Lecture 18: 16th-Century Manners and Reformation Diets
faith alone. It was this single idea that hastened the permanent rift
in Western Christendom. Ultimately, Luther came under the protection of German rulers,
which meant that the Reformation would be carried out by the
state. German Lutheran states broke away from the Roman Catholic
Church and abolished monasticism and clerical celibacy. The mass
was also held in German, and the congregation was encouraged
to participate directly by singing hymns, many of which Luther
composed. However, the church government and its rituals
remained relatively unchanged. In the wake of Luther’s fi rst decisive break with Rome, a number of
other Reformation movements sprang up. One of the most important
of these occurred in Zurich, Switzerland. The Swiss Reformation,
which provides a model for many other reform movements, resulted
in the idea that if people decide to fast as individuals, then it should
be complete abstinence from all food, or if people decide to fast
collectively to appease God’s wrath, then it should be a real fast
with no food and serious penitence. In the Reformed traditions—which include the Dutch, the Scots,
French Huguenots, the English, and New England Puritans—
fasting doesn’t disappear, but it changes entirely into a communal
event for emergent occasions. Equally important is that no food is
ever forbidden. This has culinary consequences as well: Whereas
before there was a separation of milk, butter, and dairy products
(and of course meat) from fi sh and vegetables seasonally, they can
now be combined at any time of year. The most infl uential thinker in the Reformed tradition was
John Calvin, who practically governed the town of Geneva. His
importance is primarily the formulation of a system of church
government known as Presbyterianism, in which the hierarchical
structure of Rome is replaced with a more democratic system
of elders who decide on doctrine at synods, or councils of
church elders.