Protestants
The Faith That Made the Modern World
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- 3,49 €
Description de l’éditeur
On the 500th anniversary of Luther’s theses, a landmark history of the revolutionary faith that shaped the modern world.
"Ryrie writes that his aim 'is to persuade you that we cannot understand the modern age without understanding the dynamic history of Protestant Christianity.' To which I reply: Mission accomplished."
–Jon Meacham, author of American Lion and Thomas Jefferson
Five hundred years ago a stubborn German monk challenged the Pope with a radical vision of what Christianity could be. The revolution he set in motion toppled governments, upended social norms and transformed millions of people's understanding of their relationship with God. In this dazzling history, Alec Ryrie makes the case that we owe many of the rights and freedoms we have cause to take for granted--from free speech to limited government--to our Protestant roots.
Fired up by their faith, Protestants have embarked on courageous journeys into the unknown like many rebels and refugees who made their way to our shores. Protestants created America and defined its special brand of entrepreneurial diligence. Some turned to their bibles to justify bold acts of political opposition, others to spurn orthodoxies and insight on their God-given rights. Above all Protestants have fought for their beliefs, establishing a tradition of principled opposition and civil disobedience that is as alive today as it was 500 years ago. In this engrossing and magisterial work, Alec Ryrie makes the case that whether or not you are yourself a Protestant, you live in a world shaped by Protestants.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This volume is an excellent addition to the publishing lists for the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Lutheran reformation. Ryrie (Being Protestant in Reformation Britain), an expert on the Reformation and winner of the Society of Renaissance Studies' 2014 book prize, aims for a biography of Protestantism itself, rather than any particular Protestant figure or sect. In pursuit of this, Ryrie divides his work into three sections: reformation, the historical roots and early years of Protestantism; transformation, the philosophical development and geographic spread of the Reformation; and globalization, the most recent stages in the development and international adoption of Protestantism. The sections and chapters are thematic rather than strictly chronological; one chapter, for example, follows the fortunes of Protestantism in Nazi Germany. The next chapter then goes backward, chronologically speaking, to move the story to 19th-century America, the rise of evangelical fundamentalism, and the civil rights movement. Ryrie is careful to anchor the reader throughout; even non-specialists will never get lost in the tangle. He also provides a glossary of "types of Protestant" for easy reference as well as an excellent set of endnotes.
