On Theme Thursdays this year we’ll reflect on and consider revolutions everywhere we can find them. Today we consider the Protestant Reformation, which was a major religious revolution.
The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century religious, political, intellectual and cultural revolution that splintered Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the modern era. In northern and central Europe, reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice. They argued for a religious and political redistribution of power into the hands of Bible- and pamphlet-reading pastors and princes. The disruption triggered wars, persecutions and the so-called Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church’s delayed but forceful response to the Protestants.
Want to learn more? Check out any one of these resources available through Ames Library.
The Protestant Reformation, 1517-1559 by Lewis W. Spitz
John Donne and the Protestant Reformation: New perspectives edited by Mary Arshagouni Papazian
The boy king: Edward VI and the protestant reformation by Diarmaid MacCulloch
The Protestant Reformation translated from the French by Audrey Butler
There is a book titled “The Historie of the Councel of Trent,” which is an account of the Counter-Reformation published in 1640, that is available for use in Special Collections, in the Ames Library, 4th floor. Contact mminer@iwu.edu for details!