Managing Melancholy

Dynamics of theology, medicine and law in early modern Nordic Lutheran societies

Contributions by Vera Fasshauer Contributions by Rasmus H.C. N. Dreyer Contributions by Sivert Angel Contributions by Sigrid Nielsby Christensen Contributions by Rolv Nøtvik Jakobsen Contributions by Mattias S. Bostrup Contributions by Sjur Atle Furali Contributions by Benjamin Brandt Christiansen Contributions by Nanna Eva Nissen Contributions by Tine R. Reeh Contributions by Ralf Hemmingsen Contributions by Riikka Miettinen Contributions by Olli Matikainen Contributions by Jonas Liliequist Contributions by Catherine Beck Edited by Tine R. Reeh Edited by Catherine S. Beck Series edited by Herman J. Selderhuis Associate editor Christopher B. Brown Associate editor Günter Frank Associate editor Barbara Mahlmann-Bauer Associate editor Tarald Rasmussen Associate editor Violet Soen Associate editor Zsombor Tóth Associate editor Günther Wassilowsky Associate editor Siegrid Westphal

Book cover: Managing Melancholy

Extent: 315 pages

Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht

Subjects: Religious Studies

Series: Refo500 Academic Studies (R5AS)

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(April 2026)

ISBN: 9783525502365

6.34 x 9.25 inches

Price: $125.00

In stock

Legacies and negotiations of Lutheran anthroplogy


Melancholy held a flexible position in early modern discourse and clinical practice both as an idea connected to inner feeling and an explanation for bodily and mental disturbances. This ambivalence became a vehicle for developing debates about self-examination and salvation, while also pushing the parameters of what legally and culturally constituted mentally impaired states. These developments were born from the dynamics of the emerging differentiated disciplines of theology, medicine and law, but were also the product of the way ordinary people thought about and dealt with troubled mental states in Nordic Lutheran societies.
This volume’s geographical and temporal focus allows us to not only grapple with the deeper specificity of melancholy and its ambiguity in an important transitional period, but also allows us to develop an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together scholars working with methods from theology, forensic psychiatry, church-, medical-, legal-, literary-, social- and maritime history. In turn, this allows us to integrate ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ approaches while also establishing national comparisons that expose early modern intersections across cultural and disciplinary contexts.

  • Contributions by Vera Faßhauer
  • Contributions by Rasmus H.C. N. Dreyer
  • Contributions by Sivert Angel
  • Contributions by Sigrid Nielsby Christensen
  • Contributions by Rolv Nøtvik Jakobsen
  • Contributions by Mattias S. Bostrup
  • Contributions by Sjur Atle Furali
  • Contributions by Benjamin Brandt Christiansen
  • Contributions by Nanna Eva Nissen
  • Contributions by Tine R. Reeh
  • Contributions by Ralf Hemmingsen
  • Contributions by Riikka Miettinen
  • Contributions by Olli Matikainen
  • Contributions by Jonas Liliequist
  • Contributions by Catherine Beck
  • Edited by Tine R. Reeh
  • Edited by Catherine S. Beck
  • Series edited by Herman J. Selderhuis
  • Associate editor Christopher B. Brown
  • Associate editor Günter Frank
  • Associate editor Barbara Mahlmann-Bauer
  • Associate editor Tarald Rasmussen
  • Associate editor Violet Soen
  • Associate editor Zsombor Tóth
  • Associate editor Günther Wassilowsky
  • Associate editor Siegrid Westphal