As we approach the 500th anniversary of the nailing of Luther’s theses to the door of Wittenberg cathedral in 1517, this collection presents a cohesive assessment of current understanding of this epochal event. Introduced by a brief but detailed foreword from the editor, the seven contributions move in a broadly chronological manner. - Bruce Gordon - examines late medieval Christianity on the eve of the Reformation, followed by a detailed analyses of the life and works of Martin Luther from Lyndal Roper - and from Carlos Eire - an exploration of, Calvinism and the reform of the Reformation. Three different perspectives on the Reformation follow: Brad Gregory on the ‘Radical Reformation’, Simon Ditchfield on Catholic Reformation and Renewal, and Peter Marshall on Britain’s Reformations. Finally, Alexandra Walsham presents something of a conclusion, examining the legacy of the Reformation, and assessing its long term implications and ramifications.
Each chapter is beautifully illustrated. Although only 12 of the 123 illustrations are colour plates, the 111 black and white illustrations are well chosen for their respective chapters, each illuminating a relevant and important visual aspect of the topic at hand. Woodcuts, illustrated manuscripts, paintings, portraits, reliquaries, altar screens, and sculptures are all presented in stunning detail. The inclusion of such a rich variety of visual aids adds a vital and often overlooked element to the analysis, drawing attention to the importance of including visual and material culture in the broader discussion of early modern religion.
Gordon’s vivid account of late medieval Christianity, “a world bewildering in diversity of belief and practice, complex in theology” (p. 1) sets the tone for the volume as a whole: there is no one single perspective that can be taken on ‘the Reformation’, and indeed, that if we are to understand it properly, we must move towards an appreciation of ‘it’ as a truly multi-faceted shift in the human experience. Drawing together the impact of conquest, plague, the nature of and struggle for papal authority, the role of universities and the study of theology, in “an age of intellectual revolution” (p. 13), the growth of humanism and the central role of clergy, the sacraments and printed works such as the Bible, Gordon lays an excellent foundation for understanding the world into which the contributions of Martin Luther, and John Calvin exploded.
Roper and Eire’s contributions illuminate the lives of these two men in new ways. The infamous Ninety-Five Theses “marked a major change in how Luther understood himself” (p. 42), and were something of a starting point for Luther in developing his own unique theology on salvation and scriptural authority, propelled, in many ways, by the opposition he met with from others. Both Luther and Calvin were boosted by clever use of the new technology of printing, and both men are, in some ways, studies in the power of opposition as a motivational factor: Luther, pushed to clarify and defend his position, remarked to Swiss and south German reformers in 1529 “our spirit has nothing in common with your spirit” (p. 76).
Gregory, Ditchfield and Marshall offer varied perspectives on ‘the Reformation’, advancing the case that we should be understanding ‘the Reformation’ as a period of many changes. Gregory draws attention to the Radical Reformation, which he describes as having “relatively minor social, cultural and political influence” but which deserves attention as it reminds us that small numbers of men and women took something of a middle path, rejecting not only Rome but also the doctrinal claims and reforming programmes of major Protestant leaders.
Ditchfield highlights ‘the Reformation’ as understood from the Catholic perspective, a global story, stretching from India to New France (Canada), to China, Japan and the Caribbean. Illuminating missionary practices that allowed successful conversions to take place, he focuses on orthopraxy rather than orthodoxy: right action rather than right belief, that allowed missionaries to work through barriers such as language (p. 161). He also draws attention to the far from inevitable global spread of Roman Catholicism - even as late as 1700, Roman Catholicism was not the first world religion embracing all inhabited continents, but rather had achieved the spread of the idea of the global reach of Rome and its perennial head, the pope. Echoing the overall theme of the book, Ditchfield argues for the Council of Trent as “an unfolding and discontinuous process, which took place over the reigns of five popes, four kings of France, and two Holy Roman Emperors” (p. 168), rather than a single event at a single point in time.
Marshall continues this discussion by refocusing our attentions on ‘the Reformations’ as understood and experienced by Britain, a slightly misleading description that conveys modern ideas of unity, rather than national identity as understood in the post-reformation period, and is often interchangeable with ‘England’ in the chapter. Marshall offers a detailed picture of Britain on the eve of ‘the Reformation’ – four disparate territories, with a variety of languages, customs and allegiances, all united by the Christian and Catholic faith of their peoples, differently expressed through ‘profoundly indigenous characteristics’ (p. 188). He presents the country as the only European power to truly embrace the Reformation, becoming ‘the pre-eminent Protestant nation of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe’ (p. 186). For Marshall, England was at the forefront of international Protestant reform, and the epicentre of the global development of Protestantism as a variant of Christian belief. Meanwhile, he characterises Elizabethan Catholicism as a tale of two halves, encompassing the seemingly docile and conservative brand of lay Catholicism, practised out of habit by the majority of the population; and the acutely political, well-articulated ‘Counter Reformation’ Catholicism, that had its roots in the Marian Restoration, fuelled by spilled blood, practiced by missioners and martyrs.
Walsham leads the reader back to the questions that underpin the entire volume - what do we mean by ‘the Reformation’? Is there a clearly definable event? Walsham examines the ‘myth making’ that has surrounded these religious changes since the very early days, even in Luther’s own time, and the ways in which the changes wrought by the Reformation in its many forms affected ordinary people in their everyday lives - such as in buildings, clothing, the calendar and interior decoration, to name a few. Carefully navigating through centuries of scholarship and myth about the legacy and repercussions of the Reformations, she concludes that the many and contradictory consequences were a product of not just the religious changes, but also ‘the energy generated by the clashes, confrontations and dialogues’ (p. 268), that are still causing ripples in our own time.
