THE REFORMATION: VSI

The font in this book is extra small....it hurts your eyes...Please read it in digital versions it would be suitable.

Short an sufficient.

Concise, entertainingly written, and well-balanced! An excellent introduction which debunks many popular views on this turbulent period without being unnecessarily revisionist.

This book by Peter Marshall, in the excellent OUP Short Introduction series, is superb. The Reformation can be a broad, diffuse and often contentious subject and Marshall handles its various elements very clearly and fairly. He takes no particular partisan stance and this will make the book equally acceptable to Protestant and Catholic alike. He accepts that although dating the start of the Reformation is fairly easy with Luther and a few notable predecessors, deciding when it ended is more of an issue. Marshall takes us through the causes and development of the Reformation's various stages from the church-reforming 'blunt instrument' of Luther to the 'sniper-rifle' precision theology of Calvin. He explains the disagreements between Lutherans and Calvinists and how they each influenced the history of Europe in different ways, not least in the Catholic Counter-Reformation that they unleashed. He traces the impact of the reformed churches and their interactions with the state, and summarises this well at the end. Marshall also examines specific themes relating to the Reformation and its world-view on things: art, theatre, music, witchcraft and others. He makes the link between how what was produced by the Reformation interlinked with the development of the Enlightenment, a more secularly driven movement, and his series of paradoxes at the end of the book may bring a wry smile too. Not all movements achieve quite what they set out to. This is a brilliant survey of the Reformation and one of the very best of the Short Introduction series.

A very thorough but succinct review of the events leading up to and surrounding the reformation, with a nod to the societal and political factors surrounding the events of the reformation. The book does presuppose some basic awareness of historical and geographic facts, but is relatively easy to read and understand. A very nice introduction.

The author provides a thorough analysis of the Reformation considering the theological, political and social aspects. I highly recommend the book to interested readers on the topic.