How the Reformation Happened (Paperback)

by Hilaire Belloc (Author) "Two historical problems are of prime importance to our race..." (more)
Key Phrases: Catholic Church, Middle Ages, Mary Stuart (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
1928. Two historical problems are of prime importance to our race. To understand them sufficiently is to understand ourselves. To misapprehend them is to misapprehend our own nature: what made our culture and what threatens to destroy it. The first of these problems is the conversion of the Roman Empire to Catholicism. How came the pagan world to be baptized? What made Christendom? The second is the disaster of the 16th century. How came Christendom to suffer shipwreck? What made the Reformation? It is the second question which Belloc approaches in this book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: TAN Books and Publishers (May 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895554658
• ISBN-13: 978-0895554659
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #46,279 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Belloc: bold thresher of the grain of history, February 18, 2004

By	Boileau0663 (Tournai, Belgique) - See all my reviews

"Read history books, my son, there is the true philosophy to be found." Napoleon to his son

In my reading of history books there is a pre-Hilaire Belloc period and a post-Hilaire Belloc period. This is because what Belloc writes and how he writes it is so novel, refreshing, clear and shocking that you simply cannot be the same man after reading his works.

Don't expect a book full of quotes and references to primary sources with an imposing bibliography at the back. There isn't a single quote or reference to a primary or secondary source in any of the books by Belloc that I've read.

Briefly, you will have to take Belloc's word for it that things really happened the way he says they did. The man doesn't really put forward arguments, he simply states his case. And it works! For some, specially people who don't have a conservative mindset or who take methodology very seriously, this will probably be considered a major flaw and they will dismiss Belloc's works as mere propaganda but I didn't bother: I was completely absorbed by his quick and fascinating narrative and mind-blowing historical analysis.

Belloc is not a historian who likes to recreate a historical period by giving the reader a wealth of details about clothing, dietary habits and what not. No, his view is a tend thousand feet view: the main events, the underlying causes, the far-reaching consequences. Everything is said with utmost clarity and almost bluntly: the Reformation was a catastrophe for European civilization and its main driving force was rapacity.

In How the Reformation Happened, Belloc covers the whole period from immediately before AD 1517, when Luther published his theses, to the reign of Louis XIV. This is a long period for a book of less than 150 pages but as I said above Belloc is only interested in the quintessence of history. He leaves aside all the chaff and gives you only the grain.

This book deals only with events and does not go into the doctrinal issues. For this read Belloc's short book on heresies "The Great Heresies" and on the enemies of the Church "Survivals and New Arrivals".

The pace of the narrative is breathtaking but always crystal clear and studded with thought-provoking reflections. Since most of us have been spoon-fed a Protestant and anti-Catholic version of history, most of what he says will appear quite novel but his writing is so cogent that you will end up being convinced. I was for example completely taken aback by his explanation of the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre in AD 1572 .

This book is an eye-opener and a page-turner. And a source of true philosophy...

56 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Balanced Thesis, February 22, 2003

By	Barry E. DeWalt (Redding, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Belloc has issued several histories of the Reformation and of those persons at the forefront of the Reformation. This history takes a broad brush to these common themes but, perhaps, in a more abbreviated manner.

Belloc lays the blame for the Reformation on five factors. These five theses have been set forth in other reviews, so I won't repeat them here. Needless to say, the book is ordered on defending Belloc's theses from beginning to end.

Note also, that I use the word "blame" for the Reformation. To those unaware, Belloc was a staunch Catholic. It would be error to say that he wrote Catholic history (Belloc does not fabricate his facts), rather he writes with a Catholic perspective. That perspective is simply that the Reformation was definitevely NOT good for Christianity.

Belloc's balance is that he does put a great deal of the blame for the Reformation on the shoulder's of those within the Church. However, Belloc rightfully makes the distinction between a poor witness to Christ and the personal sin of those within the Church (matters in need of reform) and a wholesale rethinking of Christian doctrine. Without coming out and bluntly stating the fact, Belloc is arguing that the Reformation was not a reform, reform is a cure of the thing that is ill. Rather, the ultimate objective was a schism - a very split in the fabric of Christianity largely occasioned by motives far removed from dispute regarding doctrine.

Because of this approach, the student of the Reformation may be exposed to a different view than the somewhat romantic view of the Reformation as is presented in our history books. In fact, a good reading of this book should provide some balance. Lastly, Belloc does not speak in rhymes - he is a straight shooter and his point is made manifestly clear.

To that end, I highly recommend this book to any person who is interested in the facts and circumstances of the Reformation. If you have not read a Catholic perspective on this momentous time in history, please purchase this book and do so now. This history will not leave you disappointed.

52 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Comprehensive, Fair and Clear Analysis, December 10, 2003

By	Brad Shorr "Word Sell, Inc." (Geneva, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is a brief but sweeping overview of the Reformation, concentrating mainly on the political and social forces at work during the whole period. Although Belloc was an ardent Catholic, he is surprisingly balanced in his analysis; for instance he pulls no punches when critiquing the shortcomings of the Church, and is quite mild in his assessment of Martin Luther. (Belloc is most venomous toward the British upper classes, who so shamelessly exploited the Church, Elizabeth, and the common people merely to increase their personal wealth and solidify their political position. His analysis is undoubtedly contrary to mainstream English history, but is compellingly supported by the facts.) Belloc's greatest strength is his ability to distill general principles and underlying causes from the tidal wave of political and social upheaval that was pouring across Europe. Thus the book is a fantastic starting point for a study of the Reformation. Although it is short on details (especially military details) it provides a very clear context.