A Religious Revolution: The Protestant Reformation
is the fourth installment in Henri Daniel-Rops' magnificent
History of the Church of Christ
. This volume, which includes the last three chapters of that work, examines in detail the Protestant phenomenon: first, a careful study of the tragedy of Martin Luther and the eventful early days of "Lutheranism" on the theological, social, and political planes; second, a vivid account of John Calvin and his horrifying success in organizing the threads of Lutheranism into a force capable of rending the garments of Christianity; and third, a meticulous synopsis of Protestantism's development from a religious revolt, concerned with theological and doctrinal distinctions, to a fully established political institution with influence across Europe. Alongside Luther and Calvin stand Popes Clement VII and Paul III; Erasmus and King Henry VIII; and Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher.
A superb presentation of the tumultuous years of 1350-1564,
brings to life an epoch in which "everything everywhere was changing and falling apart; systems opposed systems, new dogmatisms clash with old; rigid formulae only half conceal uncertainty and anguish; the whole of human activity held increasingly fast in the grip of an indefinable kind of agonizing fermentation."