zurich on specific problems of translation. Discus-
sionwith these German-speaking friends of Schütz Zell has helped to make
her debut in English flow more smoothly. Naturally, all the faults remain
myown.
Special thanks is owed to the National Endowment for the Humanities
for a grant that helped to provide financial support for a free semester and
to Princeton Theological Seminary for granting the leave from teaching
responsibilities. The generosity of both institutions has been very impor-
tant in completing this project and also a significant encouragement to me.
Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to my mother and sisters,
Mamu Ngolela, Mualakana, Mbongompeshi, and Tshitenga, and to the
women of Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church.
Elsie McKee, Tshimunyi wa Ngulumingi
vii

THE OTHER VOICE IN
EARLY MODERN EUROPE:
INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES
Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil Jr.
THE OLD VOICE AND THE OTHER VOICE
In western Europe and the United States, women are nearing equality in
the professions, in business, and in politics. Most enjoy access to educa-
tion, reproductive rights, and autonomy in financial affairs. Issues vital to
women are on the public agenda: equal pay, child care, domestic abuse,
breast cancer research, and curricular revision with an eye to the inclusion
of women.
These recent achievements have their origins in things women (and
some male supporters) said for the first time about six hundred years ago.
Theirs is the “other voice,” in contradistinction to the “first voice,” the
voice of the educated men who created Western culture. Coincident
with a general reshaping of European culture in the period 1300–1700
(called the Renaissance or early modern period), questions of female
equality and opportunity were raised that still resound and are still unre-
solved.
The other voice emerged against the backdrop of a three-thousand-
year history of the derogation of women rooted in the civilizations related
to Western culture: Hebrew, Greek, Roman, and Christian. Negative atti-
tudes toward women inherited from these traditions pervaded the intellec-
tual, medical, legal, religious, and social systems that developed during the
European Middle Ages.
The following pages describe the traditional, overwhelmingly male
views of women’s nature inherited by early modern Europeans and the new
tradition that the “other voice” called into being to begin to challenge
reigning assumptions. This review should serve as a framework for under-
standing the texts published in the series the Other Voice in Early Modern
Europe. Introductions specific to each text and author follow this essay in
all the volumes of the series. ix