ERASME ET LE CHAPITRE VIII DU PREMIER PANTAGRUEL (NOVEMBRE 1532)

The author compares the social biography of members of the Protestant and Catholic clergy in Germany from the end of the 17th century until the first decades of the 19th century. Her results can be summarized in three major theses, which modify the prevailing research tendencies:

1) Both groups were tied up in comparable social and educational structures. In both cases their approach towards modernity was marked by retarding moments which means that any attempt to characterize it as ‘professionalisation’ should be made with the utmost care. 2) It was not before the beginning of the 19th century that both groups developed education courses with special emphasis on efficiency. Only in the case of the protestant group, however, the social opening incident thereto led to a ‘period of profusion’. So any assumption of a connection between social opening and an intensification of access to academic education has to be modified. 3) Neither the catholic nor the protestant understanding, of the ‘ethos of duties’ should be characterized as concurring with the state. Until the beginning of the 19th century both churches favoured an exceptional position of the clergy in society.