Saved and the Damned - A History of the Reformation

Thomas Kaufmann, the leading European scholar of the Reformation, argues that the main motivations behind the Reformation rest in religion itself. The Reformation began far from Europe's traditional political, economic, and cultural power centres, and yet it threw the whole continent into turmoil. There has been intense speculation over the last century focusing on the political and social causes that lay at the root of this revolution. Thomas Kaufmann, one of the world's leading experts on the Reformation, sees the most important drivers for what happened in religion itself. The reformers were principally concerned with the question of salvation. It could all have ended with the pope's condemnation of Luther and his teaching. But Luther believed the pope was condemned to eternal damnation, and this was the root cause of the great split to come. Hatred of the damned drove people to take up arms, while countless numbers left their homes far behind and carried the Reformation message to the furthest corners of the earth in the hope of salvation. In The Saved and the Damned, Thomas Kaufmann presents a dramatic overview of how Europe was transformed by the seismic shock of the Reformation--and of how its aftershocks reverberate right down to the present day.

Product details

• Authors: Prof Thomas (Professor of Church History Kaufmann, Thomas Kaufmann
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.02.2023
• EAN: 9780198841043
• ISBN: 978-0-19-884104-3
• No. of pages: 384
• Dimensions: 162 mm x 245 mm x 20 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book; History: specific events & topics, Europe, European History, HISTORY / Europe / General, RELIGION / History, History of Religion, History: specific events and topics, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700, 16th century, c 1500 to c 1599, c 1500 to c 1600, European history: Reformation