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The Reformation: A History
by Authors:
Diarmaid MacCulloch
Hardcover Description:
Diarmaid MacCulloch wrote what is widely considered to be the authoritative account of the Reformationa critical juncture in the history of Christianity. "It is impossible to understand modern Europe without understanding these sixteenth-century upheavals in Latin Christianity," he writes. "They represented the greatest fault line to appear in Christian culture since the Latin and Greek halves of the Roman Empire went their separate ways a thousand years before; they produced a house divided." The resulting split between the Catholics and Protestants still divides Christians throughout the Western world. It affects interpretations of the Bible, beliefs about baptisms, and event how much authority is given to religious leaders. The division even fuels an ongoing war. What makes MacCulloch's account rise above previous attempts to interpret the Reformation is the breadth of his research. Rather than limit his narrative to the actions of key theologians and leaders of the eraLuther, Zingli, Calvin, Loyola, Cranmer, Henry VIII and numerous popesMacCulloch sweeps his narrative across the culture, politics and lay people of Renaissance Western Europe. This broad brush approach touches upon many fascinating discussions surrounding the Reformation, including his belief that the Latin Church was probably not as "corrupt and ineffective" as Protestants tend to portray it. In fact, he asserts that it "generally satisfied the spiritual needs of the late medieval people." As a historical document, this 750-page narrative has all the key ingredients. MacCulloch, a professor of history as the Church of Oxford University, is an articulate and vibrant writer with a strong guiding intelligence. The structure is sensiblestarting with the main characters who influenced reforms, then spreading out to the regional concerns, and social intellectual themes of the era. He even fast forwards into American Christianityshowing how this historical era influences modern times. MacCulloch is a topnotch historianuncovering material and theories that will seem fresh and inspired to Reformation scholars as well as lay readers. --Gail Hudson
Average Customer Rating:
Encyclopedic History of Events that Continue to Matter
While I have had a long-term love of history, my understanding of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries has always been sketchy and superficial.
It went something like this: (1) the Catholic Church allowed people to buy their way into heaven (via indulgences); (2) this made Martin Luther mad so he challenged the church by nailing his position on the door of the church (and he also wanted to get married) and so did John Calvin; (3) Henry VIII wanted a divorce but the pope wouldn't let him (which made him mad); (4) therefore, lots of Protestant churches came into being; and (5) the Puritans were part of one of them and they discovered America.
The truth of these statements was murky and the causal relationship between them was harder for me to understand than the theory of relativity.
I have a feeling I'm not alone. I knew it was all important, but trying to put it all together was beyond by ability. Well, now none of us need to do it alone, because Professor MacCulloch has written a history of the Reformation that is encyclopedic in scope and brilliant in its exectution. He fills in the gaps and clears up the many misconceptions.
This is not an easy book to read. But while MacCulloch doesn't make it easy, he avoids the jargon of the professional historian. That said, this is not a casual beach read--it demands a careful and thoughtful reading. And the rewards are great. For the first time, I have a real clue why the reform movement took off is so many ways and in so many places. I have a far better idea of the relationships between and among men like Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Cramner and so many more. I also now understand that the Reformation was not a linear, coordinated event, but was often chaotic and filled with both both greatness and pettiness.
In our secular world, we tend to view the political history of the past in secular terms (or at least in terms where religion is relegated to being merely one factor among many). MacCulloch quite rightly makes it clear that, while many factors contributed, for example, to the 30 Years' War, in the end it was all about religion.
This is a wonderful book that will illuminate and clarify history for anyone diligent enough to really read it. Highly recommended
Broad, Deep, Important
Academics don't need a review of this book and might not need to read it. However, if you are a student of history, particularly American History, you should read this. If you understand that we are a political/social experiment to test the ideas of the Reformation, this book will show you where this "City on a hill" came from. It will make many Americans aware of how and why separation of church and state is so central to our system. It will give you some food for thinking about what has happened in the past 300 years.
Do you know what a Protestant is? A Roman Catholic? An Anabaptist? Do you have any idea how important Jewish thought was to the Reformation? How did Reformation era thinking inform our political philosophy? Which version of the 10 Commandments is at issue in some schools and government offices? Did you even know that there are at least two "official" versions? This book shows how a million doubts and questions were addressed by some great and courageous thinkers and how the debates changed the world.
In a very direct way, ordinary Europeans began to trust thinking outside the box (Church) during the Reformation. The imperative to put ideas into action was part of the revolution in thinking and drove many communities to gather themselves to remake their societies. Many of them came here. Did you ever wonder why so many religious communities came to colonize North America and were so careful not to allow us to become a Theocracy?
This book manages to show a huge variety of the different trains of thought, all of which are different, all of which fall under the definition of Reformation.
I've studied the history of thoughts and communities MacCulloch characterizes so well here. I am astonished that he dared to write this book and amazed that he pulled it off. I wish I had written it, or that I could have.
It is dense, about 700 pages that will seem like 7000 to some people, but I couldn't put it down. I keep wondering what Erasmus, Luther, Zwingli and my immigrant ancestors would say about 2004. I an sure they would be unhappy that we no longer engage in their level of debate but that can change.
A brilliant book from a great author
This book deservedly joins the classics by Euan Cameron and Owen Chadwick on the Reformation. It looks at it as it really happened - this is based on solid scholarship and years of careful research. Those wanting a more partisan history will not find it here (my own FIVE LEADING REFORMERS should be more to the tastes of those that do) but as an objective work, looking at the Reformation in the wider context of European, and later global,history, this book cannot be bettered. For those of us who loved this author's CRANMER and then his TUDOR CHURCH MILITANT, this is the big book from him for which we have all been waiting. Make sure your library has a copy, and that your professor and/or pastor have read it. Christopher Catherwood, author of FIVE LEADING REFORMERS (CFP, 2000) and of CHRISTIANS MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003)
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