Daniel Eißner

The religious artisan has not yet been subject of scientific research, although two classics in German sociology of religion, Max Weber and Ernst Troeltsch, assign them an exceptional role in Christianity. For Weber, artisans practice a special type of piety and are therefore "religious virtuosi"; he associated this phenomenon with their wage labour, which requires a high degree of rationality. Some trades, e.g. those performed while sitting, were highly "susceptible" to religious activity. Quoted examples are first of all craftsmen who produce textiles, such as weavers and wool dyers, as well as those using leather, like shoemakers and saddlers.

Indeed, we find numerous artisans as religious protagonists. During the Reformation artisans made important contributions to establishing Lutheran orthodoxy as part of the protestant "Singe-Bewegung" in cities in nothern Germany and as producers of leaflets or even as "prophets" which exerted a great influence during the Peasant Wars. In the age of Pietism, artisans were the most prominent representatives of lay religiosity: Numerous craftsmen wandered as "Handwerker-Propheten" through the German territories, preaching the word of God and calling for penitence. Men like Johann Friedrich Rock, Johann Maximilian Daut and Johannes Tennhardt travelled intensively, spreading their ideas by preaching illegally and spreading their revelations in print, thus achieving a high degree of influence and effectiveness.

There remains a lack of research surveying the specific religiosity of artisans during Early Modern Times (and specifically religiously conspicuous artisans). My research examines this topic, emphasising the question whether these exceptional laymen show signs of religious vituosity in the sense of Max Weber. During a reconstruction of two local conflicts and the Pietistic networks surrounding them, the religiosity of the involved artisans and the resulting conflicts will be analysed, followed by an attempt to classify the described course of events. Finally, Weber’s thesis will be discussed critically and the topos of a special religiosity of artisans in Early Modern Times shall be reformulated.