This volume presents thirteen papers by scholars from Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and North America. They were delivered at a virtual conference in early summer 2021, marking the conclusion of a long-term research project, the ambition and character of which is presented in the introduction (pp. 9–28). An interdisciplinary team, we learn, had set out to trace the long-lasting influence of Lutheranism on Danish society and culture, especially taking into account the importance of Lutheran teachings for the shaping of a modern welfare-state and its societal values (cf. p. 13). Holm and Koefoed argue that ‘Denmark can be understood as a confessional society formed, to a large extent, by Lutheran social imaginaries’ (p. 15).

By design, this meant focusing on quotidian religion rather than on the subtleties of theological academic discourse: ‘The aim was to explore how religion was lived out in everyday life in the aftermath of the Reformation, and how we methodically can trace changes in material culture, emotions, social structures, and cultures that might be linked to the Reformation and the development of confessional cultures’ (p. 10). The concept of ‘lived religion’, as it is understood by the editors and authors of this volume, encompasses aspects of both the confessionalisation paradigm as it has developed since the late 1970s and the concept of Konfessionskultur advocated by more recent scholars. Characteristic of the approaches represented in this volume is the perception of Reformation ‘as a process of negotiation’ (p. 25): according to this perspective, ordinary men and women are seen not merely as subjects of a top-down implementation of Reformation doctrines or the object of secular rulers’ social-disciplinary ambitions, but as religious agents in their own right. The paper by Martin Berntson (pp. 247–68) is the one which perhaps best demonstrates the merits of this approach: his study into resistance to the implementation of religious reforms in Sweden convincingly argues for a more interactive perception of the Swedish Reformation. Peasants and other societal stakeholders protested against what they saw as intrusive royal measures into their quotidian religion, forcing the crown to enter into negotiations – an important reminder of the generally consensual character of premodern authority. The success of a Reformation, then, depended on its plausibility in the broadest possible sense for the populace in both town and country, and perhaps even more so in the latter context.

The papers are organised in three sections, the first of which focuses on the translation of theology in quotidian life, the second observing impacts of religion through and in the household and the closing third section looking at the management of religious differences and resistance. Generally speaking, case studies are mostly drawn on examples from the Scandinavian countries. Lee Palmer Wandel ponders the question of how the Reformers’ understanding of liturgy affected their perception of time (pp. 31–53). Jette Bendixen Rønkilde (pp. 55–68) presents a study of the reception of Martin Luther’s sacramental theology by the eighteenth-century Danish writer Erik Pontoppidan in his catechetical text ‘Truth unto godliness’ (1737), arguing that textbooks and other normative texts used in religious instruction played an important role in the shaping of everyday life. Päivi Räisänen-Schröder (pp. 69–86) sets out to illustrate the promises of the concept of ‘lived religion’ by the example of Anabaptist quotidian religious culture, which, as she argues, was an especially fitting case of the relationship between doctrines and practices. The ‘exploratory’ character of the entire volume promised by the editors (p. 24) is clearly visible here, as the author chiefly proposes to point to possible avenues for future research rather than going down one of these avenues herself.

Jakub Koryl (pp. 87–114) endeavours to demonstrate the potential of what he calls aural history for a broader cultural-historical understanding of the Reformation. He chooses to do so by contrasting Melanchthon and early Lutheranism with Luther himself – a method popular since (at least) Karl Holl, but one also that raises questions the discussion of which would be beyond the scope of this review. What must be mentioned, however, is that Koryl’s presentation of Luther’s ‘Table Talks’ as an important source of aurality is somewhat surprising, given that recent scholarship (the author at least mentions Ingo Klitzsch’s magisterial work) has convincingly argued that, if anything, these texts are not verbatims but rather deliberately designed written texts intended to appear ‘authentic’.

Bonnie Noble (pp. 115–21) exemplifies changes in the perception of the world by sixteenth-century people by analysing Albrecht Dürer’s ‘Melencolia I’ alongside other works of art, concluding that the Reformation resulted in an epistemological deference towards the scepticist.

Kirsi Stjerna’s text (pp. 145–64) is one of many papers in this volume which argue for a better recognition of women as agents of religion, and, thus, its history. She presents housewives as religious subjects in key positions for the implementation of Reformation thought in quotidian practice, but also points at women who publicly proclaimed their faith. The focus on female agency is taken up by, for example, Mette M. Ahlefeldt-Laurvig (pp. 221–44), who again directs our attention to women as religious agents: her paper addresses the ritual of the churching of women six weeks after giving birth. Whereas official theology was at pains to re-interpret this ritual into a liturgy of thanksgiving, Ahlefeldt-Laurvig can show that women continued to utilise the rite for their religious needs. Aleksandra Matczyńska (pp. 269–86) also writes from this perspective. She presents her findings on female patronage of religious art in early modern Silesia, arguing that the increase of epitaphs commissioned by women since around 1550, taken together with the function of these artworks to portray an individual’s piety, sheds new light on the aplomb with which women acted as religious agents in early modern society. Sini Mikkola (pp. 311–28) closes the volume with a paper arguing for a reconsideration of Luther’s position regarding the contemplative lives of women. As Mikkola points out, the scholarly focus on the Reformer’s theology of marriage misses the point of Luther’s positive relationship with, and sometimes even support for, women continuing their religious contemplative way of life. Here, again, the ‘exploratory’ (p. 25) character of the volume must be taken into account. This paper, like many of the others, is above all an invitation to further research and scholarly discourse – one is invited to enter into negotiations with the authors on their proposals and findings.

Per Seesko Tønnesen (pp. 165–94) shows how parental instructions for travelling adolescent aristocrats entrusted their tutors with maintaining godly order and keeping them within the boundaries of religious conformity even abroad. Paolo Astorri and Lars Cyri Nørgaard (pp. 195–220) present findings from their intensive research on the literary legacy of the Lutheran philosopher Henning Arnisaeus. They show that the important concept of the household for early modern Lutheran ethics was discussed in quite different ways within the realms of academia, and they convincingly portray Arnisaeus as an advocate for drawing a clear line between the household and public affairs.

Matthis Sommer Bøstrup (pp. 287–310) takes up the differentiation between normative texts and the practical rules of everyday life by offering a study on the different ways religious plurality was dealt with on the island of Nordstrand in West-Frisia, where Catholic immigrants were welcomed by the crown in the mid-seventeenth century, but where Lutheran locals had to actually offer the toleration their superiors had promised to their new neighbours.

This volume, all in all, offers a rich variety of interesting perspectives and positions. It certainly encourages more research on the complex processes of religious, society, cultural and political transformation which came to be called the Reformation.