RamistThomist
Puritanboard Assessor
Reeves, Michael. The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation. Broadman & Holman.
I have to admit that I approach popular-level histories of the Reformation with a jaundiced eye. Following the years of "Conference Calvinism," these accounts end up reading like "Bed Time Stories for the Young, Restless, and Reformed." Michael Reeves' book, however, is a welcome surprise. To be sure, little of it is new. Popular level accounts of the Reformation will cover the same ground, for better or worse. This book, however, is superior to all other accounts, if only for his elegant style.
Quite naturally, Reeves begins in the late middle ages. He is even aware of histories by Eamon Duffy, which argue for a more popular level piety before the Reformation. That is quite true. Rome may have been a political tyrant, but most people did not want to change the liturgy or the parish. Reeves' account, whether he intends this or not, places Augustine's view of justifying grace much closer to Rome than most Conference Calvinists would admit. For Augustine, in order for us to love God, God must pour love into our hearts, usually channeled through the sacraments. It was against this that we see Luther's insight: our own self-love shapes our selfish desires.
Moving forward with the account--and I am skipping over the sections on Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin--we come to the English Reformation. The fires were fanned by the smuggling of Lutheran books into England. This is important, for we cannot say that King Henry VIII created the English Reformation. He simply reworked the outward government. And aside from the godly King Edward VI, English rulers were likely Protestant for the simple reason that Roman Catholicism was often a stand-in for Spanish tyranny. Elizabeth might not have liked the Puritans, but she could never accept Roman Catholicism.
Conclusion
By all accounts this is a good book. But if one has already had a good background in Reformation history, this will not add anything new.
I have to admit that I approach popular-level histories of the Reformation with a jaundiced eye. Following the years of "Conference Calvinism," these accounts end up reading like "Bed Time Stories for the Young, Restless, and Reformed." Michael Reeves' book, however, is a welcome surprise. To be sure, little of it is new. Popular level accounts of the Reformation will cover the same ground, for better or worse. This book, however, is superior to all other accounts, if only for his elegant style.
Quite naturally, Reeves begins in the late middle ages. He is even aware of histories by Eamon Duffy, which argue for a more popular level piety before the Reformation. That is quite true. Rome may have been a political tyrant, but most people did not want to change the liturgy or the parish. Reeves' account, whether he intends this or not, places Augustine's view of justifying grace much closer to Rome than most Conference Calvinists would admit. For Augustine, in order for us to love God, God must pour love into our hearts, usually channeled through the sacraments. It was against this that we see Luther's insight: our own self-love shapes our selfish desires.
Moving forward with the account--and I am skipping over the sections on Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin--we come to the English Reformation. The fires were fanned by the smuggling of Lutheran books into England. This is important, for we cannot say that King Henry VIII created the English Reformation. He simply reworked the outward government. And aside from the godly King Edward VI, English rulers were likely Protestant for the simple reason that Roman Catholicism was often a stand-in for Spanish tyranny. Elizabeth might not have liked the Puritans, but she could never accept Roman Catholicism.
Conclusion
By all accounts this is a good book. But if one has already had a good background in Reformation history, this will not add anything new.
