Religion

This is a bibliography of the Italian Protestant reformer, and presents published major works, minor works, and partial works or extracts.     (SCE&S 13)

Drawing from a wealth of primary sources, including visitation records of bishops and other diocesan documents, Jill Fehleison contributes to our understanding of early modern Catholicism as it addressed the challenges of coexisting with Protestantism.     (EMS 5)

This volume features lectures and seminars given at the Sixth International Congress on Calvin Research.     (SCE&S 38)

In this case study of the Republic of Geneva, Jeffrey R. Watt convincingly argues that the early modern era marked a decisive change in the history of suicide.     (SCE&S 58)

Extremely dense in detail and information and yet very lucid and readable...this is a very important work, perhaps the most comprehensive, on suicide in the early modern period and should be read both by scholars and upper level students with enthusiasm.

—The Catholic Historical Review

A Reformed theologian’s interpretation of Aristotle’s ethics.     (SCE&S 73, PML 9)

This volume is technically superb, and reflects a consistent team effort. Though the original Latin text contains obscure terms and phrases, and often indulges in extended detours, the English translation is clean, lucid, and allied with the best interdisciplinary research.… This, along with a good index and a measured use of enriching footnotes, represents the Peter Martyr Library admirably.

—Renaissance Quarterly

Peter Martyr Vermigli’s earliest biblical commentary to survive is his lectures on the Book of Lamentations.     (SCE&S 55, PML 6)

Shute’s volume is as scholarly as anyone could want, yet is accessible to the non-expert. Technical terms are defined, and Shute’s clear and friendly style enhances his explanations.... The thoroughness and tone of this volume clearly indicate it to be a labor of love on the part of the editor and anyone who studies it will learn much beyond what Peter Martyr thought of Lamentations.

—Moreana

Confraternities go back to the church of the patristic age; they flourished during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and they have continued to survive in the modern era.     (SCE&S 44)

This remarkable volume honors one of the twentieth century’s foremost church historians, George Huntston Williams.     (SCE&S 51)

In this last work of Vermigli’s distinguished career as a theologian, he uses a dialogue to discuss the disagreement among Christians about the Eucharist and Christ’s presence in the Lord’s Supper.     (SCE&S 31, PML 2)

These works, “The Apostles’ Creed,” “Theses for Debate,” and “Schism and the True Church,” display the heart of Martyr’s theology, both pastoral and moral.     (SCE&S 30, PML 1)

This volume contextualizes the diversity of episcopal experience across early modern Europe, while showing the similarity of goals and challenges among various confessional, social, and geographical communities.     (EMS 10)

This collection provides a composite picture of Erasmus’ ecclesiology: his concept of piety; his emphasis on concord and consensus; his views on modern doctrinalism; and the significance of “evangelical prudence.”     (SCE&S 33)

For the first time, Amy Nelson Burnett translates Karlstadt’s thirteen pamphlets into English, illuminating his importance for the Reformation debate over the Eucharist and his contribution to what would become Reformed sacramental theology.     (EMS 6)

This careful study explores puritan attitudes through the life and works of Elizabethan minister George Gifford.     (SCE&S 70)

McGinnis’s study provides an insightful window into the soul of English Puritanism…while adding to the growing body of post-revisionist scholarship.

—History

In Heresy, Culture, and Religion in Early Modern Italy leading scholars from Italy and the United States offer a fresh and nuanced image of the religious reform movements on the Italian peninsula in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.     (SCE&S 76)

Indeed, the volume beautifully shows that late sixteenth-century religion was complex, incomprehensible via simple characterization.

—The Catholic Historical Review

For seven weeks in late spring and early summer of 1628, a ghost haunted the modest dwelling of Huguette Roy and her husband in the small city of Dole in the Holy Roman Empire near the French border. (SCE&S 82)

While the story of the haunting itself is intriguing and entertaining, the way in which Edwards and Sutch set the scene in their introduction is equally important to the book’s value

—H-France Review

This volume illustrates the busy and conflicted career of Vermigli, who left his beloved Italy in 1542, one step ahead of the Inquisition, to spend twenty years in three centers of Reform:  Strasbourg, Oxford, and Zurich.     (SCE&S 42, PML 5)

This source is still very important for biographers of Martyr. A worthy addition to the very handsome project of the Library.

—Studi di Teologia

Smeeton skillfully shows parallels between Wycliffe, the Lollards, and William Tyndale on subjects such as God’s law, the doctrine of salvation, the role of scripture, and the nature of the church.     (SCE&S 6)

Reformer of the church, biblical theologian, and German translator of the Bible Martin Luther had the highest respect for stories attributed to the ancient Greek author Aesop.     (EMS 8)

Martin Luther’s lectures on Genesis, delivered during the last decade of his life, allow modern readers to view a sixteenth-century professor engaging his students with the text of scripture and using that text to form them spiritually.     (SCE&S 80)

An enjoyable and edifying read, Maxfield’s book is a welcome addition to the field of Reformation scholarship.

—Ecclesiastical History

This is the first critical political biography in more than one hundred years of Michel de L’Hôpital, who served as chancellor of France from 1560 to 1568 during the Wars of Religion under the reigns of Francis II and Charles IX and the regency of Catherine de Médicis.     (SCE&S 36)

This book is the study of 144 merchants in Rouen who invested in trade or shipping to the Americas in the sixty years before Cardinal Richelieu began to regulate their activities for the benefit of church and state.     (SCE&S 16)

Among the most polemical of Martyr’s works, the texts presented here are part of the turbulent period in England during the times of Edward VI and Archbishop Cranmer.     (SCE&S 56, PML 7)

A further volume of the admirable Peter Martyr Library continues the task of making this unjustly neglected central figure of  the Reformation accessible to modern readers.

—Journal of Theological Studies

This collection of essays offers a thorough study of the patron-artist relationship through the lens of one of early modern Italy’s most powerful and influential historical families. Contributors present a longitudinal study of the della Rovere family’s ascent into Italian nobility.     (SCE&S 77)

[The book] does its job well, engaging with current debates on a number of different levels and further extending our understanding of the complexities of Renaissance patronage.

—Renaissance Quarterly

This handy paperback is an anthology of chapters taken from each of the volumes of the series.

This volume is devoted to Vermigli’s philosophical writings, consisting of topics from commentaries with sections on “reason and revelation,” “body and soul,” “knowledge of God,” “providence, miracles, and responsibility,” and “freewill and predestination.”     (SCE&S 39, PML 4)

This research draws extensively upon a wealth of primary sources, both printed and painted, and includes ample bibliographical reference to the most important secondary sources, providing much new insight into how generations of Europeans responded to this dread disease.     (SCE&S 78)

While much has been written of late concerning the plague, each and every one of these authors has given us a new insight into the problem of dealing with ostensibly incurable epidemic disease in the context of contemporary religious belief as expressed in art and literature.

—Jane C. Hutchison, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Predestination and justification are two of the most distinctive and familiar doctrines associated with the Protestant Reformation.     (SCE&S 68, PML 8)

This book shows how the German territorial rulers used visual imagery to further their personal causes and beliefs.     (SCE&S 20)

Through the analysis of 180 pamphlets by reformers in German-speaking Europe, Carol Heming shows the struggle Protestants faced in purging the cult of the saints from their culture and religion.     (SCE&S 65)

Its well-written style and subtle conclusions should ensure its usefulness to a variety of audiences including researchers, undergraduates, congregations, and churches.

—Sixteenth Century Journal

In a fresh telling of biblical stories, William Baer takes us on a poetic journey through the Old and New Testament scriptures.

For more than 30 years, George Williams’ monumental The Radical Reformation has been an essential reference work for historians of early modern Europe, narrating in rich, interpretative detail the interconnected stories of radical groups operating at the margins of the mainline Reformation. Third Edition.     (SCE&S 15)

No other book can match Willliams’ authoritative volume.

—Journal of Ecumenical Studies

Educator and reformer Peter Ramus (1515–72) was known for his rash assaults on the most esteemed and cherished foundations of religion and learning in France.     (SCE&S 60)

Among the many merits of this fine book is the author’s success in rescuing Peter Ramus from his past interpreters who have tended to see in him only a Protestant martyr and the inventor of an all-purpose pedagogical method.

—Sixteenth Century Journal

Written by expert scholars in the field, these eighteen essays explore the fundamental points of Reformation and early modern history.     (SCE&S 79)

Comprehensive and lucidly written, Whitford’s outstanding new research guide to the last fifteen years of scholarship on the Reformation and early modern Europe will enlighten and please both lay and scholarly readers at all levels.

—Steven Ozment, Harvard University

During the English reformation, Thomas Cranmer and some of his colleagues attempted to reform Canon Law to the needs of the newly emerging Church of England.          (SCE&S 19)

Theology encounters history and culture in sixteenth-century France in this examination of French Protestantism.     (SCE&S 66)

Reforming French Protestantism is an invaluable contribution to our knowledge of Reformed history, religion, and their interconnections with politics in protestantism’s first half century in France. I know of no other study in English that so thoroughly describes the evolution of church governing structures and principles in France.

—Journal of Modern History

Diane Margolf looks at the Paris Chambre de l’Edit in this well-researched study about the special royal law court that adjudicated disputes between French Huguenots and the Catholics.     (SCE&S 67)

This is important reading for any scholarly or early modern French history and should certainly interest anyone concerned about the long-term effects of religious violence upon society.

––The Catholic Historical Review

The relationship between the clergy and laity receives long-overdue attention, and the impact of early preaching, religious satire, and the Book of Common Prayer is addressed.     (SCE&S 45)

This collection will not revolutionise our understanding of the English Reformation, but it does deepen our knowledge and help remind us of the need for detailed yet closely contextualised studies in our attempts to comprehend this complex phenomenon.

—Journal of Ecclesiastical History

This volume presents an overview of the history of religious dissent and discord in France, from the time of the Wars of Religion to the present day.     (SCE&S 74)

This volume contains 297 prayers based on 149 Psalms written by Vermigli during the political and religious turmoil of the Reformation era.     (SCE&S 34, PML 3)

This volume is an excellent introduction to Calvinist morals’ control in sixteenth-century Geneva, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Scotland.     (SCE&S 32)

Excellent essays…these lively treatments carry considerable clout and conviction. All together, the book is interesting, a bit partisan, but thorough, provocative, and largely convincing. Mentzer and his colleagues are to be commended.

—Church History

This interdisciplinary volume draws on approaches from art history and cultural studies to investigate the manifestations of secrecy in printed books and drawings, staircases and narrative paintings, ecclesiastical furnishings and engravers’ tools.

Bringing together scholars from Europe, America, and Australia, this volume explores the more fantastic elements of popular religious beliefs: ghosts, werewolves, spiritualism, animism, and of course, witchcraft.     (SCE&S 62)

This collection of articles is a good read and a useful tool…well written, well edited, and very informative.… [It] is admirable in that the essays use a great variety of archival sources to add to our knowledge of cultural and religious practices.

—Catholic Historical Review

This volume discusses William Tyndale, the great English translator of the Bible.     (SCE&S 25)

This book explores Martin Bucer’s interpretation of the discipline of Christ, a neglected aspect of Bucer’s theology and sociology.     (SCE&S 26)