Introducing the Reformation

Matthew Barrett recently interviewed Michael Reeves on the Reformation. Here are the questions:

• What was the church like during the Middle Ages and what did they believe when it came to salvation?
• Were there any forerunners to the Reformation and what happened to them when they sought to voice their protest?
• How did Luther come to realize that the Roman Catholic Church was in error and what for Luther was at the heart of his disagreement with Rome?
• When we think of the Reformation it is Luther who gets most of the attention, but Zwingli also played an important role as well. Who was Zwingli and what was his contribution to the Reformation?
• What was so radical about the “Radical Reformers”? What aspects of their theology should we be thankful for and what aspects should we reject?
• Talk to us about John Calvin, particularly his debate with Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto. Do you see any resemblance between Sadoleto’s efforts to pull Protestants back home to Rome and the decision of some evangelicals today to return to Rome?
• It is probably more accurate to speak of reformations than the reformation. Can you explain what brought about the Reformation in Britain and who were some of the major reformers in this movement?
• Why was it such a big deal to have the Scriptures translated into the vernacular during the reformation period and who were some of the most important Bible translators?
• Who were the Puritans and were they in basic continuity or discontinuity with the reformers before them?
• Is the Reformation over today? Do Catholics and Evangelicals today pretty much agree on the doctrine of justification or are there still significant differences?

You can read his answers here.

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For some more introductions to the Reformation—including one from Dr. Reeves—see below.

Michael Reeves, The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation.

Read for free the table of contents, Mark Dever’s foreword, and chapter 1.

“With the skill of a scholar and the art of a storyteller, Michael Reeves has written what is, quite simply, the best brief introduction to the Reformation I have read. If you’ve been looking for a book to help you understand the Reformation, or just to begin to study church history, this little book brings history to life.”
—Mark Dever

Read for free the table of contents, the introduction and chapter 1, as well as chapter 6.

“Professor Stephen Nichols is already well-known for his remarkable ability to make history live and sing. This new work is no exception and will simply enhance his well-deserved reputation. It is a scintillating helicopter tour of the amazing men—and wonderful women—of the Reformation. Here conviction joins with courage, holiness with humor, in a wonderful medley of Christian heroes and heroines.”
—Sinclair B. Ferguson

Kirsten Birkett, The Essence of the Reformation.

In addition to Dr. Birkett’s overview of the Reformation, this book includes excerpts from classic works by Luther, Calvin, and Crammer.

Read for free the preface, the table of contents, all of part 1, and portions from the classics.

“I do not know any book that more succinctly gets across, in readable prose, what the Reformation was about. This new edition combines Birkett’s superb text with some judiciously selected primary documents. This is a book to distribute widely among lay leaders and other Christians who want to be informed of the heritage of the gospel that has come down to us.”
—D. A. Carson

“This fine book should be required reading for all Christians—and especially for those who doubt whether the Protestant Reformation has anything left to say to us in our day. Stating that “the Reformation represents a move to place God as he has revealed himself in Christ at the centre of the church’s life and thought,” Trueman then retrieves Luther’s theology of the cross, argues that because the Reformation “was above all a movement of the Word—incarnate in Christ and written down in the Scriptures,” and because the Spirit works through the Word, “the Word written and the Word preached are both central to Christianity and are not simply cultural forms which can be shed when culture moves on,” and then closes with a chapter on Christian assurance that recognizes our assurance as the foundation for our Christian activity. Along the way, he scatters nugget after nugget of insight into what is core to the Reformation legacy, motivating his readers to embrace this core again.”
—Mark R. Talbot