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Religious Studies

The 500-year legacy of a political thinker
Selection of a portrait of Thomas Muntzer from 1609.

A selection from a portrait of Thomas Muntzer from 1609.

COURTESY CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART

The 500-year legacy of a political thinker

Five hundred years ago this spring, about 8,000 armed peasants gathered outside the village of Frankenhausen in what is now Germany.Their stand ended in disaster, with thousands dead from an artillery barrage, and their spiritual leader, radical theologian Thomas Müntzer, was beheaded two weeks later after a torture-filled interrogation.

3 minutes

Q&A: The first American pope
The new pope, Pope Leo, waves from St. Peter’s Basilica.

Pope Leo XIV at St. Peter’s Basilica after being chosen the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church on May 8.

(Image: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Q&A: The first American pope

Melissa Wilde of the Department of Sociology, whose research has led her to the Vatican Secret Archive, among other places, discusses the new Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, and the implications for the Roman Catholic Church.

3 min. read