The Reformation

The Reformation by Diarmaid MacCulloch is just what it is, the Reformation.  This is a massive book whose enormity at 708 pages does not do justice to the amount of information contained in it.  It begins before the Reformation to show the world as it was and help explain how it came to be.  This book discusses Martin Luther, but it does not dwell on him.  Though Luther got the ball rolling, this book does well to mention Buller, Melancthon, Calvin, Cranmer, and Erasmus.  It focuses on everything, it encompasses nearly as much.  It is difficult to retain a fraction of the information in the book, but even that much will suffice.  After nearly a month of reading I feel much better when it comes to understanding what happened, but I feel next time a book like this should be a review and not an introduction.

I'm starting to see that studying a period may be easier if I read about it one person at a time.  Like a biography of Luther and his teachings, and then move on to the next historical figure.  Maybe that will take too long.