These essays add a unique perspective to studies that reconstruct the identity of manhood in early modern Europe, including France, Switzerland, Spain, and Germany. The authors examine the ways in which sixteenth- and seventeenth-century authorities, both secular and religious, labored to turn boys and men into the Christian males they desired. Topics include disparities among gender paradigms that early modern models prescribed and the tension between the patriarchal model and the civic duties that men were expected to fulfill. Essays about Martin Luther, a prolific self-witness, look into the marriage relationship with its expected and actual gender roles. Contributors to this volume are Scott H. Hendrix, Susan C. Karant-Nunn, Raymond A. Mentzer, Allyson M. Poska, Helmut Puff, Karen E. Spierling, Ulrike Strasser, B. Ann Tlusty, and Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks.

Scott H. Hendrix is James Hastings Nichols Professor Emeritus of Reformation History and Doctrine at Princeton Theological Seminary. He chairs the planning committee of the International Congress for Luther Research and serves on editorial committees of several periodicals and monograph series. Recent books include Preaching the Reformation: The Homiletical Handbook of Urbanus Rhegius (2003) and Recultivating the Vineyard: The Reformation Agendas of Christianization (2004).

Susan C. Karant-Nunn is professor of history and director of the Division for Late Medieval and Reformation Studies at the University of Arizona. She is coeditor of the Archive for Reformation History and author of The Reformation of Ritual: An Interpretation of Early Modern Germany (1997). She also coedited Luther on Women: A Sourcebook (2003). Her book, The Reformation of Feeling: Shaping Religious Emotions in Early Modern Germany, is forthcoming.