The Protestant Reformation significantly changed not only the church but also the world and much of later history. Explore the personalities, conflicts, events, and outcomes of both the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic renewal movement of the same era. Examine how these Reformations affected the common people of their time and consider how they might illuminate and assist Christian efforts in our world today.

Upon the successful completion of this course, students should have: 1. secured a basic overview of the chronology, geography, main events, significant individuals, and main interpretive questions concerning the Reformation(s) considered historically, theologically, and practically for Christian life today; 2. grasped the main differences and similarities among Protestant reforming movements, but also between Protestant movements and the various strands of Catholic reform; 3. understood the importance of the state for almost all major Reformation developments and brought that understanding to bear on considerations of Christianity and public life (specifically politics) today; 4. understood the most important theological proposals of the various Protestant movements and brought that understanding to bear on questions of Christian theology today; and 5. gained sufficient mastery of main Reformation developments to be able to lead an adult education class in church, or teach a basic undergraduate course, in exploration of this crucial era in the history of Christianity.

Day 1 Introduction, syllabus, main interpretive questions; Studying the Reformation: Past and Present; Overview 1450 - 1700 Day 2 Past commemorations of Luther and the Reformation; Main currents from the last Middle Ages; Social, political, economic, and philosophical contexts Day 3 Martin Luther in outline; Luther’s theological dilemma; Luther: the way out Day 4 What difference did it make in Wittenberg in 1525 (marriage, politics, liturgy, the contingencies of history); Why was Zwingli so important? Day 5 The rise of Anabaptism; A radical Reformation or a people’s Reformation?; What was distinctive about the Reformation in Southern Germany? Day 6 The Marburg Colloquy of 1529 and day-to-day differences by 1535; John Calvin and the Reformation in Geneva; The Expansion of Reformed traditions Day 7 England, Scotland, Ireland: outline; The Thirty Nine Articles comparatively considered; The differences reform made in the British Isles Day 8 Catholic reforms: outline; Main achievements: Jesuits, Trent, preaching; What difference did Catholic reforms make? Day 9 Germany: To the Thirty Years War and Beyond; Confessionalism, Confessionalization, Orthodoxy, and Pietism; Art, music, hymnody Day 10 Science and philosophy; The ongoing effects of the Reformation(s); Last words

Carlos M. N. Eire, Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650 (Yale, 2016). Mark Noll, ed., Confessions and Catechisms of the Reformation (Regent Press)