In The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Early Modern Germany, Bridget Heal examines the diversity of Marian devotion in Germany during the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, as a means of capturing religious experience during the early modern period. An outgrowth of her dissertation research at the University of London, carried out under the tutelage of Bob Scribner and Lyndal Roper, the work examines how the vibrant expression of the cult of the Virgin that typified late medieval Christian religiosity changed in the wake of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations, influenced not only by theological considerations, but also by local political and social conditions. Through detailed examination of theological writings, household inventories, and visual depictions of the Virgin, limned and carved, Heal offers a fascinating comparative analysis of the role of Marian piety in Protestant and Catholic areas, proving that it diverged dramatically across the confessional divide and within the competing confessions.

The most striking aspects of The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Early Modern Germany are perhaps the rigor of the author's comparative approach and the work's impressive scope. Based upon exhaustive archival and iconographical research that compares Marian devotion in Lutheran Nuremberg, biconfessional Augsburg, and Catholic Cologne between the Reformation and the end of the Thirty Years' War, the work reveals the marked diversity of Marian religiosity in early modern Germany. On the basis of these case studies, Heal proves convincingly that while certain aspects of the medieval cult of the Virgin were abandoned or reinterpreted in Protestant areas, Marian piety did not disappear entirely in Lutheran territories. She also demonstrates that the nature of Marian devotion varied dramatically within Protestant Germany, as local political and theological conditions influenced religious experience. Turning to the Empire's post-Tridentine Catholic territories, Heal shows that they also exhibited diverse forms of Marianism, and that not all Catholics embraced the militant, Counter-Reformation brand of Marian piety scholars have accentuated.

After an informative introduction that provides a useful overview of the Virgin's place in early modern religious life and a lucid treatment of recent scholarship on Marian devotion in Germany, Heal examines the cult of the Virgin before the Reformation. Through her deft analysis of late medieval Marian artworks and treatises, Heal demonstrates the centrality of the cult of the Virgin in the early sixteenth century, including the prominence of Mary in the reform initiatives offered by Erasmus, Luther, and Zwingli during the early Reformation. Heal demonstrates that while Zwingli and other reformed theologians, including Calvin, were more critical than Luther of traditional Marian piety, they all retained a place for Mary, recasting her as the paragon of Christian humility, while devaluing her traditional role as divine intercessor. In chapter two, using Nuremberg as a case study, Heal demonstrates that many aspects of traditional Marian devotion and iconography survived in this Lutheran city, but were reinterpreted and given new religious meaning in the wake of the Reformation. In perhaps the book's most fascinating chapter, on the fate of Marian piety in biconfessional Augsburg, Heal describes a Protestant community far less accepting of traditional expressions of the cult of the Virgin than in conservative Nuremberg. Here, on the fault line of confessional conflict, she asserts, Lutheran views toward Marian devotion were shaped by Protestants' confrontation with both militant Calvinism and Tridentine Catholicism after 1550. Next, Heal turns to the “Counter-Reformation cult” in Augsburg, examining the role of public expressions of Marian piety in the resurgence of Catholicism in the city after Trent. Here, strident displays of Marian devotion, in the form of processions and pilgrimages, as well as the exhibition of public and private artworks, served as a means for Augsburg's Catholics to reassert their religious identity and to distinguish themselves from their Protestant neighbors. In chapter five, however, Heal reminds us of the diversity of Catholic religiosity in early modern Germany, showing the tenacity of traditional forms of Marian piety in Cologne, despite the efforts of local Jesuits to promote forms of religious expression more in line with the militant spirit of Trent. In a provocative final chapter, Heal considers the impact of these religious changes on women, contrasting the Protestants' image of Mary as a humble Hausfrau with the Catholics' view of her as a potent protectress, and assessing the influence of these representations on female religiosity.

Bridget Heal's Cult of the Virgin Mary in Early Modern Germany provides readers with a fascinating examination of the tenacity of Marian devotion and diversity of religious life in early modern Germany. Situating her analysis of both archival and artistic sources within the distinctive historical and theological currents that shaped the religious experience of townsfolk in her three cities, Heal demonstrates the variety of Marianism in both Protestant and Catholic territories. Enriched by more than sixty evocative images of Marian artworks from throughout the Empire, analyzed with a keen eye for their historical significance, this work represents a valuable contribution to the literature on religious culture in early modern Germany.