Product Description

The beginning the sixteenth century brought growing pressure within the Western Church for Reformation. The popes could not hold Western Christendom together and there was confusion about Church reform. What some believed to be abuses, others found acceptable. Nevertheless over the years three aims emerged: to reform the exactions of churchmen, to correct errors of doctrines and to improve the moral awareness of society. As a result, Western Europe divided into a Catholic South and Protestant North. Across the no man's land between them were fought the bitterest wars of religion in Christian historyThis third volume of ‘The Penguin History of the Church’ deals with the formative work of Erasmus, Luther, Zwingli and Calvin, and analyses the special circumstances of the English Reformation as well as the Jesuits and the Counter-Reformation

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #204793 in Books
• Published on: 1990-06-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 3
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

About the Author
Reverend Owen Chadwick is considered one of the foremost historians of church history. He is a former Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge and was Vice-Chancellor of the university. He is also an ordained Anglican priest.

Customer Reviews

Owen Chadwick - The Reformation
A most helpful book. Everything is explained concisely and clearly. A must for anyone looking for a starting point when studying the Reformation, especially at degree level.

Magisterial
This book is part of a series of the history of the Church and covers all the important events of the Reformation. The book has been criticised for its lofty tone and for the amount of background knowledge the reader needs to have to understand; certainly, a knowledge of ecclesiastical terms and a mental map of the geography of Europe in the 16th Century would help. But the book will reward dedication. Chadwick outlines the early developments and the 'cry' for reform in the face of the absurdities, scholasticism and abuses of the Church at that time. He also discusses the personality and character of the major actors, putting flesh on Luther (and bone on the austere Calvin). The dark events of England are treated particularly well, not a good time for the monastaries of course, and the Catholic 'counter-reformation' and the radical 'anabaptists' receive good treatment. The Reformation will never be an 'easy' subject to study and technical language will always be inevitable. With this in mind, Chadwick's history is a great achievement and I certainly recommend it.

Boring
I picked up this book because I wanted to learn something about the reformation as I thought that it was an essential period in English history.
I don't know whether it is something to do with the lofty sounding Sir Owen Chadwick or that it was first written in 1964 but this book bored me to tears. It is immensely hard going. I know that the reformation is an exciting period but Chadwick didn't bring the events to life - this book is basically just a chronology of events.
I would have liked him to explain a bit more about things too, rather than presuming the reader had background knowledge.
I can't recommend this book as I am sure there are other books that are better written than this.