Customer Reviews

The Reformation (The Penguin History of the Church) (v. 3)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A serviceable summary of one of the Church's most tumultuous periods. A pretty quick read as the text is written at a reasonable level for most introductory readers. Provides good coverage of the whole church during this period, including Catholic and Orthodox reformations. It is generally my contention that church history texts are not written for spatial or visual learners due to the common lack of maps and timelines, but this text sets a new standard as it only contains two total maps/figures/pictures. Not referenced, light recommended readings, good index. On the whole an enjoyable and helpful book for the front end of a study of the reformation, but not my favorite.

Owen Chadwick tackles the world of the 16th century. Anyone familiar with this period knows that religion, politics, and sociological factors in each of the countries in Europe created a tangled web which requires much study to understand.

Chadwick goes for the big picture, touching lightly on major factors, as well as some of the smaller people and problems. The chapters on Luther, Calvin, and radicals read quickly and enjoyably. Other chapters are complex, particularly the Reformation in England. It is easy to get lost or bored trying to follow the key people and events as the author gives the reader a barrage of information.

It appeared to me that Chadwick assumes the reader will have some knowledge of the 16th century prior to reading the book. He will at times mention someone without explaining who that person was, as he did on page 298 when he mentions Luis de Molina only by last name.

Overall, Chadwick's book presents the historical information in an interesting way. He gives you the big picture, wetting the appetite for more studies on some of the people events he discusses in his book.

This begins Owen Chadwick's the Reformation and as he recounts the histories of those who either by religious conviction or by political consolidation and ambition rebelled against the Roman Catholic Church and its waning power during the 16th century. The first part provides an overview of Europe with the rise of monarchies, the corruption and inadequacies of the Roman Catholic Church, and its growing resentment among the masses of its ineffective policies and practices among a continent experiencing a renaissance. Amongst this volatile and changing civilization, Chadwick presents many individuals and their roles in bringing about the Reformation from Erasmus, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and those in the Church of England, and the paroxysms that resulted.

In addition to the development of the Protestant Churches, there is also the struggle of national independence from the Papal Authority, and the residue of Medieval Society, which resulted in riots and wars among many countries and communities. In addition to the more prevalent churches that resulted amongst the Lutherans, the Reformed and Anglican Churches, Chadwick includes smaller radical groups of Christians that came about with very isolated followings.
Furthermore, the Council of Trent, the Jesuits, and Conquistadores in the Counter-Reformation providing the Vatican's response to the growing influence of Protestantism.
Interestingly enough one surprising fact was that the Roman Catholic Church made efforts to educate its clergy, many of whom were illiterate; this being one of the complaints of the masses of Europe. Despite the best efforts of Catholicism and Protestantism, the Reformation and subsequent events divided the European continent. Many societies were scarred by the violence and rather than receiving the liberty which is promised in the Scriptures. Chadwick alludes that Europe would attempt to find a more secular meaning in the successive Age of Reason.

This reading was a good primer for the Reformation and introduces the reader to an overview which calls for more in-depth reading to gain a fuller understanding of the times the Reformation took place. What made it difficult for me, being an American Protestant, is that there are many Europeans, which I had no familiarity, especially amongst the English Reformers. Despite this Rev. Chadwick does an adequate presentation of a complex and confusing time in European History.

Having studied the history of the early Church for many, many years at the neglect of later ecclesiastical history, the time seemed right to begin learning more about the Reformation. Most of my knowledge of the Reformation derives from apologetics and reading other books which make mention of one or two items in passing. Of course, I've read some of Luther's works on occasion, but I never really had the context to place those words into; as a result, Luther's arguments lose their acerbic bite.

I happened upon this book at a used bookseller. I didn't have to pay anything for it thanks to the contemporary marvel that is "store credit." In an undergraduate class of mine, we read Henry Chadwick's volume on the Early Church, and my copy of that book is so full of underlinings and marginal notes that it's quite unreadable now. It seemed natural that another volume in Penguin's History of the Church series would profit me greatly.

Unfortunately, having just finished all 450 pages of text, I reflect upon what I've learned and it's really only the barest of bones about what the Reformation was actually about. For all of those words and all of those pages, I imagined that I could walk away confidently from the book capable of putting all of those earlier fragments of knowledge in their respective places - but, no, I can't really say that I can do that. Furthermore, I can't really say that those writings of Luther which I've read make much more sense. I can see the framework of what happened, but there's almost an entire lack of substance.

I think this lack of substance can be attributed to how the author bounces from general, abstract topic to topic, never really surveying the particulars for more than a sentence or two. It's rather consistent in its inconsistency. It reads much like the intelligent ramblings of a history professor who knows so much about the subject that he's constrained for time and space to share his breadth of knowledge which ultimately leads to a jumbled, misinformed lecture. He tries to provide examples, but these examples are thrown in like only the tiniest pinch of salt and pepper for seasoning. One moment the author is discussing the Reformation in Sweden and then he jumps to the English Reformation and ends up discussing what was happening in southern Germany - and all of this within the span of a couple of paragraphs. When he does discuss the particulars, he drops names as if every reader should know precisely about whom he is speaking. And then there are the moments where it quite honestly feels like your history professor has taken you out to the pub for a post-exam drink and jabs you in the ribs with a few wry jokes that only intellectuals would get.

I can only recommend this book to someone who's already versed in the history of the Reformation. I know that I will continue reading others, and perhaps return to this book in another couple years to see if my opinion about it has changed. However, without a doubt, the final chapters of this book may prove to be the most invaluable already considering its survey of the how and why Christendom was capable of splintering as it did, the decline in ecclesiastical power during the 16th and 17th centuries, and the various liturgical reactions of the Catholics, Lutherans and Reformed Christians during the Reformation. This section, though, would be worth imminently more if the previous two sections covering the actual Reformation and Counter-Reformation were more cohesive and didn't suffer from the ails mentioned above.

This is a book for anyone who does not know anything about how the Christian church developed into the denominations and then came to America. Anyone that wants to understand Calvinism and Arminianism, and their opposing ideas on predestination and the priest hood of the believer needs to read their impact on the Reformation.

This is a classic in its field and well worth reading. The Penguin History of the Church is an excellent series,even if dated. One would need to read more recent historians such as Diarmaid MacCulloch, Carter Lindberg and Christopher Haigh to get an up to date picture but then it would never do to overlook the classics. Chadwick has great literary style. Consider his description of the survival of some kind of tolerance even in the era of religious wars - "charity, whipped and bleeding, limped up the ladder into the ark." (p.374). He knows the period well, and is the master of the well chosen anecdote to illustrate his historical analysis. It is a joy to read a master in his field.

Chadwick's history is a solid conclusion to this 3-part history of the Church. Though avoiding the theological debates few of the Protestant, Catholic, or Anabaptist partisans will be pleased. Instead, this is a middle-of-the-road easy read that assumes some knowledge of the topic already. It is a fair introduction in a way but the assumptions of additional learning will leave some puzzled with unexplained references. This would be a fine companion, for instance, to one working through a more detailed lecture series such as, The Teaching Company: History of Christianity in the Reformation Era 18 Audio Cds with Course Outline Booklet (The Great Courses).

We would have enjoyed also a more thorough coverage of the proto-reformation movements such as the Lollards and Hussites of the preceding centuries. True, there is a limit in the amount that can be covered in under 500 pages but those movements in particular seem especially relevant to this study. For a more in-depth study that takes those earlier reformation movements into account, see The Reformation (The Story of Civilization VI).

For a study of this period, there are many works that cover the material with far greater detail. Others may provide a reasonable introduction to the reformation. This one falls somewhere in between. A solid, conventional history that attempts not to offend any of the Christian traditions involved. Despite the rather drab approach to history, it still manages to entertain and incite a desire to learn more. For that we can highly recommend this well-respected work.

Don't look here.

Chadwick's book is steeped in the conventional and now-discredited "Whig" view of history, which posits that the Reformation was both inevitable and progressive. It is typified by sentences like the following from Chadwick: "The Reformation came because limitation of the power of the Church was necessary to the further development of efficient government."

This view has since been demolished by the likes of Eamon Duffy, who has shown that much of the Reformation was a violent, top-down imposition -- a "revolt of the rich" as another scholar put it.

Readers are advised to consult Diarmaid MacCulloch's masterful "The Reformation: A History," a book likely to be the standard work on the subject for years to come.

The only other short introduction to the Reformation that I've read is the one by G.R. Elton, and this one is not as good. Chadwick treats his subject casually and judges movements or people without making us privy to the reasons why he does so. There are also inexplicable biases in what is treated: for example, he gives us quite a few pages (a chapter?) on the religious life of England under Cromwell (1640s and 50s), but barely spends more than a sentence or two on the religious wars in France (1562-98).

On the whole, the tone wasn't my thing either. On the few occasions he referred to women (remember them?) it was in an casual and sometimes apparently joking way. Not quite sexist, but it makes you wonder.

Skip it. There are hundreds of histories of the Reformation. Most will be better than this.

Being a proud Protestant as I am, I wanted to research the Reformation, so I read this book. This book is excellent. I will bring the Reformation and all of her issues to life for you! Few hisorical books can do that, but this book is an exception. It's filled with passion and devout study. If you're a Prostestant and proud of it, this is the book for you. Learn about your heritage and what great men like Luther, Wesley, and Tyndale went through to purify the faith. This book will definitely teach you everything you've ever wanted to know about the Reformation. I've read books about the Reformation before, but this is the only one that satisfied me.