Life between the Confessions β Nicodemism at Augsburg The excerpts reveal something of the fluidity of confessional identities around The three had attracted notice for their failure to attend church regularly. They were suspected of attending secret Anabaptist assemblies, though it is unknown whether any traces of this forbidden group of sects actually existed in Augsburg at such a late date. Altenstetter possessed a pre-Reformation Catholic Bible and some writings by late medieval mystical authors, as well as Erasmus' commentary on the New Testament.
Their depositions make clear that they lived between confessions, taking this from one and that from another, but never committing to either. The excerpts also reveal how important formal preaching was to the process of confessionalization, and how the quality of preaching influenced the selection of one confession over the other.
Although their personal beliefs had been unsettled by the various confessional controversies, these artisans eventually faced the need to choose one of the two officially recognized confessions.
Altenstetter formally joined the Lutheran church, but these interrogations had no lasting consequences for him or the others. What is his name? Where is he from? How old is he? He says that he is a citizen here and is forty-eight years old.
How does he make his living? He is a goldsmith and practices that trade. Of what religion is he, and to which confession does he adhere? He shall answer this honestly and truthfully.
