Body and Gender in Martin Luther's Anthropology (1520-1530)

Sini Mikkola examines Martin Luther's (1483-1546) view of the human being during a decade of ecclesiastical, social, and political turmoil, the 1520s, from the perspectives of bodiliness, gendered way of being, sexuality, and power. Luther's way to construct norms, ideals, and expectations vis-à-vis body, femininity, and masculinity are investigated in changing historical and different textual contexts, also via his self-narratives and interaction with contemporary women and men. The author demonstrates that Luther idealized and standardized the gender system, along with its hierarchies, in a very similar fashion throughout the 1520s. However, in addition to driving forward the gender system - based on his stance on the gendered body -, Luther's way to discuss and construct gender was also open to adaptations and developments.