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The Reformation
While it is not a comprehensive treatment of the subject, Mosse does a good job of treating the lives and influences of the major players in the Reformation. He also shows that the Reformation happened as much for political reasons as for theological ones. For someone looking for a concise treatment of the subject, this is the book to read.
- GenresHistory
136 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
32 people want to read
About the author
George L. Mosse
56 books34 followersGerman-born American social and cultural historian.
Mosse authored 25 books on a variety of fields, from English constitutional law, Lutheran theology, to the history of fascism, Jewish history, and the history of masculinity.
He was perhaps best-known for his books and articles that redefined the discussion and interpretation of Nazism.
Mosse authored 25 books on a variety of fields, from English constitutional law, Lutheran theology, to the history of fascism, Jewish history, and the history of masculinity.
He was perhaps best-known for his books and articles that redefined the discussion and interpretation of Nazism.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 6, 2008
This is a great little paperback. While it is not a comprehensive treatment of the subject, Mosse does a good job of treating the lives and influences of the major players in the Reformation. He also shows that the Reformation happened as much for political reasons as for theological ones. For someone looking for a concise treatment of the subject, this is the book to read.
November 6, 2022
I discovered this book after following my curiosities. I read an interesting obituary of John Rowe in the WSJ in October 2022, and was very intrigued by the utility company CEO who left his family farm in Wisconsin to study history at the UW-Madison before going on to law school and a career managing utilities. Rowe’s obituary contained a link to an oral history Rowe recorded for UWM, and I watched some of that interview. A particularly favorite professor of his was George Mosse, and he mentioned that Mosse’s small paperback on the Reformation was especially good. Curious, I ordered a copy from Thriftbooks (and received, incidentally, a paperback with the stamp of Barry E. Hinman inside the front cover—Hinman served as a librarian at Stanford from 1980-2007). Enough about that crazy trail of curiosity.
The book itself was quite good and gave me a quick refresher on the events, people, and politics of the Reformation. It’s a summary treatment from a scholar and brings a historian’s view (as opposed to a theologian’s), and was often used as a textbook for the topic. For me personally, the section on Calvin in Geneva was helpful and I finally have a better grasp of the civil and political context for the theologian whose theology is so well-known to me. Mosse himself was Jewish, and most of his scholarship focused on Nazism, but he brings a fair treatment to the theology of the Reformation, in my view. He accurately describes the Biblical and theological disputes at its core. And he does a good job of explaining the English Reformation, which was driven by politics more than theology or religious conviction.
In general, I think Christians who care about the Reformation and the reformers are really strong on the theology (know Luther’s Bondage of the Will and Calvin’s Institutes, for instance), but weak on remembering just how very, very different was the civil and political context that the Reformers lived and thought within. The perennial problem for orthodox Christians is how to apply Biblical teaching to changing historical and political contexts, and today the challenge is the secular and pluralistic society. For Calvin and Luther it was a powerful Roman church deeply entwined with temporal power. I think understanding this helps considerably when contemplating the puritans of Massachusetts (Massachusetts Bay Colony). Their intolerance of non-Puritans and wedding of spiritual and civil authority makes more sense if you consider Calvin’s “New Jerusalem” in Geneva. This is also important background to their “city on a hill” aspirations, and I think also informs us when we try to understand the so-called “Christian nationalism” movement today.
If only undergraduates were still assigned such books.
(I did notice one inconsequential error: Mosse states that Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Last Judgment on the Sistine ceiling, but in fact he was commissioned to paint the fresco on the chapel wall because of his work, done much earlier, on the chapel’s ceiling. Page 107.)
The obituary which interested me (I always am interested in the way a humanities education proves to be valuable in the long term):
https://www.wsj.com/articles/john-row...
Wikipedia on the author:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg...
The book itself was quite good and gave me a quick refresher on the events, people, and politics of the Reformation. It’s a summary treatment from a scholar and brings a historian’s view (as opposed to a theologian’s), and was often used as a textbook for the topic. For me personally, the section on Calvin in Geneva was helpful and I finally have a better grasp of the civil and political context for the theologian whose theology is so well-known to me. Mosse himself was Jewish, and most of his scholarship focused on Nazism, but he brings a fair treatment to the theology of the Reformation, in my view. He accurately describes the Biblical and theological disputes at its core. And he does a good job of explaining the English Reformation, which was driven by politics more than theology or religious conviction.
In general, I think Christians who care about the Reformation and the reformers are really strong on the theology (know Luther’s Bondage of the Will and Calvin’s Institutes, for instance), but weak on remembering just how very, very different was the civil and political context that the Reformers lived and thought within. The perennial problem for orthodox Christians is how to apply Biblical teaching to changing historical and political contexts, and today the challenge is the secular and pluralistic society. For Calvin and Luther it was a powerful Roman church deeply entwined with temporal power. I think understanding this helps considerably when contemplating the puritans of Massachusetts (Massachusetts Bay Colony). Their intolerance of non-Puritans and wedding of spiritual and civil authority makes more sense if you consider Calvin’s “New Jerusalem” in Geneva. This is also important background to their “city on a hill” aspirations, and I think also informs us when we try to understand the so-called “Christian nationalism” movement today.
If only undergraduates were still assigned such books.
(I did notice one inconsequential error: Mosse states that Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Last Judgment on the Sistine ceiling, but in fact he was commissioned to paint the fresco on the chapel wall because of his work, done much earlier, on the chapel’s ceiling. Page 107.)
The obituary which interested me (I always am interested in the way a humanities education proves to be valuable in the long term):
https://www.wsj.com/articles/john-row...
Wikipedia on the author:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg...
April 12, 2014
April 2013:
This was a lot of information to absorb all at once.
I am interested in the subject, and have a “high level” understanding of the main points, but I wanted to learn about the Reformation in more detail. With a zillion book options to choose from, I picked this one because it was short.
I learned a lot – like just how much Switzerland was involved – but a lot of it went “in one ear and out the other” because I felt saturated with facts.
I want to read it again, but in short batches. A few paragraphs at a time so that the information sinks in properly!
_________________________
May 2014:
Just tried reading it again and I hate it. I got a little more than half way through and I could not stand to read more. Strange isn't it?
This was a lot of information to absorb all at once.
I am interested in the subject, and have a “high level” understanding of the main points, but I wanted to learn about the Reformation in more detail. With a zillion book options to choose from, I picked this one because it was short.
I learned a lot – like just how much Switzerland was involved – but a lot of it went “in one ear and out the other” because I felt saturated with facts.
I want to read it again, but in short batches. A few paragraphs at a time so that the information sinks in properly!
_________________________
May 2014:
Just tried reading it again and I hate it. I got a little more than half way through and I could not stand to read more. Strange isn't it?
May 24, 2010
An interesting perspective on the protestant reformation. Provides a good beginners introduction to the history and the characters involved as well as interesting insights into the causes and it's lasting effects. Worth the read.
December 2, 2010
Great concise overview of the Reformation. Thoroughly enjoyed it, but really all it did was make me wish for more detail. A good introduction, but watch out! You might get hooked and go in search of something more definitive. I am.
June 24, 2015
The Reformation: When Luther, Calvin and King James threw momma from the train.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews