Protestors for Paradise/the Story of Christian Reformers from the Thirteenth to the Twenty-First Century - Hardcover

Frances Gumley; Brian Redhead

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0563364785 ISBN 13: 9780563364788

Publisher: BBC Books, 1994

Synopsis

The Reformation was and is no single event. This book, pursues it back to the thirteenth century and forwards to the twenty first. Throughout its history the Christian Church has been as well known for its disputes as for its dogmas, but in the centuries which marked the Middle Ages the pace of protest intensified as never before, until the tide of reforms built up which would overwhelm and change forever both the church and the world into which the reformers had been born. Theirs is a story of idealism and treachery, of power, politics and gory martyrdoms, of blind bigotry and courageous goodness. The reformers were truly a mixed bag - from William of Ockham to Savonarola and the Bonfires of the Vanities, from Martin Luther to Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn, fom the Pilgrim Fathers, John Bunyan and John Wesley to Charles Darwin and CS Lewis - but the one thing they had in common was that they all looked beyond this world. They were campaigners for today and tomorrow. They were agitators for more than this world. They were protestors for paradise. In the book we hear not only about theology, but also the social change, the impetus of new inventions, and the unpredictable nature of individual men and women.

About this title

From Library Journal:

This book, originally a series for BBC Radio 4 (scripted by Gumley, freelance producer for BBC religious programs, and presented by Redhead), probes the causes and effects of conflict in the Christian Church. Maintaining that the Reformation "was and is no single event," the authors explore the usual complement of figures without the usual ecclesiastical labels. Martin Luther appears here, but so do (among others) Savonarola, Anne Boleyn, Ignatius Loyola, William Wilberforce, Catherine and William Booth, Charles Darwin, C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the first Anglican woman priest, Florence Li Tim Oi. The book's insightful analysis of reform and its pithy anecdotes concerning reformers enliven the history that shaped Christian beliefs and practices prevalent today. The authors also examine trends such as liberation theology and the New Age movement to anticipate the shape of the Church in the next century. Both entertaining and enlightening, this book is balanced in its treatment and conversational yet literate in tone, making it a valuable addition to most collections.
Cynthia Widmer, Downingtown, Pa.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

The origin of this tidy, sensible, and sometimes lively book is a series on BBC radio; its subject is the reforming principle that has governed the church since the late Middle Ages. Because they are about protest, the 10 chapters, which appear to be equivalent to 10 radio programs, run through seven centuries of controversy--from William of Ockham in the thirteenth century to Liberation theology and the Charismatic movement in the twentieth. There is no point to made here, except that reform is central to the concept of modern Christianity: the authors are journalists, not opinion-makers, and they treat all controversies as subjects of equal interest. What the reader has, as a result, is a light, easy-to-read history, full of interesting and brave individuals, rich with multiple perspectives on what is, if you can stand back far enough, a single religious faith. This little study would serve as an excellent text for a church discussion group, but most individuals, too, will find it informative. Libraries with a solid religious collection will find it a very sound purchase indeed. Stuart Whitwell

About this edition

• Publisher: BBC Books
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0563364785
• ISBN 13: 9780563364788
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176