L’eredità di Lutero: come si può raccontare la storia politica dello ‘Stato moderno

Among the multitude of Luther studies, the review takes into account two books: the biography written by Heinz Schilling (Der Reformator Martin Luther 2017. Eine wissenschaftliche und ge­denkpolitische Bestandsaufnahme, Berlin-München: De Gruyter-Oldenbourg, 20142), lately translated in Italian (Martin Lutero. Ribelle in un'epoca di cambiamenti radicali, edizione italiana a cura di Roberto Tresoldi, Torino: Claudiana, 2016) and the Robert von Friedeburg's recent book Luther's Legacy. The Thirty Years War and the Modern Notion of 'State' in the Empire, 1530s to 1790s, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. The main issue raised by both books concerns the "evergreen" political theme of Luther's and Lutheranism's contribution to the formation of the "modern State" in a comparative perspective between German and Italian late-medieval and early-modern historiography.