Suzannah Rowntree’s Reviews > The Reformation: A History > Status Update

On the global Catholic missions of the 16th & 17th centuries: "The perpetual trouble in all these mission-fields was the European reluctance to accept on equal terms the peoples whom they encountered... It was not surprising that when a Church infrastructure which remained European fell into decay in any area of the world, the Church as a whole soon began to fade away."

"In fact England judicially murdered more Roman Catholics than any other country in Europe, which puts English pride in national tolerance in an interesting perspective" history is always more chequered than propaganda will admit

And now it turns out that one of the reasons the Scottish Reformation was so successful was that it was ALSO fairly laissez-faire, and tolerant of Catholic dissent, and (like the successful Polish counter Reformation) did the majority of its work via teaching & persuasion rather than force.

On the political forces that shaped the Dutch Republic: "The result was Europe's first established Church where in normal times it was possible to opt in or opt out without and great penalty." my reading in the past 2 years has impressed upon me just how incredibly new in world history it is for the state not to try to force you to practice a specific religion.

Ok this sub section on "Tridentine Success" is a SUPER helpful précis of how the post/counter-Reformation Roman Church differed from the medieval Church. I did not know that it was at this time that the rosary became popular! And the fact that here the church took on the charitable/social welfare role of the professional medieval guilds was fascinating.

The pages on the impact of the Psalms, previously relegated to monastic practise - as heart cries, rallying cries, and the consummate expression of Reformed Protestantism in France - went through me like a knife.

The stuff on Elizabeth I is fascinating. MacCulloch says that although many have depicted her as "coolly secular" compared to Mary I, this famously cautious woman acted surprisingly boldly when setting up a Protestant regime at her accession. Her 39 Articles, too, he argues were intended less to conciliate Catholics than Lutherans. He sees her as a committed and convicted Protestant.

Wild to me how strong and widespread the Reformation was in places like Poland and Hungary! The way protestants there were able to benefit from laws designed to allow Latin Catholics and Eastern Orthodox to peacefully coexist!

Fascinated to learn that there was a strong movement in Italy, the Spirituali, who embraced justification by faith while wishing to retain a Roman perspective on confession and the Eucharist, and attempted a reconciliation with the Reformers. After this failed, in the early 1540s many of them, despite wishing to be loyal to Rome, were forced to flee Italy for Protestant strongholds in Geneva and Strasbourg.

The English Reformation is so wild to me. Incredibly cynical. More about politics than religion. It chewed up and spat out one of its most important early figures, Anne Boleyn. An attempt to establish bad old Byzantine style ceasaropapism. Just a clown car of bad faith actors. No idea how there wasn't a giant pro-Catholic backlash (tho one might argue that the Civil War was a pro-democracy backlash)