Faith in Europe: Religious Pluralism in the Literary Bestseller 1517-1713

Early modern European society mainly consisted of Christians (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox) as well as groups of Jews and Muslims. While the term ‘Christendom’ was used synonymously with Europe, the realities of intra-Christian strife and unprecedented religious diversification were experienced by, and pertinent to all religious groups. In a religiously volatile and polarized Europe, fiction offered a relatively safe distance from which religious diversity and conflict could be examined and emotions could be channeled (Stelling-2019).This subproject hypothesizes that part of the success of many of the bestsellers is their interest in forms of coexistence and of (humorous) conflict resolution. Whether it is in the parodic treatment of clerical hypocrisy in Bruder Rausch, Vos Reynaerde and Gargantua et Pantagruel, Utopia’s ridiculing of an over-zealous convert or Orlando Furioso’s humanistic portrayal of Moors, the narratives are keen to problematize religious fundamentalism and dogmatism. This shows how literature is capable of exposing the paradox of religion in Europe as a cause of intra-European hostility, as well as a binding force. In addition, this project hypothesizes that the Renaissance interest in the secular idea of Europeanness was considered an attractive alternative to religious chaos.

The subproject is informed by the argument substantiated in Stelling (2018) that despite obvious and rampant religious discord, early modern English men and women were also deeply invested in problematizing binary oppositions between the self and religious others, which they typically expressed in fiction. This idea will be tested for the wider scope of early modern Europe. In addition to performing literary analyses of religious themes, the subproject pays special attention to the confessional identity of the author (if known) of the narrative itself (if one can be detected) and of the place of reception. It thus also seeks to answer the question as to whether confessional difference posed an obstacle to translators and publishers.