Reformation Myths

Author: Rodney Stark
Publisher: SPCK
ISBN: 0281078289
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 215

Book Description
What has the Reformation ever done for us? A lot less than you might think, as Rodney Stark shows in this enlightening and entertaining antidote to recent books about the rise of Protestantism and its legacy. ‘Rodney Stark takes no prisoners as he charges through five hundred years of history, upsetting apple carts left and right. Almost everything you thought you knew about the Reformation turns out to be a false narrative. . . In future, anyone who makes sweeping claims about the benefits of Protestantism ought to check their assumptions against Stark’s research first.’ Clifford Longley, author and journalist ‘Stark brings the insights of a distinguished sociologist of religion to bear on a range of inherited assumptions about the impact of the Reformation . . . The result makes for salutary reading in this year of commemoration and (not always justified) celebration.’ Peter Marshall, Professor of History, University of Warwick ‘Stark changed the way we think about the early Church and this book may change the way you think about Protestantism . . . Reformation Myths cuts through pious certainties and challenges us to think again about our cultural history.’ Linda Woodhead MBE DD, Professor of Sociology of Religion, Lancaster University

The Myth of the Reformation

Author: Peter Opitz
Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
ISBN: 3647550337
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 386

Book Description
Im Juni 2011 fand die erste Konferenz des Reformation Research Consortium (RefoRC) am Institut für Schweizerische Reformgeschichte an der Theologischen Fakultät Zürich statt. Der Titel »Mythos der Reformation« ermutigte kritische Perspektiven auf herkömmliche Vorstellungen über die Reformation des 16. Jahrhunderts. Peter Opitz bietet eine Auswahl von dort gehaltenen Vorträgen und versammelt facettenreiche Aspekte und Perspektiven zur Thematik. Dadurch gelingt es Opitz zumindest einen Mythos zu widerlegen, nämlich dass die Reformationszeit eine langweilige Periode war, in der es nicht viel mehr außer den herkömmlichen Mythen zu entdecken gäbe.

The Unintended Reformation

Author: Brad S. Gregory
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 067426407X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 345

Book Description
In a work that is as much about the present as the past, Brad Gregory identifies the unintended consequences of the Protestant Reformation and traces the way it shaped the modern condition over the course of the following five centuries. A hyperpluralism of religious and secular beliefs, an absence of any substantive common good, the triumph of capitalism and its driver, consumerism—all these, Gregory argues, were long-term effects of a movement that marked the end of more than a millennium during which Christianity provided a framework for shared intellectual, social, and moral life in the West. Before the Protestant Reformation, Western Christianity was an institutionalized worldview laden with expectations of security for earthly societies and hopes of eternal salvation for individuals. The Reformation’s protagonists sought to advance the realization of this vision, not disrupt it. But a complex web of rejections, retentions, and transformations of medieval Christianity gradually replaced the religious fabric that bound societies together in the West. Today, what we are left with are fragments: intellectual disagreements that splinter into ever finer fractals of specialized discourse; a notion that modern science—as the source of all truth—necessarily undermines religious belief; a pervasive resort to a therapeutic vision of religion; a set of smuggled moral values with which we try to fertilize a sterile liberalism; and the institutionalized assumption that only secular universities can pursue knowledge. The Unintended Reformation asks what propelled the West into this trajectory of pluralism and polarization, and finds answers deep in our medieval Christian past.

Ten Myths about Calvinism

Author: Kenneth J. Stewart
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
ISBN: 9781459615984
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 512

Book Description
Historian of Christianity Ken Stewart is intent on setting the record straight about Reformed theology. He identifies ten myths held by either or both Calvinists and non-Calvinists and shows how they are gross mischaracterizations of that theological stream. Certain of these persistent stereotypes that defy historical research often present a tr...

Ten Modern Evangelism Myths

Author: Ryan Denton
Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books
ISBN: 1601788452
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 96

Book Description
Could it be that mistaken beliefs about evangelism lead to a decrease in getting it done? Ten Modern Evangelism Myths recounts the most popular misconceptions about evangelism followed by an easy-to-read response. Every Christian who wants to share their faith will find encouragement here to be bolder and more direct in their approach—while still showing love to those in their predicament of unbelief. You’ll be more effective because you will be clearer about Christianity and more clearly yourself when talking about it. Finally, here is relief from the confusion generated by gimmicks-based and “me-centered” approaches to evangelism. Table of Contents: Foreword - Rob Ventura Myth 1: Theology Doesn’t Matter When Evangelizing Myth 2: The Gospel Isn’t Enough When Evangelizing Myth 3: Evangelism Is Unsuccessful If No One Is Converted Myth 4: The Lost Should Never Be Offended by Our Evangelism Myth 5: There’s Only One Right Way to Evangelize Myth 6: Evangelism and Apologetics Are Different Myth 7: Reformed Christians Don’t Evangelize Myth 8: Hell Should Be Left Out of Evangelism Myth 9: Only Church Leaders and Professionals Should Evangelize Myth 10: The Church Is Unimportant for Evangelism

7 Myths about Singleness

Author: Sam Allberry
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 1433561557
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 170

Book Description
If marriage shows us the shape of the gospel, singleness shows us its sufficiency. Much of what we commonly assume about singleness—that it is primarily about the absence of good things like intimacy, family, or meaningful ministry—is either flat-out untrue or, at the very least, shouldn’t be true. To be single, we often think, is to be alone and spiritually hindered. But the Bible paints a very different picture of singleness: it is a positive gift and blessing from God. This book seeks to help Christians—married and unmarried alike—value singleness as a gift from God so that we can all encourage singles to take hold of the unique opportunities their singleness affords and see their role in the flourishing of the church as a whole.

Protestants

Author: Alec Ryrie
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735222819
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 528

Book Description
On the 500th anniversary of Luther’s theses, a landmark history of the revolutionary faith that shaped the modern world. "Ryrie writes that his aim 'is to persuade you that we cannot understand the modern age without understanding the dynamic history of Protestant Christianity.' To which I reply: Mission accomplished." –Jon Meacham, author of American Lion and Thomas Jefferson Five hundred years ago a stubborn German monk challenged the Pope with a radical vision of what Christianity could be. The revolution he set in motion toppled governments, upended social norms and transformed millions of people's understanding of their relationship with God. In this dazzling history, Alec Ryrie makes the case that we owe many of the rights and freedoms we have cause to take for granted--from free speech to limited government--to our Protestant roots. Fired up by their faith, Protestants have embarked on courageous journeys into the unknown like many rebels and refugees who made their way to our shores. Protestants created America and defined its special brand of entrepreneurial diligence. Some turned to their bibles to justify bold acts of political opposition, others to spurn orthodoxies and insight on their God-given rights. Above all Protestants have fought for their beliefs, establishing a tradition of principled opposition and civil disobedience that is as alive today as it was 500 years ago. In this engrossing and magisterial work, Alec Ryrie makes the case that whether or not you are yourself a Protestant, you live in a world shaped by Protestants.

The Oxford Illustrated History of the Reformation

Author: Peter Marshall
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191045500
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Book Description
The Reformation was a seismic event in history, whose consequences are still working themselves out in Europe and across the world. The protests against the marketing of indulgences staged by the German monk Martin Luther in 1517 belonged to a long-standing pattern of calls for internal reform and renewal in the Christian Church. But they rapidly took a radical and unexpected turn, engulfing first Germany and then Europe as a whole in furious arguments about how God's will was to be 'saved'. However, these debates did not remain confined to a narrow sphere of theology. They came to reshape politics and international relations; social, cultural, and artistic developments; relations between the sexes; and the patterns and performances of everyday life. They were also the stimulus for Christianity's transformation into a truly global religion, as agents of the Roman Catholic Church sought to compensate for losses in Europe with new conversions in Asia and the Americas. Covering both Protestant and Catholic reform movements, in Europe and across the wider world, this beautifully illustrated volume tells the story of the Reformation from its immediate, explosive beginnings, through to its profound longer-term consequences and legacy for the modern world. The story is not one of an inevitable triumph of liberty over oppression, enlightenment over ignorance. Rather, it tells how a multitude of rival groups and individuals, with or without the support of political power, strove after visions of 'reform'. And how, in spite of themselves, they laid the foundations for the plural and conflicted world we now inhabit.

Reformation of the Senses

Author: Jacob M. Baum
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9780252083990
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
We see the Protestant Reformation as the dawn of an austere, intellectual Christianity that uprooted a ritualized religion steeped in stimulating the senses--and by extension the faith--of its flock. Historians continue to use the idea as a potent framing device in presenting not just the history of Christianity but the origins of European modernity. Jacob M. Baum plumbs a wealth of primary source material from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to offer the first systematic study of the senses within the religious landscape of the German Reformation. Concentrating on urban Protestants, Baum details the engagement of Lutheran and Calvinist thought with traditional ritual practices. His surprising discovery: Reformation-era Germans echoed and even amplified medieval sensory practices. Yet Protestant intellectuals simultaneously cultivated the idea that the senses had no place in true religion. Exploring this paradox, Baum illuminates the sensory experience of religion and daily life at a crucial historical crossroads. Provocative and rich in new research, Reformation of the Senses reevaluates one of modern Christianity's most enduring myths.

Celebrating the Legacy of the Reformation

Author: Benjamin K. Forrest
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
ISBN: 1535941286
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
In this compilation of essays, experts in the field provide an in-depth look at the long-lasting impact of the Protestant Reformation. Readers will gain new insights into the legacies of theology, spiritual formation and personal worship, catechism and preaching, and the missions and martyrs of the Reformation. Celebrating the Legacy of the Reformation will inspire and challenge readers to learn from the past for the sake of the future.