CH206 – The Reformation (John Butler)
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this unit, students will:
A. Know and understand
1. The major phases and developments of the Reformation identified in the unit content
2. The life and thought of selected key figures in the Reformation
B. For the Reformation, be able to
1. Describe the impact of the social, political, religious and cultural context on Christian beliefs,
practices and movements
2. Use primary and secondary sources
3. Present an evidence-based perspective or narrative
C. Be in a position to
1. Apply perspectives from the Reformation to their theological studies and in ministry contexts
Content
1. The consolidation of Catholic Christianity.
2. The growth and decline of the Papal ecclesiastical state.
3. Internal controversies, including the Great Schism.
4. The challenge of Islam, including the Crusades.
5. The religious and intellectual revivals.
6. The causes of the Reformation including the conciliar movement and the pre-Reformation reformers.
7. Martin Luther.
8. The South German cities and Zurich: Huldrich Zwingli.
9. The Radical Reformation
10. John Calvin.
11. The English Reformation until Henry VIII.
12. The English Reformation from Edward VI, including the Elizabethan Settlement.
13. The Reformation in Scotland.
14. The Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent.
Bibliography
As well as the works listed in General Recommended Readings, the following provide more detailed treatments
of sections of this unit:
General:
Hillerbrand, H. J. (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation (New York: OUP, 1996).
MacCulloch, D., Reformation: Europe’s House Divided, 1490–1700 (London: Penguin, 2003).
Europe
Primary Documents:
Lindberg, C., The European Reformations Sourcebook (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000).
Secondary References:
Cottret, B., Calvin: A Biography (Grand Rapids:Eerdmans, 2000).
Dixon, C. S., The Reformation in Germany (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002).
Evans, G. R., John Wyclif: Myth and Reality (Oxford: Lion, 2005).
Gabler, U., Huldrych Zwingli: His Life and Work (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1986).
Hillerbrand, H. J, The Division of Christendom: Christianity in the Sixteenth Century (Louisville: Westminster
John Knox, 2007).
Mullett, M., The Catholic Reformation (New York: Routledge, 1999).
Nohl, F., Luther: Biography of a Reformer (St Louis, MO: Concordia, 2003).
Pearse, M., The Great Restoration: The Religious Radicals of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Carlisle:
Paternoster, 1998).
Britain
Primary Documents:
Bray, G. (ed.), Documents of the English Reformation (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994).
Secondary References:
Bernard, G. W., The King’s Reformation: Henry VIII and the Re-making of the English Church (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 2005).
Dickens, A. G., The English Reformation (2nd ed.; University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University, 1989).
Kellar, C., Scotland, England & the Reformation 1534-61 (Oxford: Clarendon, 2003).
MacCulloch, D., Thomas Cranmer (Yale: Yale University, 1996).
Marshall, P. and A. Ryrie (eds), The Beginnings of English Protestantism (Cambridge: CUP, 2002).
Rosman, D. M., The Evolution of the English Churches, 1500-2000 (New York: CUP, 2003).
Wooding, L. E. C., Rethinking Catholicism in Reformation England (Oxford; New York: Clarendon; OUP,
2000).