Owen Chadwick (1916–2015)

A traditional, excellently-written account: all big names and grand events and things that sound, to 21st century ears, rather bizarre (indigenous Americans weren't able to compete in the "adult world"?) Chadwick focuses on Britain, as is the wont of British people last century; he is surprisingly sanguine about the reformers, excusing all of their murders, insanities and horrors by mentioning, yet again, that "everyone agreed reform was needed." Perversely, he argues that i) the Reformation show more in England was a political event with religious consequences (seems fair) and ii) nobody much cared that the Reformation came. It's very difficult to read this after Duffy and so on have done so much work to show that, for a good many people in Britain at least, the reformation was a traumatic destruction of a way of life; but even common sense should have suggested that the reformation in England can't have been both bureaucratically imposed by a walking penis and accepted whole-heartedly by the population.

But, as I said, very nicely written, and good on the ideas of the main figures. show less

Covering the whole of the Reformation, plus the Counter Reformation, in a small book is always going to be a challenge - this book covers the topic adequately, but it's quite England-centric.
It was interesting to see the author covering (briefly) the Spanish activities in South America.
One thing I learnt: the reason that Portuguese is spoken in Brazil and Spanish in the rest of South America is due to a line drawn on a map by a pope - the Spanish got west of the line, the Portuguese the show more east.
One thing I read but not sure I agree: that the Calvinist were against organs in churches; not sure then there are so many organs in the Calvinist churches in the Netherlands. show less

This in-depth, fully illustrated book is by a former Cambridge professor, From its beginnings as a Jewish sect through the 20th century, his perspective is guaranteed to show you things you never knew before. The last hundred years, for instance, has been without doubt the bloodiest onslaught against religion in all of human history, Page 255 begins with a section of "Conscience and War" -- the conscience of Christianity -- and outlines the positions of that Church as a whole, from pacifism show more to outright instigator, is there just and unjust war? Is there on weapon more immoral than another? He notes in 1139 the crossbow was declared such -- except against the Saracens --by the Church. Up to the hydrogen bomb and bacterial warfare "the generals took no notice..." OCT 2004 show less

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 show more France (1562-98).

On the whole, the tone wasn't my thing either. On the few occasions he referred to women 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. show less