The Reformation for Armchair Theologians

Glenn Sunshine's book covers both religious and historical content, and does so in a readable, yet thorough manner.One its strengths is its placement of the religious upheaval into historical (political and geographic) context. For example, an entire chapter is devoted to Spain and the Dutch Revolt. Before you think that a book giving a whole chapter to such a topic is beyond you, think again! Sunshine explains the relevance of the revolt to the Reformation and vice versa (Protestant capitalist Dutch threw off Catholic absolutist Habsburg rulers, initiating patterns of international relations) in a few pages; most scholarly treatments of the subject, in contrast, fill gigantic tomes of writing with not much more insight to the casual reader or even the educated reader, while most textbooks or surveys fail to mention key players and events that make understanding the Reformation so interesting and engaging. Sunshine's book finds a perfect middle ground.The book goes into just enough detail, but it is also comprehensive. Consider its various historical chapters: Eve of the Reformation, Spain and the Dutch Revolt, the Reformation in England and Scotland, the Reformation in France, and the Thirty Years' War. In addition, its religious or doctrine-focused chapters cover not only Luther, but Zwinglianism and Calvinism. It even poses one of the essential questions regarding Catholicism: "Catholic Reform or Counter-Reform?"At the end of each chapter, the author includes a series of open-ended questions for discussion.In sum, it's short and sweet, and somehow packs the details that you'd have to take a university course to find. It would be great reading for a high school student studying for AP exams, a college student in any number of religion or history classes, for a casual reader curious as to the nature and history of the Reformation, or for a teacher or professor interested in seeing all the pieces fit together in one place.(Plus, any book with a chapter entitled "The Empire Strikes Back," must have something good going for it!)

My church is engaging in a congregation wide study of the Protestant reformation as we observe the fine hundredth anniversary. My small group leaders found this book on their own and used it to supplement their other material. They all found it accessible, informative, helpful and readable. I also thoroughly liked it. Like all the armchair books, they are good reminders of church history and theology we pastors (ahem) may have forgotten. Sunshine's book is accurate and well written. It is also fun. He has a wry way of talking about some of the issues. For example in speaking of the vows of obedience, poverty and chastity, he writes in parentheses, "no funny, no money, no honey." Would you have thought of that? Sunshine says that his wife read the manuscript to temper his tendency to be too "tongue in cheek." A good read. Most helpful to me was his concise descriptions of the historical context - kings and queens and nobles and popes. I always read for the theological and homiletical and I am grateful for authors who with simplicity root things for me in history. One question - "is his real name "Sunshine?"

Good read to evaluate information not readily available from a single source. This is a good resource to understand the broad subjects of controversy.

A former Roman Catholic, I was in the market for an easy-to-understand book about the Protestant Reformation, and THE REFORMATION FOR ARMCHAIR THEOLOGIANS has more than filled the bill. Clearly and even humorously, Glenn S. Sunshine explains all of the theological and historical issues involved, covering the Reformation in Germany, in Switzerland, in England, in Scotland, and in France. Sunshine rightly begins by detailing the corruption of the medieval Catholic church, so that Martin Luther's ideas and actions are put firmly into context. The book also made me realize that certain Catholics, like Desiderius Erasmus, were reform-minded. Ron Hill's witty illustrations accompany the text; my only complaint about these is that his caricature-drawing of Ulrich Zwingli (leader of the Reformation in Switzerland) looks nothing like any of the actual portraits of Zwingli that exist.

This book is quite a page-turner when it comes to history of the Reformation. I was hooked right from page one. Various historical characters come into play with the main performers being Luther and Calvin.When it comes to the theological ideas of the times the book misses its mark. I do understand that the text is meant for "armchair theologians", but even "armchair guys" need some meat in the soup. There is nary a one Bible reference to corroborate or demolish any of the theological ideas introduced. This was a disappointment.It would be more appropriate to title this text as "The Reformation for Armchair Historians".

This is a light-hearted but excellent look at the Protestant Reformation. This will help you get both an overall picture of the personalities and the beliefs of the Reformers, as well as an overall view of the history of the Reformation. If you know nothing or very little about the Reformation, this book will help you learn about - and it will entertain you as well.

Funny and contains a lot of information. Thank you, Dr. Sunshine!

I enjoyed the format...a bit of humor thrown into it. While some want to nit-pick it, no small, single volume book of 250 pages could cover every person and situation of the reformation, nor was that the intent. If you want a multi-volume work that covers every person and event...this ain't it. It covers the various personalities, politics, events and theological issues in sort of swift and enjoyable way...it helps to see how they all blended together.