Recommendations for Reformation Study?

[CharlieJ]

I'm taking a Reformation Church History course in the fall, and I'm looking for good materials on the subject that I can use in research. I'm looking for both surveys and narrower topic and biographical studies. The only requirement is that they must be written for an academic audience.

So far I've come across McGrath and Oberman on the development of the Reformation out of late medievalism, and I'm enjoying their works.

 

[Wayne]

Probably the best advice would be to go ahead and purchase the course texts and give them a first read before class starts. Then having read them a second time during the semester, you'll absorb the material more thoroughly.

But to address your question, for $10 plus postage, you can buy a nice older survey:

It's item number 250195920512

[I have no interest or stake in this sale.]

Andrew Zenos was a Princeton professor and a liberal, but that doesn't affect most of this short survey of church history. I found it to be a good fast survey, suitable for either an initial survey prior to deeper reading, or for a final review prior to an exam. Originally published in the early 1900's, it's also available on Google Books.

The Story of Christianity, by Justo Gonzalez, seems to be well thought of in many quarters. Two volumes. vol. 2 is probably the one you would want for now. It would offer a bit deeper, first look at the material.

 

[Theogenes]

I recommend J.A. Wylie's The History of Protestantism:
History of Protestantism

And D'Aubigne's History of the Protestant Reformation

 

[Whitefield]

D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century

 

[Guido's Brother]

The introductory essay in Volume 1 of Muller's Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics would be helpful, I think. Even though his focus is on the "Post-Reformation" period, he does discuss the relationship between the earlier (first gen.) and later (second and third gen.) Reformers. It's an important issue in Reformation studies.

 

[janimar]

Roland Bainton wrote a lot of Reformation books. His one on Luther Here I Stand is a standard. Some people don't like him but his books tend to be pretty readable. His books on the the women of the Reformation are grouped by countries. They are more academic than some of his works.

For the English Reformation I would recommend’Aubigné 's two volume The Reformation in England.


JCRyle wrote a great little book called the Five English Reformers that includes sections on Lattimer, Ridley and Cranmer.

My "speciality" is English Reformation so that is why I recommended them. There is also a great small volume on John Wycliffe by Fountain. I also have a lot of books on the women of the Reformation so if you need other recommendations let me know.

This past year I read The Imaginative of the Reformation by Matheson which was a fascinating look at the arts including some wonderful examples of storytelling which helped forward the message of the Reformation.

Since this is the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth there are some great new books available. You could probably just Google 'Calvin 500' and find a lot of resources.

I hope you enjoy your course.

 

[Michael]

Check this out

 

[CharlieJ]

Thanks, guys. I appreciate all the recommendations. If anyone else has more, let me know.

 

[py3ak]

Amazon.com: The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 4: Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700) (9780226653778): Jaroslav Pelikan: Books

 

[Casey]

The Age of Reform, by Steven Ozment, was required reading in my Reformation church history course and I found it to be very helpful -- I've read it twice and highly recommend it. Since I liked the author, I went ahead and tried another one of his books: The Reformation in the Cities (also good, but it's scope is not as broad; I wrote a review of it here). Another very good book was Forerunners of the Reformation by Oberman, which has a lot of primary source material and good introductory matter that helps you understand the streams of thought on different loci just prior to the Reformation.