Reformations: The Early Modern World Paperback – 4 September 2018

The author provides accurate and referenced evidence to describe the content and processes of the Reformations. The way this is written, however, renders the text approachable, readable and hard to put down. It is 'user friendly', thought-provoking and interesting. Recommended.

Very insightful,, a finely detailed and stimulating history of the varied Reformations and the Catholic responses

Like the proverbial mosquito in the nudist colony, I know what to do but don’t know where to begin! Eire’s magnus opus is timely on this occasion of the 500 Anniversary of Luther’s piercing of the Body of Christ, leading to a reconfiguring of an image that once held Western society unified. No more. Reformations were key to the permanent decline of religious unity and religion altogether.For me, some books are best read beginning with the last chapter. I wish I had taken my own advice! I recommend a reader to consider this approach that will provide one with an eye for the probing questions Eire raises at the end of Reformations.Would that his penetrating scholarship were available when I was in my formative years, he would have been a probing Socratic companion to critically question historical persons and events in my educational trajectory. I might be a different person in a different place today.With a proclivity for philosophy, theology and history, I found his work a page turner, despite the size of Reformations. And he provided many hitherto unseen pictures that demanded close, intense scrutiny. Also, provided extensive historical context for the religious warfare, layering texture of the complexity of persons and events of the political and religious tensions that fed off each other.While I’ve been down this beaten path, revisiting with him, he presents a kind of a kaleidoscope of historical twists and turns of persons and events, providing a refreshing reconfiguring that open to new questions and considerations.Eire’s offers a challenging, formidable work, demanding an equally formidable response. The result would be a tome as long his. He stimulates countless questions. He doesn’t lay on the reader his answers to this complex history as raising open-ended questions.Particularly, I appreciated his raising probing questions of material while presenting it. While reading, questions were begging to be asked, so provocative was the offering, and he read my mind.Most historians seem intent on providing the cold facts of their interpretive research, abstractly letting it up to the reader process. Eire seems to anticipate questions and raises them, as if conscious of an audience present.Often, after unloading his scholarship he seems to end by saying, “and so what?” Given the limitations of the form, Eire creates an imaginary dialogue with the reader with stimulating, seemingly unresolvable, yet pertinent questions.I was particularly interested in the battle over the sacraments. While reformers were intent on an “ad fontes” approach to support their rejection of any or all sacraments, it seems to me they missed a deeper concern. Eire posits that a contentious issue for all was the number of sacraments in the Christian scriptures. He doesn’t indicate in their return to biblical sources a more paramount concern than the sacraments was Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom of God. How all could stumble over this in their pursuit of seeking to be faithful to the sources of the Christian message in the texts seems incredulous! The essential kerygma, as supported by biblical scholars today, was the proclamation of the Kingdom. Jesus never said, “The sacrament are at hand!” It seems to me the reformers missed something of greater centrality in the message of Jesus than sacraments as his kerygma.The Orthodoxy version of Christianity was given short shrift. Was it because Orthodoxy is not seen as Western?Curious to me, why wasn’t there any significant rebellion or reformation that erupted within Orthodoxy? It seems largely intact from the forces and issues that led to the collapse of Western Christianity. Was it because there were many patriarchs but only one pope? Easier to focus and project onto one than many? Why were Orthodox theologians less questioning, disturbed than Western theologians?How to interpret the small number of reviews here for this stimulating historical tour dé force? Has this period become passé? I highly recommend his opus but increasingly difficult to get persons to read even lighter tomes. While Eire underscores the impact of the printing press as a vehicle for the Reformation, the vehicle today is a video camera. With editing, Reformations could be an engaging series for viewers than readers. Something for a Great Courses series?For a work of high quality, I was surprised at the numbers of typos I tripped upon with my casual, unscrutinizing eye. And this is a product of Yale University Press!

This is an amazingly well done history and analysis of the Reformation Era. The author manages to keep most any personal bias from corrupting his insights into the tumultuous ideological battles between the Catholic and Protestant side which has plagued history of this period for centuries. Protestant historians have always overplayed the corruption of the Catholics and Catholic historians have always overplayed the bible fanaticism the Protestant sects. The author's more coherent view is that all this upheaval was primarily a result of humanist scholarship and the expansion of printing where inflammatory writings could cause a sea change in religious thinking. These developments unleashed forces in Europe that no one had prepared for and led to the complete alteration of the religious and social system. Combine all this with politics and empires and you get a perfect storm leading to war and destruction. Ultimately it all led to the creation of modern Europe and a new era with other issues. It is concerning to see that we are experiencing a similar upheaval with the spread of the internet in present times which like the printing press of the sixteenth century is upending society. There is a lot in this excellent book to take away. You will understand so much more after reading it. I highly recommend reading it and maybe reading it twice. It is that good.

A comprehensive overview that gives comparative perspective but attends to fascinating details as well. Excellent as a thoughtful intro to the crucial Reformation(s) period!