Office of University Communications 

Professor's book investigates changing beliefs on death and dying

New book will appeal to physicians, nurses, hospice workers and academics

SPRINGFIELD — During the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther and his followers strove to restructure all aspects of Christian life – and the end of life was no exception.

In her recently-published book, “Reforming the Art of Dying: The ars moriendi in the German Reformation (1519-1528),” Dr. Austra Reinis, assistant professor of religious studies at Missouri State University, examines how Luther instigated a radical transformation in the public's attitudes towards dying and death.

“Luther and his colleagues were upset with what they saw as abuses in the medieval Catholic Church,” Reinis said. “They were particularly upset that the Church was teaching that God was an angry god and that nobody could be sure whether they would be forgiven their sins or not. Luther realized the righteousness of God is not something with which he punishes sinners, but rather something that God gives to sinners. Basically what Luther did was write books on how to reform all aspect of the Christian life based on this idea that righteousness – or forgiveness of sins and eternal life – is a gift.”

In the late 1990s, Reinis was searching for a dissertation topic when an adviser suggested she take a deeper look into the topic of mortality. 

“I discovered there were such things as handbooks teaching people how to die in the Middle Ages, and I wondered if there were handbooks teaching people how to die in the Reformation,” said Reinis.

Indeed, such Protestant handbooks existed, and Reinis' book focuses on the earliest of them, beginning with Luther's 1519 “Sermon on Preparing to Die” and ending with Jakob Otter's 1528 “Christlich leben und sterben.” The early Protestants, Reinis discovered, proposed a much gentler view of God and the afterlife than their medieval Catholic counterparts.

“The medieval church taught that no one could be sure whether they were going to heaven or not,” said Reinis. “The Reformation church taught that as long as you confessed your sins and believed that God had forgiven you, then you could be certain of salvation. There's this contrast between uncertainty and certainty.”

In the Middle Ages and continuing into the Reformation, for example, a commonly-held belief was that dying people were surrounded by both angels and demons. At the moment of their death, Christians faced the ultimate test of faith. The Church taught that it was up to each individual – in their dying moment – to decide whether to give up their faith and give into the demons or to hold on to their faith and go with the angels – again, with an emphasis on the uncertainty of salvation or damnation.

Luther thought differently: “In the Reformation, there were still angels and demons around the deathbed,” Reinis said, “but Luther had the idea that the angels' job was to help the dying person to withstand the tests and go to heaven. It was no longer up to the dying person alone to hang on to his faith; he could call on the help of the angels.”

“Reforming the Art of Dying: The ars moriendi in the German Reformation (1519-1528)” is available through Ashgate Press. Reinis said the book will appeal not only to academics, but also to physicians, nurses, hospice workers and others who deal with death and dying in their profession.

“I think the book is accessible to any college-educated reader, and the topic, obviously, is of interest to any human being.”