A more richly interpretive critique, however, does not leave Luther
unscathed. By broadening the grounds of interpretation and cri-
tique, I shall call another ' Luther' into being as a problematic
rather than paradigmatic thinker.

The popular view, as I sketched it above, is not all wrong.
There is a version of Luther that emphasizes certain features of his
thought and downplays others, reasonably locating him as a father
of freedom. But what sort of freedom and to what ends? Here it is
necessary to introduce one of the perennial problems of political
life and thought: authority. To set the stage for the 'legitimation
crisis' of Luther's epoch one must conjure up images of dislocation
and unsettlement: the break-down or ungluing of the medieval
synthesis, including feudal ties of reciprocity and the manorial sys-
tem; a Europe emerging from the devastation of the Black Death;
the waning power of the papacy vis-à-vis princes; the rise of trade,
commerce, and a new mercantile class.

The majority of people were non-literate (a better term than "il-
literate" which presumes literacy as a standard), their lives
suffused with powerful visual images and revolving around shared
sacred rituals. Although all men and women 'believed'--this is a
world permeated with the great Christian story--some were be-
lievers in different ways, heretics and reform spiritualists alike.²

Johan Huizanga speaks of a world passing away, a world
swept by waves of mysticism and occasional violence, extremes of
piety and kindness as well as cruelty. All this is familiar--perhaps
too familiar because we see it through eyes that divide the world,
before we even begin to look, into 'religious' and 'secular', a divi-
sion that makes no sense at all in Luther's time.³ For religion in
this God-drenched age was a force in itself, one not reducible to the
terms of particular socio-economic configurations.

A different sense of time prevailed for those living in Luther's
epoch. Time was not yet money, fragmented into units and as-
signed 'value'. (The term value, which we often apply to an in-
dividual's moral beliefs and guiding motivations, is drawn from
market economics.) Holy Days, most commonly celebrations of the
lives of saints, were numerous and the rhythm of the seasons was
tied to the life of Jesus: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Ascen-
sion. It was an era of Carnivals and Fools. For example: a carnival
season ran from St. Martin's Day (November 11) to Shrove Tues-

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