Religion and the Rise of History: Martin Luther and the Cultural Revolution in Germany, 1760-1810

The first intellectual history to study the ideal-type of model-building methodology of Otto Hintze (1861-1940) to Western historical thought and to suggest that Martin Luther also held to a way that was deeply incarnational, dynamic, and/or 'in-with-and-under.' This dual vision and 'a Lutheran ethos' strongly influenced Leibniz, Hamann, and Herder, and was therefore a matter of considerable significance for the rise of a distinctly modern form of historical consciousness in Protestant Germany. Smith's essay suggests a new time period for the formative age of modern German thought, culture, and education: 'The Cultural Revolution in Germany'.

Leonard S. Smith was Emeritus Professor of History at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California. His other books are Religion and the Rise of History (Cascade Books, 2008) and Martin Luther's Two Ways of Viewing Life and the Educational Foundation of a Lutheran Ethos (Pickwick Publications, 2011).