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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Introduction to Reformation History, March 27, 2007
This review is from: The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World (Paperback)
I love church history. I consider it absolutely tragic that so few contemporary Christians have any real sense of their heritage. They know a little bit of New Testament history, can list hundreds of today's best and worst teachers, but know almost nothing of the 2000 years between.
The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World is one of a long line of books authored by Stephen Nichols, professor at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Nichols is a prolific author who seems to be releasing books with impressive regularity. To this point all of his books have centered on church history. He has written several works on Jonathan Edwards, one each on Martin Luther and Gresham Machen, and one providing a guided tour of classic Christian writing. This new title "goes behind the scenes and uncovers the human side of the larger-than-life Reformers through user-friendly narrative stories on the Reformation."
The book is built upon two ideas, both of which I agree with entirely. The first is that the Reformation matters (which indicates that all of church history matters). Nicholas provides four reasons why: first, church history provides lots of examples of Christians from all walks of life who labored to bring their faith to bear upon the world in which they lived; second, church history can be humbling as we realize that we are not a whole lot better and smarter and godlier than people in the past; third, we are humbled by the spiritual insight and spiritual depth of our predecessors in the faith; fourth, we learn what matters most to the Christian faith when we look to church history in general the the Reformation in particular. The second idea behind this book is simply that history can be fun. Though teachers of history can take the fun out of it, this does not indicate that history is just plain boring. When taught well, history is a joy and can bring about many benefits.
The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World serves as a brief and popular introduction to the Reformation, and in particular, to the key figures in each of the nations involved. We first meet Martin Luther and learn about the Reformation in Germany where it began. From there we move to Ulrich Zwingli and Switzerland and then to the Anabaptists. From there we go to John Calvin, Thomas Cramner and other English Reformers, and then we meet the Puritans. The final chapter introduces many of the women of the Reformation, both those notable for being the wives of the Reformers and those who made substantive contributions on their own. A few appendices introduce Reformation-era creeds, prayers, and other writings. One section I appreciated was one dealing with the question of "Do we still need the Reformation?" Answering historians like Mark Noll who argue that the Reformation is over and that unity between Protestants and Catholics can now be achieved, Nichols affirms that the theology at the heart of the Reformation was the very gospel and that we are not at a place where we can have ecumenical unity.
All-in-all, this book serves as a wonderful, popular-level introduction to the key persons and events involved in the Reformation, surely one of history's most pivotal times. It makes for a great springboard to deeper appreciation and thus deeper study of both people and events. It is exactly the kind of book I would put in the hands of new Christians, or simply Christians who have no appreciation of the church's history, so they can benefit from knowing and understanding the history of the church and thus the history of their faith. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Helpful Introduction..., November 10, 2007
This review is from: The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World (Paperback)
Stephen J. Nichols has been coming out with a lot of books lately and has been highly recommended by a lot of people that I respect. I decided to take a look at a couple of his books and this one in particular, being that I am always looking for more information on the Reformation.
Nichols sets this up for an introduction for the differing reformations that happened all over the globe after the way that was paved by Wycliffe and Hus and then finally with the most powerful Martin Luther.
You can actually get a great understanding of where the book will lead you by seeing the different chapter titles.
1. Five Hundred Years Old and Still Going Strong: Why the Reformation Matters Today
2. A Monk and a Mallet: Martin Luther and the German Reformation
3. Some Middle-Aged Men and a Sausage Supper: Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation
4. The Not-So-Radical Radical Reformers: The Anabaptists and the Reformation
5. An Overnight Stay in Geneva: John Calvin and the Swiss Reformation
6. A King and a Divorce: The Anglicans and the British Reformation
7. Men in Black: The Puritans and the British Reformation
8. Women in Black Too: The Untold Story of Women and the Reformation
Appendix: In Their Own Words: Selections from Documents of the Reformation
So, as you can see Nichols tries to cover a lot of ground in one little book, as the book, including the appendix is only 150 pages. It is very short in a lot of areas but it has to be so that the reader that is not accustomed to the Reformation can get their pallet wet enough to want to read other works that get more detailed each of these particular reformation periods.
The one thing that was stated at the first of the book that I was excited to see more about, that I found lacking, came when Nichols said we need to "humanize" the people of history. Meaning, we need to show who they were and not merely what they did. I felt as though Nichols did a pretty good job in this with Luther, but felt that this dropped off in the future chapters with the others. This, by no means, makes this book a disappointment and would definitely recommend it to others for an introduction to who and what went before us.
Nichols does make this history very readable and interesting to read without merely spitting out facts, which is happening in another book I am reading on the same subject. The book flows very well and makes you want to learn more about the reformers, instead of seeing history as a dry and dead subject.
I look forward to reading more books by Nichols and would defnitely recommend this to any who need an introduction to the Reformation from Wycliffe to the Puritans.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Introduction to The Reformation, November 19, 2008
This review is from: The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World (Paperback)
How do you consolidate into one little book an era that has had thousands of volumes written on it? Well, you have to cut a lot of stuff out, of course. But what makes this book by Stephen Nichols so helpful is what he puts in, and how he does it.
Nichols is a flat out terrific writer. He is able simultaneously write in an informative and entertaining way. His priority is to show that church history matters and that history should be fun. Thankfully, he is aided by some pretty interesting characters in the Reformation period. The chapter titles bear this out:
1. Five Hundred Years Old and Still Going Strong: Why the Reformation Matters Today
2. A Monk and a Mallet: Martin Luther and the German Reformation
3. Some Middle-Aged Men and a Sausage Supper: Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation
4. The Not-So-Radical Radical Reformers: The Anabaptists and the Reformation
5. An Overnight Stay in Geneva: John Calvin and the Swiss Reformation
6. A King and a Divorce: The Anglicans and the British Reformation
7. Men in Black: The Puritans and the British Reformation
8. Women in Black Too: The Untold Story of Women and the Reformation
Appendix: In Their Own Words: Selections from Documents of the Reformation
The book is written in an easily understandable way. I read the book out loud at the dinner table to our kids. I will admit that the younger ones (4 & 6) were less than enthralled but my older kids (9 & 13) were engaged. All of this to say, Nichols keeps it moving and it is filled with a lot of the important stuff.
I also found it encouraging that even from a 15,000 foot overview Nichols did not try to cover up the warts of our favorite Reformers. Whether it be Luther's anti-Semitic statements, Calvin's issues with Servetus, the dreadful persecution of the Anabaptists, or Zwingli's organ smashing, we are given a helpful introduction to these guys.
If you are looking for a good introduction to the Reformation I heartily recommend this book by Stephen Nichols.
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