Saint Peter: A Life from Beginning to End
He began his life as a simple fisherman who caught fish in the Sea of Galilea, but one day, this
Those who dared question Catholic doctrine were inevitably said to be in error, and if they did not immediately correct their “errors,” they would be labeled heretics. And it wasn’t that good to be a heretic in those days since it usually meant a one-way ticket to getting burned at the stake.
This book was quite an impressive chronology of the Reformation! For it’s short length, it is surprisingly detailed, impressive, and comprehensive. This is certainly a great introductory read for folks looking to learn more about the reformation period and various political and ecclesiastical conflicts.
Shifting across multiple countries, the timeline of events is relatively chronological (sometimes events at later dates were covered before earlier events in different countries, but this is very clearly done in order to focus on a specific series/sequence of events within a country at one time), and captures well the shifting back and forth dynamics between reformers and the Catholic Church.
However, a barrage of names being thrown at the reader is quite a common occurrence; no doubt due to the numerous important figures regarding this complex conflict— but it is worth noting, as sometimes names were mentioned for short sentences and then never discussed again. Following to this, I would have loved to read more direct citations and references to other material, particularly when individuals were only briefly mentioned. This would have been very beneficial in order to further dive deeper into individual denominational histories and discourses after concluding this read. Of course, there are many seminal publications mentioned, specifically ones which directly caused upheaval. I mention this point here as it would have been stellar for this text to expand in this way, but the amount of sources & references throughout this read were nonetheless quite comprehensive.
Towards the end of this read, it did feel a bit like the author lost a bit of gas, as the last few period summaries were essentially comprised of, ‘ X party published this, Y party didn’t like the response, so they killed a whole bunch of people. X didn’t like being killed by Y, so X started killing Y instead’ (clearly paraphrased).
Overall, I really took a lot from this read, and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the historical detailing of the reformation period. Perhaps another source would be better if one is only looking to focus on doctrinal discourse and theological disagreements, but this text is overall a great comprehensive historical guide.
Overall Rating: 4.75/5
Would I Recommend? Yes
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