Hegel’s Ghost: Europe, the Reformation, and the Middle Ages

According to an old historical tradition, the Reformation marked a fundamental break from the Middle Ages. The tradition has a point, because the Reformation really did bring major change. But it is also misleading, because it confuses the reformers’ point of view with the history from which that point of view emerged. Seen from a broad perspective, the Reformation continues European-wide developments beginning around the turn of the millennium, including the creation of a governmental church under the leadership of popes like Gregory VII, Alexander III, and Innocent III. Of course, that is not how the protagonists of the Reformation saw things. They defined themselves in terms of theological distinctions, opposing Protestants both to each other and to Catholics; and they sharpened national distinctions between Germans, Italians, Frenchmen, Spaniards, and so on. In their own eyes they surely did break with the Middle Ages, and their self-understanding was a crucial ingredient in their success. But it ought not to be confused with history. The differences between Protestants and Catholics—like those between the European nations and the conventional distinction between medieval and modern history—obstruct an understanding of European history as a whole. The purpose of this essay is to lay the possibility of such an understanding before both medievalists and early modernists.