Category: History

Stupid Things You Learned About the Reformation

As we approach the five hundredth anniversary of the Reformation, we will hear more and more about the movement that has so shaped the Western world since Luther pounded his Ninety-Five Theses to the Wittenberg church door in 1517. And so we should. But we should do so from a solid foundation.

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James Payton gives us just that in his excellent Getting the Reformation Wrong, which got my Setting-the-Record-Straight Award for 2011. The book corrects some stupid things people believe (he is much more diplomatic than I am, calling them “common misunderstandings”) about the Reformation. Here’s just a few:
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To Change the World 2: The Untold Story of Christianity

Christianity has long been “Exhibit A” of populist movements [changing the world](http://andyunedited.ivpress.com/2010/10/to_change_the_world_1.php). Two thousand years of history clearly show these people on the margins transforming their societies through the power of the gospel. Right? Why then is James Davison Hunter’s [*To Change the World*](http://www.amazon.com/Change-World-Tragedy-Possibility-Christianity/dp/0199730806/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1287011037&sr=1-1) so negative about the ability of a widespread impulse in ordinary people to transform society?
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Happy 2nd of July, America!

Some 230-plus years ago, thirteen colonies were unhappy with the mother country. So the leaders of these New World governments gathered in Philadelphia to debate, discuss and bargain. Finally, they cobbled together a unanimous vote (with one abstention–New York!). As all school children know, the momentous day in 1776 on which the colonies declared independence was July the 2nd.
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