At the colloquy of Poissy, revived Catholicism and emergent international Protestantism met in an attempt to establish peace, unity, and reconciliation. The author argues that the colloquy was the final crossroads of the Reformation.

The Reformation was the single most important event of the early modern period of Western civilization. What started out as a pastoral conflict about the sale of grace for money ultimately became a catalyst for the transformation of Western culture. In Reformation in the Western World, Paul Silas Peterson shows how the retrieval of the ancient Christian teachings about God's grace and the authority of Scripture influenced culture, society, and the political order. The emphasis on an egalitarian church--the priesthood of all believers--led to a more egalitarian society. In the long run, the Reformation encouraged the emergence of modern freedoms, religious tolerance, capitalism, democracy, the natural sciences, and the disenchantment of the papacy and worldly means of grace. Yet the egalitarian fruit of the Reformation was not uniform, as is seen in the persecution of detractors and Jews, and in the marginalization of women. In all its triumphs and innovations, evils and errors, the Reformation left a lasting double legacy--a divided church in need of unity and the possibilities of a liberated world.

Rediscover the Reformations in Europe with this insightful and comprehensive new edition of a long-time favorite Amongst the authoritative works covering the European Reformation, Carter Lindberg's The European Reformations has stood the test of time. Widely used in classrooms around the world for over twenty-five years, the first two editions of the book were enjoyed and acclaimed by students and teachers alike. Now, the revised and updated Third Edition of The European Reformations continues the author's work to sketch the various efforts to reform received expressions of faith and their social and political effects, both historical and modern. He has expanded his coverage of women in the Reformations and added a chapter on reforms in East-Central Europe. Comprehensively covering all of Europe, The European Reformations provides an in-depth exploration of the Reformations' effects on a wide variety of countries. The author discusses: The late Middle Ages and the historical context in which the Reformations gained a foothold Martin Luther, the theological and pastoral responses to insecurity, and the theological implications of those responses The implementation of reforms in Wittenberg, Germany Zwingli's reform program, the Reformation in Zurich, Switzerland, and the impact of medieval sacramental theology The Genevan Reformation and "The Most Perfect School of Christ" Perfect for undergraduate and graduate students in courses on Reformation studies, history, religion, and theology, this edition of The European Reformations also belongs on the bookshelves of theological seminary students and anyone with a keen interest in the Reformation and its ongoing impact on faith and society.

The world stands before a landmark date: October 31, 2017, the quincentennial of the Protestant Reformation. Countries, social movements, churches, universities, seminaries, and other institutions shaped by Protestantism face a daunting question: how should the Reformation be commemorated 500 years after the fact? In this volume, leading historians and theologians, Protestant and Catholic, come together to grapple with this question and examine the historical significance of the Reformation. Protestantism has been credited for restoring essential Christian truth, blamed for disastrous church divisions, and invoked as the cause of modern liberalism, capitalism, democracy, individualism, modern science, secularism, and so much else. This book examines the historical significance of the Reformation and considers how we might expand and enrich the ongoing conversation about Protestantism's impact. The contributors conclude that we must remember the Reformation not only because of the enduring, sometimes painful religious divisions that emerged from this era, but also because a historical understanding of the Reformation is necessary for promoting ecumenical understanding and thinking wisely about the future of Christianity.

From an acclaimed historian, an account of human solidarity throughout the ages, provocatively arguing against the received wisdom that history is best understood as a chronicle of groups in conflict by examining six categories of human difference.

Focusing on the Colloquy of Montbéliard, a theological debate in 1586 between Lutherans and Calvinists, Raitt explores the complex array of shifting political alliances and religious tensions which characterized the Holy Roman Empire after the Peace of Augsburg. When the Wars of Religion broke out in France, both sides courted allies. Often these alliances involved confessional tests--most often concerning the Eucharist. Modern readers might expect that such complex theological questions belong in seminaries, but in many cases, they took place at the request of people and princes. On the outcome of these debates depended the well-being of towns and villages as well as the disposition of troops and the conduct of wars. Raitt's study of the "age of confessionalism" uncovers the background and details of the Colloquy of Monteb((e'))liard and analyzes the nature and implications of the underlying theological conflict.

This collection of essays from a distinguished scholar of medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation history examines one of the most fascinating and turbulent periods of human history from the perspective of the social history of ideas. Taking advantage of the windows offered by late medieval scholastic thought, the Modern Devotion, Johann von Staupitz, Martin Luther, Marian piety, and the escalation of anti-Semitism, Heiko A. Oberman illumines the social and intellectual context for the reform of church and society in the sixteenth century. These programmatic essays not only provide analyses of Reformation events but also contribute to the contemporary search for new methods and models that better capture the meaning of that period. Recognizing the distance between intellectual and social historians of the Reformation, Oberman seeks to bridge the gap by pursuing an innovative path. The impact of the Reformation is traced through everyday life as well as through individual programs for change.

The Failure of Denominationalism and the Future of Christian Unity One of the unforeseen results of the Reformation was the shattering fragmentation of the church. Protestant tribalism was and continues to be a major hindrance to any solution to Christian division and its cultural effects. In this book, influential thinker Peter Leithart critiques American denominationalism in the context of global and historic Christianity, calls for an end to Protestant tribalism, and presents a vision for the future church that transcends post-Reformation divisions. Leithart offers pastors and churches a practical agenda, backed by theological arguments, for pursuing local unity now. Unity in the church will not be a matter of drawing all churches into a single, existing denomination, says Leithart. Returning to Catholicism or Orthodoxy is not the solution. But it is possible to move toward church unity without giving up our convictions about truth. This critique and defense of Protestantism urges readers to preserve and celebrate the central truths recovered in the Reformation while working to heal the wounds of the body of Christ.

That Men Would Praise the Lord breaks apart the process of mass conversion in the sixteenth century to explain why the Reformation occurred, using Nîmes, the most Protestant town in France, as a case study. Protestantism was overwhelmingly successful in Nîmes (since most people converted), but the process culminated in two bloody massacres of Nîmes's remaining Catholics. Beginning in 1559, Nîmes went through a revolutionary period comparable to 1789 in its intensity. Townspeople flocked to hear Protestant preachers and then took over Catholic churches, destroyed statues and stained glass, and zealously took part in the Wars of Religion, which convulsed France beginning in 1562. As the Protestant movement grew, it had to adapt to changing circumstances. Nîmes's first Protestants were attracted to Calvin's theology. Later converts believed that the Church needed to be cleansed of its excesses to encourage moral reform and to assist the royal treasury. Iin the end, many converted because of peer pressure or under duress. Thus rather than argue that one factor - whether religious, economic, or political - explains the Reformation, Tulchin emphasizes that the Protestant movement was the result of compromises forged among its members. The conclusion extends his arguments to the rest of France. That Men Would Praise the Lord marries techniques from the social sciences, anthropology, and cultural history in an analytic narrative, resulting in a new, interdisciplinary theory of the Reformation.