Awards
Winner of the 2004 National Book Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction
Winner of the 2004 Wolfson History Prize
Atlantic Monthly's Best Books 2004
Publishers Weekly Best Book 2004
Synopses & Reviews
The definitive history of the Reformation from an award-winning historian.
The Reformation and Counter-Reformation represented the greatest upheaval in Western society since the collapse of the Roman Empire a millennium before. The consequences of those shattering events are still felt todayfrom the stark divisions between (and within) Catholic and Protestant countries to the Protestant ideology that governs America, the worlds only remaining superpower.
In this masterful history, Diarmaid MacCulloch conveys the drama, complexity, and continuing relevance of these events. He offers vivid portraits of the most significant individuals Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Loyola, Henry VIII, and a number of popes but also conveys why their ideas were so powerful and how the Reformation affected everyday lives. The result is a landmark book that will be the standard work on the Reformation for years to come. The narrative verve of The Reformation as well as its provocative analysis of American cultures debt to the period will ensure the books wide appeal among history readers.
Review
"This isn’t merely ‘a history’ of the Reformation, but rather ‘the history.’" —
Michael Dirda,
The Washington Post
"MacCulloch brings the history of the Reformation into vivid focus, providing what must surely be the best general account available." —Financial Times
"A lasting work [and] one of the most magisterial and stylishly written historical works to be published in a decade." —The Atlantic Monthly
Review
"This isnandrsquo;t merely andlsquo;a historyandrsquo; of the Reformation, but rather andlsquo;the history.andrsquo;"andnbsp;andmdash;
Michael Dirda,
The Washington Post
"MacCulloch brings the history of the Reformation into vivid focus, providing what must surely be the best general account available."andnbsp;andmdash;Financial Times
"A lasting work and#91;andand#93; one of the most magisterial and stylishly written historical works to be published inandnbsp;a decade." andmdash;The Atlantic Monthly
Review
Praise for The Reformation
and#8220;A learned, enlightening, and disturbing masterwork . . . This isnand#8217;t merely and#8216;a historyand#8217; of the Reformation, but rather and#8216;the history.and#8217;and#8221;
and#8212;Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
and#8220;One of the most magisterial and stylishly written historical works to be published in a decade . . . MacCullochand#8217;s analyses of the lives, personalities, ideas, and struggles are at once sharp and profound. . . . A lasting work.and#8221;
and#8212;Benjamin Schwarz, The Atlantic
and#8220;Evenhanded, learned, and profound . . . It is difficult to imagine anybody writing a better book about the Reformation.and#8221;
and#8212;Karen Armstong, Los Angeles Times Book Review
and#8220;Superb . . . MacCulloch brings the history of the Reformation into vivid focus, providing what must surely be the best general account available.and#8221;
and#8212;A. C. Grayling, Financial Times
and#8220;Dazzling . . . A magnificent achievement . . . It is hard not to admire a book that is such a masterpiece of learning, and yet written with a disarming lightness of touch.and#8221;
and#8212;Michael Howard, The Times Literary Supplement
and#8220;A masterpiece of readable scholarship . . . In its field it is the best book ever written.and#8221;
and#8212;David Edwards, The Guardian
and#160;
Synopsis
The National Book Critics Circle Award winning history of the Reformation from the New York Times bestselling author of Christianity At a time when men and women were prepared to kill and be killed for their faith, the Protestant Reformation tore the Western world apart. Acclaimed as the definitive account of these epochal events, Diarmaid MacCulloch's award-winning history brilliantly re-creates the religious battles of priests, monarchs, scholars, and politicians from the zealous Martin Luther and his
Ninety-Five Theses to the polemical John Calvin to the radical Igantius Loyola, from the tortured Thomas Cranmer to the ambitious Philip II.
Drawing together the many strands of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, and ranging widely across Europe and the New World, MacCulloch reveals as never before how these dramatic upheavals affected everyday lives overturning ideas of love, sex, death, and the supernatural, and shaping the modern age.
"
Synopsis
The National Book Critics Circle Awardand#150;winning history of the Reformationand#151;from the New York Times bestselling author of Christianity and Silence
At a time when men and women were prepared to killand#151;and be killedand#151;for their faith, the Protestant Reformation tore the Western world apart. Acclaimed as the definitive account of these epochal events, Diarmaid MacCulloch's award-winning history brilliantly re-creates the religious battles of priests, monarchs, scholars, and politiciansand#151;from the zealous Martin Luther and hisand#160;Ninety-Five Theses to the polemical John Calvin to the radical Igantius Loyola, from the tortured Thomas Cranmer to the ambitious Philip II.
Drawing together the many strands of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, and ranging widely across Europe and the New World, MacCulloch reveals as never before how these dramatic upheavals affected everyday livesand#151;overturning ideas of love, sex, death, and the supernatural, and shaping the modern age.
About the Author
Diarmaid MacCulloch is Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Silence: A Christian History; Christianity, winner of the Cundill Prize and the Hessell-Tiltman Prize; The Reformation, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Wolfson Prize, and the British Academy Prize; and Thomas Cranmer, winner of the Whitbread Prize, the James Tait Black Prize, and the Duff Cooper Prize. A Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Historical Society, MacCulloch was knighted in 2012 for his services to scholarship. He lives in Oxford, England.
Table of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations and Maps
Introduction
PART I: A COMMON CULTURE
1. The Old Church, 1490-1517
Seeing Salvation in Church. The First Pillar: The Mass and Purgatory. Layfolk at Prayer. The Second Pillar: Papal Primacy. A Pillar Cracks: Politics and the Papacy. Church Versus Commonwealth?
2. Hopes and Fears, 1490-1517
Shifting Boundaries. The Iberian Exception. The Iberian Achievement: The Western Church Exported. New Possibilities: Paper and Printing. Humanism: A New World from Books. Putting Renewal into Practice. Reform or the Last Days? Erasmus: Hopes, Fulfilled, Fears Stilled?
3. New Heaven: New Earth, 1517-24
The Shadow of Augustine. Luther: A Good Monk, 1483-1517. An Accidental Revolution, 1517-21. Whose Revolution? 1521-22. Evangelical Challenges: Zwingli and Radicalism, 1521-22. Zanduuml;rich and Wittenberg, 1522-24. The Years of Carnival, 1521-24
4. Wooing the Magistrate,1524-40
Europe's Greatest Rebellion, 1524-25. Princely Churches or Christian Separation, 1525-30. The Birth of Protestantisms, 1529-33. Strassburg: New Rome or New Jerusalem? Kings and Reformers, 1530-40. A New King David? Manduuml;nster and It's Aftermath
5. Reunion Deferred: Catholic and Protestant, 1530-60
A Southern Revival. Ignatius Loyola and the Early Jesuits. Hopes for a Deal: The 1541-42 Crisis. A Council at Trent: The First Session, 1545-49. Calvin in Geneva: The Reformed Answer to Manduuml;nster . Calvin and the Eucharist: Protestant Divisions Confirmed. Reformed Protestantism: Alternatives to Calvin, 1540-60
6. Reunion Scorned, 1547-70
Crisis for the Habsburgs, 1547-55. 1555: An Emperor's Exhaustion, a Pope's Obsession. A Catholic Recovery: England, 1553-58. 1558-59: Turning Points for Dynasties. The Last Session of the Council of Trent, 1561-63. Protestants in Arms: France and the Low Countries, 1562-70
PART II: EUROPE DIVIDED: 1570-1619
7. The New Europe Defined, 1569-72
Northern and Southern Religion. Tridentine Successes. The Catholic Defense of Christendom, 1565-71. Militant Northern Protestants, 1569-72. The Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 1572. Poland 1569-76: An Alternative Future? Protestantism and Providence
8. The North: Protestant Heartlands
Defining Lutheranism: Toward the Formula of Concord. The "Second Reformation" in Germany. Baltic Religious Contests: Poland-Lithuania and Scandinavia . The Northern Netherlands: Protestant Victory. The Northern Netherlands: The Arminian Crisis . A Reformed Success: Scotland. Elizabethan England: A Reformed Church?. Ireland: The Coming of the Counter-Reformation
9. The South: Catholic Heartlands
Italy: The Counter-Reformation's Heart. Spain and Portugal: King Philip's Church. The Counter-Reformation as World Mission
10. Central Europe: Religion Contested
The Empire and Habsburg Lands: A Shattered Church. Habsburgs, Wittlelsbachs, and a Catholic Recovery. Transylvania: A Reformed srael. France: Collapse of a Kingdom, 1572-98. France: A Late Counter-Reformation
11. Decision and Destruction, 1618-48
12. Coda: A British Legacy, 1600-1700
New English Beginnings: Richard Hooker and Lancelot Andrews. Early Stuart England: The Church's Golden Age? War in Three Kingdoms, 1638-60. A Spectrum of Protestantisms, 1660-1700. American Beginnings
PART III: PATTERNS OF LIFE
13. Changing Times
Time Endings. Hearing God's Voice. Fighting Antichrist: Idols. Fighting Antichrist: Witches
14. Death, Life, and Discipline
Negotiations with Death and Magic. Telling out the Word. Godly Discipline. A Spirit of Protestantism?
15. Love and Sex: Staying the Same
A Common Legacy. The Family in Society. The Fear of Sodomy
16. Love and Sex: Moving On
The "Reformation of Manners". Catholicism, the Family and Celibacy. Protestantism and the Family. Choices in Religion
17. Outcomes
Wars of Reformation. Tolerating Difference. Crosscurrents: Humanism and Natural Philosophy. Crosscurrents: Judaism and Doubts. The Enlightenment and Beyond
Appendix of Texts: Creeds, Lord's Prayer, Ten Commandments, and Hail Mary
Notes
Further Reading
Index