Peter G. Wallace adeptly interweaves the influential events of the early modern religious reformation with the transformations of political institutions, socio-economic structures, gender relations, and cultural values throughout Europe. In this established study, Wallace: * examines the European Reformation as a long-term process * reconnects the classic sixteenth-century religious struggles with the political and religious pressures confronting late medieval Christianity * argues that the resolutions proposed by reformers, such as Luther, were not fully realised for most Christians until the early eighteenth century. Incorporating the latest research, the second edition of this essential text now features a new chapter on the Reformation and Islam, expanded discussion of gender issues, and a helpful glossary.
A fully revised and updated version of this authoritative account of the birth of the Protestant traditions in sixteenth-century Europe, providing a clear and comprehensive narrative of these complex and many-stranded events.
How could the Protestant Reformation take off from a tiny town in the middle of Saxony, which contemporaries regarded as a mud hole? How could a man of humble origins who was deeply scared by the devil become a charismatic leader and convince others that the pope was the living Antichrist? Martin Luther founded a religion which up to this day determines many people's lives in intimate ways, as did Jean Calvin in Geneva one generation later. This is the first book which uses the approaches of new cultural history to describe how Reformation Europe came about and what it meant.
New to theProblems in European Civilizationseries, this volume includes secondary-source essays organized around the major controversies and interpretations of Reformation history, includingThe "Successes" of the ReformationandThe Reformation of Rituals,with an emphasis on how the effects of the Reformation unfolded over time. The text is suitable for upper-level courses focused exclusively on the Reformation, as well as courses in Western Civilization, early modern Europe, or Renaissance history. The text's pedagogy—a hallmark of theProblems in European Civilizationseries—includes chapter introductions, timelines, illustrations, maps, and suggested readings.
The Reformation was the seismic event in European history over the past 1000 years, and one which tore the medieval world apart. Not just European religion, but thought, culture, society, state systems, personal relations - everything - was turned upside down. Just about everything which followed in European history can be traced back in some way to the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation which it provoked. The Reformation is where the modern world painfully and dramatically began, and MacCulloch's great history of it is recognised as the best modern account.
Lived Religion and the Long Reformation in Northern Europe puts Reformation in a daily life context using lived religion as a conceptual and methodological tool: exploring how people "lived out" their religion in their mundane toils and how religion created a performative space for them. This collection reinvestigates the character of the Reformation in an area that later became the heartlands of Lutheranism. The way people lived their religion was intricately linked with questions of the value of individual experience, communal cohesion and interaction. During the late Middle Ages and Early Modern Era religious certainty was replaced by the experience of doubt and hesitation. Negotiations on and between various social levels manifest the needs, aspirations and resistance behind the religious change. Contributors include: Kaarlo Arffman, Jussi Hanska, Miia Ijäs, Sari Katajala-Peltomaa, Jenni Kuuliala, Marko Lamberg, Jason Lavery, Maija Ojala, Päivi Räisänen-Schröder, Raisa Maria Toivo
Continuing the tradition of historiographic studies, this volume provides an update on research in Reformation and early modern Europe. Written by expert scholars in the field, these eighteen essays explore the fundamental points of Reformation and early modern history in religious studies, European regional studies, and social and cultural studies. Authors review the present state of research in the field, new trends, key issues scholars are working with, and fundamental works in their subject area, including the wide range of electronic resources now available to researchers.
In this widely praised history, noted scholar James D. Tracy offers a comprehensive, lucid, and masterful exploration of early modern Europe's key turning point. Establishing a new standard for histories of the Reformation, Tracy explores the complex religious, political, and social processes that made change possible, even as he synthesizes new understandings of the profound continuities between medieval Catholic Europe and the multi-confessional sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This revised edition includes new material on Eastern Europe, on how ordinary people experienced religious change, and on the pluralistic societies that began to emerge. Reformation scholars have in recent decades dismantled brick by brick the idea that the Middle Ages came to an abrupt end in 1517. Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses fitted into an ongoing debate about how Christians might better understand the Gospel and live its teachings more faithfully. Tracy shows how Reformation-era religious conflicts tilted the balance in church-state relations in favor of the latter, so that the secular power was able to dictate the doctrinal loyalty of its subjects. Religious reform, Catholic as well as Protestant, reinforced the bonds of community, while creating new divisions within towns, villages, neighborhoods, and families. In some areas these tensions were resolved by allowing citizens to profess loyalty both to their separate religious communities and to an overarching body-politic. This compromise, a product of the Reformations, though not willed by the reformers, was the historical foundation of modern, pluralistic society. Richly illustrated and elegantly written, this book belongs in the library of all scholars, students, and general readers interested in the origins, events, and legacy of Europe's Reformation.
In this established textbook, Wallace provides a succinct overview of the European Reformation, interweaving the influential events of the religious reformation with the transformations of political institutions, socio-economic structures, gender relations and cultural values throughout Europe. Examining the European Reformation as a long-term process, he reconnects the classic 16th century religious struggles with the political and religious pressures confronting late medieval Christianity, and argues that the resolutions proposed by reformers such as Luther were not fully realised for most Christians until the early 18th century. This new edition features a brand new chapter on the Reformation from a global perspective, updated historiography, a new chronology, and updated material throughout, including on the interrelationship between religion and politics after 1648.The Long European Reformation provides an even-handed and detailed account of this complex topic, providing a clear overview that is perfect for undergraduate and postgraduate students of history and religious studies. New to this Edition: - New chapter on the Reformation in global perspective - Incorporates new perspectives and current debates on Luther and the place of the Reformation within Western history, including consideration of how people lived with their religious differences - Expanded conclusion with references to the 500th anniversary and religious continuities
In the generation that followed Martin Luther's protest the evangelical movement in Europe attracted very different levels of support in different parts of the continent. Whereas in eastern and central Europe the new movement brought a swift transformation of the religious and political landscape, progress elsewhere was more halting: in the Mediterranean lands and western Europe initial enthusiasm for reform failed to bring about the wholesale renovation of society for which evangelicals had hoped. These fascinating contrasts are the main focus of this volume of specially commissioned essays, each of which charts the progress of reform in one country or region of Europe. Written in each case by a leading specialist in the field, they provide a survey based on primary research and a thorough grasp of the vernacular literature. For both scholars and students they will be an invaluable guide to recent debates and literature on the success or failure of the first generation of reform.
