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Abstract
The reformers of the sixteenth century were pastors whose ministry included offering consolation in situations of sickness and impending death. In addition to visiting the sick in their homes, and preaching on the subject of death and dying from their pulpits, a striking number of reformers published pamphlets on preparing for death. Since many of these works—also known as Sterbebücher—were printed in multiple editions, they became an important vehicle for the transmission of Reformation ideas.
This dissertation represents a theological and rhetorical analysis of sixteen Sterbebücher by thirteen authors, both German and Swiss. It demonstrates that Martin Luther and his fellow reformers were deliberately “re-forming” the late medieval genre of the ars moriendi. Convinced that the consolation offered by the medieval doctrine of the uncertainty of salvation bred more despair than hope, the reformers taught that through faith in the work of Christ on the cross dying persons could be assured that their sins were forgiven and their salvation was certain. This conviction they sought to communicate even as they addressed the traditional concerns of the ars moriendi, e.g. how to withstand the deathbed attacks of the devil, how to derive comfort from contemplating the passion of Christ, and how to understand and use the deathbed sacraments. A new motif introduced by the reformers was consolation based on the sacrament of baptism.
These handbooks on dying represent some of the earliest contributions to a Reformation theology of piety, a piety that can be characterized as both inward and emotional. The inward orientation can be seen in the reformers' emphasis on faith in and understanding of both the gospel and the sacraments. The emotional dimension finds expression in the intentional and skillful use of rhetoric on the part of many of the authors as they communicate to their readers the joy and the comfort that they themselves find in the doctrine of justification by faith.
