Date of Award

Summer 1963

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Foreign Languages and Literatures

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis will be to show to what extent the writings of Sebastian Brant and Thomas Murner reflect the condition of the Church during the decades that immediately preceded the Protestant Reformation. As will be seen the thesis is in no way an apologia for the decay that had invaded the Church both in its head and members. It proposes to point out that the leading writers of that turbulent era were quite aware of the Church's unhappy condition, that these figures were unafraid to speak out frankly and at times sharpy against the prevalent abuses, realizing all the while that if the Church was to preserve the identity given it by Christ, it must preserve its unity, and that therefore, the sorely needed reforms in head and members had to be effected within the body of that Church.

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