Reformations
The Early Modern World, 1450-1650
Published on 13. November 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
920 pages
978-0-300-24003-0 (ISBN)
Description
A lively, expansive history of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations and the momentous changes they set in motion
This fast-paced survey of Western civilization's transition from the Middle Ages to modernity brings that tumultuous period vividly to life. Carlos Eire, popular professor and gifted writer, chronicles the two-hundred-year era of the Renaissance and Reformation with particular attention to issues that persist as concerns in the present day. Eire connects the Protestant and Catholic Reformations in new and profound ways, and he demonstrates convincingly that this crucial turning point in history not only affected people long gone, but continues to shape our world and define who we are today.
The book focuses on the vast changes that took place in Western civilization between 1450 and 1650, from Gutenberg's printing press and the subsequent revolution in the spread of ideas to the close of the Thirty Years' War. Eire devotes equal attention to the various Protestant traditions and churches as well as to Catholicism, skepticism, and secularism, and he takes into account the expansion of European culture and religion into other lands, particularly the Americas and Asia. He also underscores how changes in religion transformed the Western secular world. A book created with students and nonspecialists in mind, Reformations is an inspiring, provocative volume for any reader who is curious about the role of ideas and beliefs in history.
This fast-paced survey of Western civilization's transition from the Middle Ages to modernity brings that tumultuous period vividly to life. Carlos Eire, popular professor and gifted writer, chronicles the two-hundred-year era of the Renaissance and Reformation with particular attention to issues that persist as concerns in the present day. Eire connects the Protestant and Catholic Reformations in new and profound ways, and he demonstrates convincingly that this crucial turning point in history not only affected people long gone, but continues to shape our world and define who we are today.
The book focuses on the vast changes that took place in Western civilization between 1450 and 1650, from Gutenberg's printing press and the subsequent revolution in the spread of ideas to the close of the Thirty Years' War. Eire devotes equal attention to the various Protestant traditions and churches as well as to Catholicism, skepticism, and secularism, and he takes into account the expansion of European culture and religion into other lands, particularly the Americas and Asia. He also underscores how changes in religion transformed the Western secular world. A book created with students and nonspecialists in mind, Reformations is an inspiring, provocative volume for any reader who is curious about the role of ideas and beliefs in history.
Reviews / Votes
"Eire's vast learning is on display throughout this enormous (and handsomely illustrated) work."-Michael Massing, New York Times Book Review"Monumental"-Charlotte Methuen, Times Literary Supplement
"Reformations is a massive study of early modern Europe, both Protestant and Catholic. It is a volume worth perusing carefully, both to think with and to learn from."-Prof. Benjamin M. Guyer, Reviews in History
"Reformations is a major milestone in the field of Reformation studies that will inspire discussion and debates."-R. Po-chia Hsia, Journal of Jesuit Studies
"A remarkable achievement. [Eire] takes immense pains to give an even-handed account of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations. . . This massive and remarkable book presents convincing evidence."-Anthony Kenny, Literary Review
"This is a huge book but don't be put off by its size. It more than lives up to Eire's promise in his preface of being an introduction and survey for beginners and non-specialists. . . Eire's prose is transparent, elegant and witty, his narrative enlivened by sparkling insights and one-liners."-Anne Dillon, Tablet
"Fascinating reading. The author is a gifted writer who particularly excels at the ability to expound theological ideas. If you read only one book about the Reformation in the year of its 500th anniversary, this is probably the one to choose."-Paul Richardson, Church of England Newspaper
"[Reformations] provides a readable and stimulating overview of European history between 1450 and 1650 (and often well into the 18th century) that is accessible to newcomers to the discipline, while being sufficiently broad and well-researched to be useful to specialists in early modern history who wish to know more about aspects of the period outside of their area of expertise."-Sam Kennerley, Reviews in History
"This is certainly a good read . . . this enormous survey is well worth reading for its insights and some shrewd assessments."-Dr. G. R. Evans, Church Times
"Carlos Eire's massive, ambitious new survey navigates the rollercoaster of the Reformation period with all the drama and verve of the ages itself, using these developments as a lens through which to understand early modern Europe as a whole."-David Gehring, History Today
"Eire attempts throughout to keep his writing accessible to the non-specialist reader and he succeeds admirably in this task. His style is lively, engaging and fair minded. He also masterfully weaves anecdotes or little-known facts into the narrative."-Philip Scheepers, Vox Reformata
Winner of the 2017 American Publishers Awards for Professional & Scholarly Excellence (PROSE) in the European & World History category.
Winner of the 2017 American Publishers Awards for Professional & Scholarly Excellence (PROSE) in the Excellence in Humanities category.
Winner of the 2017 R.R. Hawkins Award given by the American Publishers Awards for Professional & Scholarly Excellence (PROSE).
Carlos Eire's Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650is the second winner of the The Pelikan Award, a biannual prize awarded by Yale University Press to a distinguished book on religion published by the Press in the previous two years.
"Carlos Eire's Reformations is a work of remarkable scope and ambition, a magnificent sweep through four centuries, and as many continents, tracing in original and perceptive ways the unforeseeable consequences-in religion, politics, culture, science-of the convulsions that started in western Christianity at the close of the Middle Ages. Eire writes with insight and empathy about the values and visions of a fervent and often violent age. He does not shield us from the strangeness and complexity of the past, but we come away with a much enhanced understanding of the lines connecting it to our present."-Peter Marshall, University of Warwick
"An ambitious and highly successful project. Wonderfully balanced and nicely nuanced, the book is a genuine tour de force in bringing together the various elements of the Reformations, from their meaning for the educated and sophisticated proponents (and opponents) to their reception (or rejection) by the mass of ordinary and unlettered persons who 'lived' amid the swirl of religious change."-Raymond Mentzer, University of Iowa
"Carlos Eire contributes to our understanding of the Reformations as Europe-wide phenomena, highlights the diversity of Protestantism, and shows how vibrant Catholic reform could be."-Kathryn A. Edwards, University of South Carolina
"It takes an unusually perceptive, judicious, knowledgeable, and yes brave person to write a book this big and sweeping, given all the ink spelled and trees felled and terabytes devoted to the Reformation, and Carlos Eire is all of those. It is beautifully structured, gracefully written, evenhanded in its treatment of Catholic, Protestant, and Radical movements, and most importantly equally at home in the Reformation and the present. Read this and you will understand both worlds better."-Craig Harline, Author of Conversions: Two Family Stories from the Reformation and Modern America
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
155 b-w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 53 mm
Weight
1285 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-24003-0 (9780300240030)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Carlos M. N. Eire is the T. L. Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies, Yale University. He is the author of several scholarly books and two memoirs, including Waiting for Snow in Havana, for which he received the National Book Award.