The Reformation: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #213

by Peter Marshall

The Reformation was a seismic event in European history, one which left an indelible mark on the modern world. In this Very Short Introduction, Peter Marshall illuminates the causes and consequences of this pivotal movement in western Christianity. The Reformation began as an argument about what Christians needed to do to be saved, but rapidly engulfed society in a series of fundamental changes. This book provides a lively and up-to-date guide that explains doctrinal debates in a clear and non-technical way, but also explores the effects the Reformation had on politics, society, art, and minorities. Marshall argues that the Reformation was not a solely European phenomenon, but that varieties of faith exported from Europe transformed Christianity into a truly world religion. The complex legacy of the Reformation is also assessed. Its religious fervor produced remarkable stories of sanctity and heroism, and some extraordinary artistic achievements. But violence, holy war, and
martyrdom were equally its products. A paradox of the Reformation--that it intensified intolerance while establishing pluralism--is one we still wrestle with today.

Genres: History, Religion, Christianity, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Theology, Church History

176 pages, Paperback

First published June 27, 2003

About the author

Peter Marshall is Professor of History at the University of Warwick, with a particular interest in the study of religious belief and practice in sixteenth and seventeenth-century England and the cultural impact of the English Reformation. He has published widely in the field, including a survey of the period, Reformation England 1480-1642, and The Catholic Priesthood and the English Reformation, also published by Oxford University Press.

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Getting a handle on the Reformation is really difficult, even for big tough history professors. Talk about messy. There wasn’t one Reformation, there were lots, including counter- and counter-counter-reformations, Catholic reformations and reverse-backwards-reformations.

The first thing I learned is that Eramus was the Bill Hailey to Luther’s Elvis. Got the first rock and roll hit, but wasn’t really a rocker. And that Calvin and Zwingli were like Chuck Berry and Little Richard – in many ways, much more authentic, wilder, and with better lyrics.



LIFE AFTER DEATH : IT’S NO PICNIC


This book mentions an interesting fact about medieval European life – half of all the children who survived childbirth died before they were ten.

When life is so grim religion is all-pervasive, there is no division into church and state, sacred and secular, it’s all one thing. For these medieval people, this life was mostly wretched and it was the NEXT life which loomed large. The wish-fulfilment of religion is painfully clear – there has GOT to be something better than this! So they wanted a great afterlife, like people today want a good retirement. Just a little bit of payback for such a miserable earthly existence. Okay, since it was infinite, a LOT of payback. It was very important to get things right so that you got to the good afterlife, heaven, and not the bad afterlife, hell. Frankly, they were obsessed by life after death. The whole reformation thing was about getting the rules right so you could go to heaven.

I CAN DO THAT STANDING ON MY HEAD

The traditional view was that immediately after death the Christian will be judged. Some will be sent straight to Hell, do not pass Go and others tra la la whoosh - to heaven (ka-ching!). There will be a whole bunch left, probably most of us, that will eventually get to heaven but need some heavy soul-cleansing first, to burn off the various sins accumulated in their earthly life, so they go to a holding tank called Purgatory. You can be in there for like centuries. This came up in The Sopranos

Here's Paulie explaining what Purgatory is to a nervous Christopher:




You add up all your mortal sins and multiply that number by 50. Then you add up all your venial sins and multiply that by 25. You add that together and that's your sentence. I figure I'm gonna have to do 6,000 years before I get accepted into heaven and 6,000 years is nothin' in eternity terms. I can do that standing on my head.

But a lot of people weren’t as tough as Paulie Walnuts Gualtieri and got real nervous. If they were rich they left money in their will specifically to monasteries for the monks to pray for their souls in Purgatory. If the monks prayed real good then God would knock off a few hundred years. ( I assume there was some kind of purgatorial computer system doing all the calculations on a daily basis as the prayers came in overnight.)

Of course, if you think it through, it was a real scam for the monks. They’d got you just like a roofing contractor gets you. Are you going to climb up on your own roof and check what this guy says he’s done? Precisely. Likewise, you couldn’t check if the monks had really said a hundred masses for the soul of your beloved father, like you’d paid them for. You had to take their word for it. What a con. This went on for centuries.




Luther thought all that was total crap, so he substituted his own version.


FREE WILL FROM ITSELF : OR, LUTHER SUBSTITUTES HIS OWN ABSTRUSE NONSENSE FOR THAT OF THE POPE

Luther said that you couldn’t get into Heaven unless you were saved aka justified. You were saved by Jesus when you freely accepted him into your heart. Freely – ay, there’s the rub. Traditional Catholic teaching said that there was no conflict between God’s foreknowledge of everything (no fun for God at the races) and man’s free will. But Luther thought there was. He denied free will. There was only the grace of God, by which some were saved and most not – our fate was predestined. (Seems to me that this makes meat puppets of us all in God’s theatre of cruelty, but let us proceed.) Logically, God wills it that some through his grace are justified – that means, they go to heaven (ka-ching!). So, the uncomfortable question, which Luther did not like thinking about, is that God wills other people to go to hell. Later Prots (Little Richard, the Everly Brothers) came up with the fully formed theory which they called, in a whimsical moment,

SUPRALAPSARIAN PREDESTINARIANISM

( “if you say it loud enough you’ll always sound precocious”)

which meant that

God had decreed the eternal destiny of every human soul since the creation of the world and the fall or “lapse” of Adam

which further led to the realisation that as Patti Smith said “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine” – only the sins of the Elect.
You can see how convoluted this thinking was becoming. Oh, the waste of brain energy, oh the vast books written on the issues I have hideously compressed into a little paragraph here.

INTOLERANCE

you say eether and I say either
you say neether and I say neither
eether, either, neether, neither
we’re going to burn you alive

Starting in 1523, around 5000 people were burned to death for heretical views in Europe. I don’t get why anyone would ever get themselves in to that situation but I suppose it goes to show that they thought that God would torture them for eternity if they didn’t tell people that they were wrong about transubstantiation or whatever it was. Catholics burned Prots, Prots burned Catholics, and because they were full of zeal, other Prots too. They did it with verve and humour too – one vile Anabaptist who was preaching adult baptism (detested by Luther) was drowned, not burned, as a comment on his views.

Then there were all the religious wars, which I do not propose to list.
I suppose therefore it is an irony that history records the Reformation as that two century long shudder when the snake shed its old superstitious skin and emerged sleeker, fangier, and with improved eyesight, so that it was now possible to distinguish between the secular and the religious. Peter Marshall says that the answer to the question “what did the reformation do for us?” is
Modern capitalism
The concept of political freedom
The advancement of science
The decline of magic and superstition
But modern historians, having abandoned the previous easy notions of historical progress, love to challenge every previous conclusion and have therefore savaged each and every one of these items. PM says “The beating heart of Protestantism was not in any case unfettered enquiry, but deference to an authoritative text.” And he indicates all the modern Creationist Protestants.

His conclusion is that the Reformation, by the law of unintended consequences, bequeathed to us a fractured world (religiously, politically) and also the means of coping with these fractures. It’s not especially ringing, but that’s not what you get these days.

This book is as much as I’ll ever want to know about this horrible period of history.

[Vince Will Iam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-structured and very informative book to explore how religious changes in Europe have shaped Western societies. It gives one a general overview of the matter but really points at the most common assumptions and relevant questions about both Catholic and Protestant doctrines.

[Bojan Tunguz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Reformation is one of the pivotal moments in all of World History, and not just history of Religion. It encompassed almost all of the Christendom, and its ramifications had been felt far beyond it. Most Christians today live in the palpable shadow of Reformation, and yet very few are completely aware of its extent and history. Although the full history is probably beyond any single book's reach, this very short introduction provides us with an excellent and informative overview. One of the things that I like the most about this book is the fact that it doesn't treat reformation in vacuum, but it rather puts it in context of other political and religious upheavals of the 16th and 17th centuries. It also doesn't make the (protestant) reformation as much of a discontinuity as most people have come to think of it over the past few centuries, but it rather points out many points of contact and continuity within and without the Catholic Church in late Middle Ages. In fact, there is such a thing as Catholic reformation and this book dedicates a considerable amount of space to it. The book shuns two extreme views of reformation - as a completely societal development and as a purely religious one. It acknowledges the great importance that religion had in people's lives at the time, which can be very counterintuitive to many people today, but it also doesn't downplay the purely secular considerations as well. In fact, the distinction between the two would have been very hard to grasp for people at that time. The book also talks about the major figures of Protestant Reformation - Luther, Calvin and Zwingli - and discusses the contributions that each one of them made. The timeframe that this book covers is approximately that of late 15th century until the early 18th. As it is quite obvious, this is a lot of history to put in a single book, but Peter Marshall does a remarkable job of accentuating the highlights of that period that pertain to Reformation and does so with remarkable ease. The result is a book that is very readable and informative, and a good stepping stone for further exploration of this fascinating subject.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marshall tries very hard to be impartial, and I think it works most of the time. I must admit that his writing style is fantastic. His sentence structure is complex and quippy. I liked thinking about the big picture and learned a lot.

Though the chapter on "Society" is rather weak.

[Tiina Mahlamäki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warwickin yliopiston professori Peter Marshall on pitkän linjan varhaismodernin Britannian ja eurooppalaisen reformaation tutkija, joka on koonnut tietämänsä yhteen tiiviiksi, yleistajuiseksi teokseksi, jonka alkuperäinen otsikko oli The Reformation. A very short introduction – eli siis osaksi Oxford University Press'n mainiota Very Short Introduction -sarjaa. Reformaation juhlavuonna 2017 se julkaistiin Tapani Kilpeläisen suomennoksena ytimekkäällä nimellä Reformaatio. Teos tarkastelee reformaatioaikaa, reformaation etenemistä, suuntia ja vaikutuksia eri näkökulmista ja eri ulottuvuuksilla, Euroopassa ja maailmassa. Teoksen seitsemän pääotsikkoa kuvaavat tätä hyvin: reformaatiot, pelastus, politiikka, yhteiskunta, kulttuuri, toiset. Teos purkaa ja asettaa kyseenalaiseksi useita yleisiä käsityksiä reformaatiosta (sekä protestanttisesta että katolisesta) - ja saa aikaan sen, että minun on kirjoitettava omat reformaatiota käsittelevät luentoni osin uusiksi.

[Antti Sorri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Euroopan johtaviin reformaation tutkijoihin lukeutuvan Peter Marshallin tiukasti tiivistetty johdantoteos sopii hyvänä kertauksena jo aihepiiriin tutustuneille ja yleisen historiansa tunteville.

Johtopäätökset jäävät osittain ilmaan, eikä se näin voimakkaasti tunteita herättävässä aiheessa ole välttämättä helmasynti. Pohdiskelujakin teoksesta löytyy.

Lisää ajatuksia teoksesta luettavissa blogistani täältä: https://anttisorri.wordpress.com/2021...

[Blair Hodges · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written and well-organized. I love the VSI series, and this is a shining example of its utility for beginners.

[Kasia Orzechowska · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well described historical context of Reformation in Europe. Well described concept of Protestantism, but still there are some questions I did not find answer. It's more general than detailed book.

[Zack Hudson · Rating 3 out of 5]

(read for class) Nothing to write home about. Author seems to underestimate the theological seriousness (and necessity) of the Reformation, but it could be useful for someone with no prior knowledge of the Reformation.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the Reformation starting even before Martin Luther. Very measured analysis making me almost wonder if the author were a sympathetic Roman Catholic.

[Kathleen Krynski · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was a very short introduction

[Daniel Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: at the time of writing, the author of this book is identified as a Presbyterian minister. He is not; he is a different Peter Marshall, who according to the book's blurb teaches history at the University of Warwick.

I was somewhat suspicious approaching this book, since Warwick - where the author teaches - does not have a religious studies or theology department. From this it was clear that he was going to be guided by the historical rather than the theological or religio-sociologal dimension of the Reformation. While this is perfectly reasonable, I was concerned that his working environment would not provide him with the resources for understanding the deep religious significance of the period.

My fears were groundless. Though the narrative was indeed arranged chronologically, the author's understanding and explanation of the theology was more than adequate. There is a final chapter - something of an appendix - on the cultural legacy of the reformation that is both enlightening and insightful. Indeed, though the author is mostly fairly cynical, or at least indifferent, towards the fanaticism and passions of the people whose behaviour he studies, it is rather heartwarming to see him touched by their shared spirit, and to lament the demise of communal singing that secularism has brought about.

All-in-all, this is a very helpful introduction to its title subject.

[Unsympathizer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a review, but a very short summary of this book for my own notes:

This is a very disjointed introduction to the Reformation, which Peter Marshall assures us early on is not just one Reformation, but includes both the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. A lot of this book is dedicated to compare-and-contrast of how post-Council of Trent (Tridentine) Catholics behaved versus the newly invented Protestants.

This book is split into a few short chapters. After a brief introduction, we get to a historical perspective. There were movements that challenge the Catholic church's hegemony in the past, like Lollardism, but it wasn't until Martin Luther began spreading his tracts via the power of the printing press (the 95 theses, on the other hand, were not that big of a deal) that we get to the Protestant Reformation. While the printing press was used for a lot of things, Luther's work was the first time it was used for op-ed pieces, helping spread the Reformation all across Europe. In the beginning, though, reformers like Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli were not trying to break away from the Catholic Church, but simply wanted to reform it from the inside. They were angry over things like the selling of indulgences to people that wanted to get out of purgatory quicker. But as the Reformation spread and as more people interpreted the Bible for themselves, some radical reformers pushed the religion into territory even the reformers thought was too far, like the Anabaptists, who believed that infants could not be baptized and had to wait until adulthood to voluntarily choose.

The expression "cuius religio, eius religio" was representative of the fact that most people just believe what their rulers believed. Switzerland became Calvinist, Germany became Lutheran, France became Huguenot Protestant before being recaptured by Catholicism, and Southern Europe mostly remained Catholic. In Eastern Europe, Ottoman Muslims helped Protestants because they were both anti-Catholic. The Treaty of Westphalia helped promote a reconciliation of differences.

Marshall then talks about differences in doctrine. The Reformers believed that the Bible was central to belief, while Catholics believed the church was central. Many of the Reformers also rejected free will, with the exception of Arminius, with Calvinists believing in superlapsarian double predestination: the idea that God decided before the world was even created who would go to heaven and who would go to hell. Catholics also had a similar belief system called Jensenism, but it was wiped out as a heresy. A common myth about the Reformers is that they wanted people to interpret the Bible for themselves. The truth was, they wanted people to interpret the Bible the way they interpreted it. Catholics had seven sacraments: baptism, Eucharist, confirmation, reconciliation, anointing, marriage (or priesthood), and holy orders, but the Protestant Reformers cut it down to just the first two. Anabaptists went even further by making religion purely a matter of choice, which was considered a massive heresy in their day, and has led to the decline of religious faith today. Catholics had confession booths so people could confess in private, while Protestants encouraged public confession, which is why formerly Protestant countries today engage with what is called "cancel culture." A system called confessionalization made it so that nation-states could develop based on whatever theology they took.

The Reformation had huge impacts on culture across Europe. Massive religious wars and persecution made it necessary for liberalism to emerge. Parishes became community centers in towns, and listening to preaching became a popular activity. Godparenthood allowed children to have a lifelong patron. Most clergy were more educated than the laity, which is still true today. Catholics sacralized marriage, but Protestants were fine with divorce. Calvinists saw children as intrinsically sinners, not innocent, and childhood mortality was very high anyway. Catholic women could opt out of marriage by being nuns, but Protestant women could only be wives and mothers. Protestant women were usually drawn to voluntary faiths like Anabaptism, which is a precursor to liberal feminism today.

Protestants would engage in iconoclasm: the destruction of art they considered idolatrous. This led to the destruction of many precious paintings and sculptures from the history of Western Civilization. Catholics also had iconoclastic attitudes when they went to proselytize in other areas of the world, often destroying the old customs. Protestants desacralized art from religion, but they created their own art, with Lutherans being fond of hymns. Bible translations helped boost literacy. Anabaptists were persecuted by other Christians because they separated themselves from the rest of society, which is also what happened to the early Christians, as they were persecuted by the Romans. Ottoman Turks accepted them as they were allies against Catholicism.

Protestants saw both Catholics and Jews as obsessed with rituals and rules. Protestants were also obsessed with persecuting witches. Max Weber's theory about the Protestant work ethic is not definitive and has come under heavy fire over recent decades of scholarship. In short, even though the Reformation set out to achieve monolithic goals, it accidentally led to the development of liberalism and the fracturing of religious rule.

The reason I gave this book three stars was because I felt like it was light in info at parts, even though it's supposed to be only a short introduction, and the chapters were written in a disjointed style.

[Adam Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short Review: I am a fan of the Very Short Introduction series from Oxford. This is another good example of why short histories like this are useful and should be encouraged. The Reformation is very important to the history of Christianity and Europe, but the mythology of the Reformation is often overplayed and detrimental to understanding modern history. I picked this up a couple weeks ago on kindle when it was on sale for $2.99. It is not on sale now, but still only $7.10

My full review (about 800 words) is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/the-reformation-a-ve...

[Бранко · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is 2,5 stars
I am reading/will be reading some books on philosophy/philosophers so I wanted to know something about historical, political and social circumstances they lived in or preceding their time and the book fulfilled that purpose to large extent. It is written by a well known expert on British Reformation and written well.
But, there is a problem. Here, I should say that I have no preference between Catholics and Protestants.
The first thing I noticed, and in a positive way too, is that the author avoids the terms Reformation and Counter - Reformation. The latter, and to some extent rightly so, he calls Catholic Reformation. Although, later in the book it transpires that Catholics have “reformed” some territories through force only.
But what initially caught my eye was the use of the term “The Great Schism”. It turns out the author is not referring to a 1000 years split of 1054 CE between Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The author is talking about “The Great Western Schism” also known as the Papal Schism of 1378-1417, an exclusive Catholic event where two Popes excommunicated each other. A minor event in history.
So, this was odd and drew my attention to possible bias. I think I was right and that a pro Catholic bias does exist in this book.
Very strong terms like militant or virulent are reserved for Protestants only. Catholic nuns in Protestant areas had to endure a barrage of Protestant sermons - a bit over the top in my view. The Protestants have committed an artistic Holocaust- another very strong expression. OK, the author than does claim that the Catholics were worst iconoclasts, in particular in South America. But note the difference- iconclasty vs holocaust. Not the same.
What did it for me was the claim that Reformation (the Protestant one) promoted patriarchy and limited women’s role to one of a wife and mother by closing the monasteries. Thus depriving women of an avenue where they could express themselves spiritually and creatively in their own space. This view is, we are being told, embraced by some feminists. Mother Theresa as a feminist role model? I doubt it. I also doubt that women were better of in monasteries and then oppressed by Protestants.
There is more, in particular at the end, where the author disputes the role of Reformation (the Protestant one) in promoting Scientific Revolution, and having role in rise of capitalism and, in the end, more secular society. Well, the author may be right, but he lost my trust by that point.
So, I deducted one star and 1/2 star for not explaining theological differences in chapter two in more accessible way. This chapter I had to read 3 times.
And so, there is the reason this 4 star book got only 2 stars from me.
But, do not let me dissuade you from reading it. It is still a good intro to Reformation if you know very little about it and do not need more. The bias is then irrelevant.

[Carlton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read some books and parts of other books, which have presented a more detailed description of various aspects of the Reformation. I came to this book to provide a more overarching introduction to the Reformation, so that I could consolidate my reading. I don’t find that this book achieved this, although well written and full of interesting facts.

I found this book hard work but rewarding, as the author has chosen to cover a long period full of important events in the whole of Europe, breaking down the changes caused by the Reformation into various headings.
Marshall starts with a breakneck recounting of historical events and personalities (Reformations) in the first chapter, in which he describes Lutheran, Reformed Protestant and Reformed Roman Catholic (counter-reformation) narratives. This was too condensed and wide ranging for me; not an introduction, but a summary for readers already familiar with the events. Looking at the helpful chronology at the back of the book, I find that I have no understanding of how protestant ideas so quickly and effectively disseminated themselves across Europe from when Luther posted his ninety-five theses in Germany in 1517, to the Reformation in Zurich in 1523 and England’s Henry VIII break with Rome in 1532.

Following this breathless statement of events, Marshall settles down to expand upon the effects of the Reformation both in the “Protestant north” and the “Catholic south”, covering salvation, politics, society, culture and the Other (Muslim, Jew, witch, pagans in the Americas etc). These sections are fascinating, making me think, or think again, about my broad understanding of Reformation trends, and are peppered with interesting stories to illuminate particular points.

So I am ambivalent about the success of this book, which I found more of a synopsis of the events of the Reformation, followed by a brief exploration of consequences. Although I understood Marshall’s wish to document the similarities between the Protestant Reformation and the Roman Catholic Counter-reformation, I consider that this muddled the analysis of how the Protestant Reformation was so quickly successful, when the ideas would, I would have thought, taken longer to be accepted and acted upon.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The British Historian Peter Marshall published Reformation: A Very Short Introduction in 2009. The book has illustrations, including a map. The book has a timeline and an index. The book has a section entitled “further reading” (Marshall 143-146). The book is organized similarly to the historian Miri Rubin’s book on the Middle Ages. The first chapter defines the concept of religious “reformations” (Marshall 11-42) in Catholic and Protestant Europe. The book focuses on the era between Martin Luther's career and “the second half of the 18th Century” in Europe (Marshall 115). Marshall writes, “In the second half of the 18th Century, the religious pluralism created by the Reformation finally received legal recognition in most of the major monarchies” in Roman Catholic and Protestant Europe (Marshall 115). Marshall writes, “The Reformation created modern Europe and left an indelible mark on the history of the world” (Marshall 1). For example, the Reformation happened at the same time as the discovery of the Americas and had a big role in how the Americas were colonized by Roman Catholic and Protestant European powers (Marshall 36, 98, 122-123). The Reformation influenced how Europe viewed Asia and Africa (Marshall 36, 116, 122-125). Chapter 2 looks at the theology of the Reformation. Chapter 3 looks at the politics of the Reformation era. Chapter 4 is on the society of Reformation Europe. Chapter 5 is on the culture of the Reformation era. Chapter 6 is on how Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist Europe viewed people they considered outside their religious communities. This chapter includes a section about witches. Chapter 7 is on the legacy of the Reformation era. I read the book on my Kindle. Marshall tries to give a balanced view of the Reformation. I believe Marshall largely succeeded in his goal of writing a balanced account of the complex era of the Reformation.
Works Cited:
Rubin, Miri. 2014. The Middle Ages: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

[Jean-Francois Simard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here are the five main takeaways from The Reformation: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Marshall, based on its key themes and arguments:

1. The Reformation as a Complex Movement: The Reformation was not a single, unified event but a series of interconnected religious, political, and cultural upheavals across 16th-century Europe. It involved diverse figures like Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, and its impact varied by region.

2. Religious Transformation and Division: The Reformation fundamentally challenged the Catholic Church’s authority, leading to the emergence of Protestant denominations. It sparked theological debates over salvation, scripture, and church structure, resulting in lasting Christian schisms.

3. Political and Social Impact: The Reformation was deeply intertwined with political power and social change. Rulers adopted Protestantism to assert independence from the Pope or Catholic empires, while reforms influenced education, gender roles, and community structures.

4. Cultural and Intellectual Legacy: The Reformation reshaped European culture by promoting literacy (through vernacular Bibles), encouraging individualism, and fostering debates that laid groundwork for the Enlightenment. It also intensified religious art and music, though iconoclasm destroyed some Catholic imagery.

5. Global and Long-Term Consequences: While rooted in Europe, the Reformation’s ideas spread globally through colonization and missionary work. Its legacy includes modern secularism, religious pluralism, and ongoing tensions between tradition and reform.

These points capture the book’s emphasis on the Reformation’s multifaceted nature and enduring influence.

[Avesta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating read, albeit it seemed quite messily written compared to some of the other books in the series.
What I found quite interesting (and a bit odd, to be frank), was how Marshall claims that the reformation occurred without many pre-existing conditions, and uses the Russian revolution happening in Russia, and the invention of the telephone in America, as examples, which is a tad absurd, since he claims that the fact that a revolution occurred in Russia was irrelevant to the place, and applied the same logic to why the reformation happened in Germany, and why the telephone was invented in America. Now - anyone who studies the Russian Revolution would laugh at how absurd that claim is.

Also - I felt like the reformers (i.e. Martin Luther) were portrayed as a force for good, and Marshall fails to address the backwards thinking these reformers had. It was Martin Luther who said "Reason is the greatest enemy of faith", and that "Blood alone moves the wheels of history". I may be wrong here, but I felt like the author cast Martin Luther's reformation in a positive, progressive light, and did not point out how Martin Luther was no progressivist, and the notion of him being a 'reformer' should be debated, not established.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Reformation : A Very Short Introduction (2003) by Peter Marshall is an excellent introduction the historical events, theological disputes, political implications and the impacts of the Reformation on world history. Marshall is a professor of history at Warwick University.

The Reformation was a period of European history that change the continent. The monopoly of the Catholic Church on Western Christendom ended and the various protestant churches rose up and became the state religion in much of Northern Europe.

The book has chapters on the various Reformations from Luther onwards, their spiritual doctrines, the politics surrounding the events, how the Reformation changed European society and culture and the impact on Christian relations with non-Christians around the world and the historical legacy of the Reformation.

The Reformation profoundly impacted Europe and there is a very strong argument that modern European secular states have their roots in The Reformation. The book does a very good job of providing an overview of the period and its impact.

[Jeremy Gardiner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book as it was required reading before beginning my course on the Protestant Reformation at Wycliffe College. The author first breaks down the various European reformations and then talks about its impact through different categories, each which is its own chapter. They include salvation, politics, society, culture, legacy, and others.

While the author generally tried to be impartial, he did let his more skeptical/progressive bias' seep out (like his belief in evolutionary theory). I can overlook the downsides but it was also a quite bland overview. The author does not seem to have a passion for the topic (despite being an expert), and the reformers are not his heroes. A very forgettable read.

[Peter Toth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely one of the better introductiory books of this series. Marshall's writing style is polished, informative and yet easy to follow. I really enjoyed the thorough historical context provided. The only minor negative point I would raise is that Marshall is hell-bent on questioning accepted cultural dogma about reformation and not drawing any unfounded conclusions himself. At the end this often left me with a "the conclusion is that there is no conclusion" feeling. I realise that is what introductiory books are meant to do. And this one does it well. Still I would have loved some more assertive stances taken.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fulfills the promise of the subtitle. Pithy, sensible, balanced, with some truly productive observations such as the following: "Too often, scholarship focuses upon the Reformation's impact upon women, rather than women's impact on the Reformation" (page 87). The last chapter, "Legacy", is brilliant. The notion of Protestantism as a precondition for science is quickly dispatched. This sentence, for example, is well worth contemplating: "[T]he principal legacies of the Reformation were the fact of division, and the emergence of strategies for coping with that fact" (133).

[Jarkko Laine · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read that looks at reformation from a balanced point of view. Doing so it challenges many of the assumptions about the reformation and its role in shaping modern society (while not downplaying its importance either) we learned growing up Lutheran.

A good read for the 500-year celebrations this year.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting to read a very secular view on the Reformation. I had some difficulty following all the events and keeping track of all the different figures. The conclusion seemed to be that the Reformation had the opposite results to which it intended and that any positives that resulted would have occured without it, that it wasn't all it has been hyped up to be.

[Karla Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a very informative and well written little book. Some parts were more fascinating than others. I enjoyed learning about where the Reformation impacted the modern world and yet I know from reading other great books that it had quite a larger impact in shaping our world than the author communicates.

[Sam Farr · Rating 3 out of 5]

very informative, yet i can’t help but feel applying a succinct attitude to such a topic can remove a large amount of the beauty and wonder over such a fascinating period. its ephemeral nature is both its strength and weakness, yet marshall navigates an historically dense period with eloquence nonetheless.

[Seth Benzell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A relatively better one. A good focus on the details of theology in a relevant way -- showing that it wasn't Protestantism => the Scientific Revolution, but rather the freedom of the printing press and of thought that was the result of the Protestant-Catholic detente. The parts on proto-reformations were also good.

[Myoungseok Jeong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good writings to make hard subject easy to understand

[Igor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative and accurate.