BIBLIOGRAPHY: General Works on the Reformation
1. HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION: SURVEYS. The literature on the Reformation can be overwhelming to
the newcomer. Maybe only the French Revolution and the American Civil War have received so much and such
careful attention. Few historical periods can boast of such a large number of high-quality surveys as those published
by Reformation scholars. And in few areas of historical scholarship are sectarian biases more evident. This is
especially true of works written before Vatican II. Studies after 1965 tend to be more balanced, but confessional
concerns do continue to bias things, often in quite subtle ways.
Lewis W. Spitz, The Renaissance and Reformation Movements, Revised Edition, 2 vol. (St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 1987) paperback, $18 per volume. A fine introductory textbook that offers a clear, well-
written narrative survey of the period.
Hans J. Hillerbrand, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation, 4 vol. (New York: Oxford University Press,
1996). NEW. A top-notch reference work with articles by the leading Reformation scholars. A great place
to start one s research.
Euan Cameron, The European Reformation (New York: Oxford University Press, (paperback, $22). NEW.
Cameron presents the Reformation in a fresh original way: not as a sequence of short biographies of leading
reformers, but as a unified historical movement. He sees the Reformation as a temporary coalition of
reform-minded churchmen with one another and with potent political forces. He is attuned not only to
Reformation theology both its sophisticated and its popular varieties but also to the series of
coincidences and subtle mis-hearings that led people to join forces in common cause. More a synthesis than
a place to get the facts but the synthesis is the state-of-the-art.
Roland Bainton, The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, revised ed. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1985 / 1st edition,
1952), paperback, $10. A popular introduction, but quite dated.
Thomas A. Brady Jr., Heiko A. Oberman, & James D. Tracy, eds., Handbook of European History, 1400-1600: Late
Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 199_) paperback $30, per
volume. NEW.
John Bossy, Christianity in the West, 1400-1700 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985) paperback, $8.
Eccentric. Bossy writes from social historical point of view. Not for beginners.
Owen Chadwick, The Reformation, Pelican History of the Church 3 (New York: Penguin Books, 1964) paperback,
$8. Especially good on the English experience.
Arthur G. Dickens, Reformation and Society in Sixteenth-Century Europe (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World,
1966).
G.R. Elton, ed., The Reformation, 1520-1559, vol. 2 of The New Cambridge Modern History (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1957). A classic.
Erwin Iserloh, Joseph Glazik, & Hubert Jedin, eds., Reformation and Counter-Reformation, Volume 5 of History of
the Church, trans. Anselm Biggs & Peter W. Becker (New York: Seabury, 1980). See the sections by
Hubert Jedin, the great authority on the Council of Trent.
Hans J. Hillerbrand, Christendom Divided: The Protestant Reformation (New York: Corpus Books, 1971).
DeLamar Jensen, Renaissance Europe: Age of Recovery and Reconciliation and Reformation Europe: Age of
Reformation and Reformation, 2nd edition (New York: D.C. Heath, 1992) paperback, $30 per volume. A
fine textbook.
Carter Lindberg, The European Reformations (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996). NEW.
Steven Ozment, ed., Reformation Europe : A Guide to Research (Center for Reformation Research, 1982), out of
print.
Andrew Pettegrew, ed., The Early Reformation in Europe (New York: Cambridge University Press, 199_)
paperback, $16. NEW.
Bob Scribner, Roy Porter, and Mikulas Teich, The Reformation in National Context (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 199_) paperback, $18. NEW.
Lewis W. Spitz, The Protestant Reformation, 1517-1547 (New York: Harper & Row, 1985) paperback, $10. A
valuable survey, especially good on Luther.
Bibliography: Reformation 2
Lewis W. Spitz, ed., The Reformation: Basic Interpretations, 2nd ed. (Lexington, MA: Heath, 1972).
Bard Thompson, Humanists and Reformers: A History of the Renaissance and Reformation (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.
B. Eerdmans, 1996) hardcover, $40. NEW.
Jonathan W. Zophy, A Short History of the Renaissance and Reformation Europe: Dances over Fire and Water
(Upper Saddle Water, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1996). NEW.
2. REFORMATION THOUGHT: SURVEYS
Alister E. McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction, revised edition (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1993)
paperback, $20. McGrath surveys key themes: justification, predestination, scripture, sacraments, church.
And he prefaces this analysis with a sizable and excellent study of the roots of the Reformation. State-of-
the-art, yet clear and simple. A great place to start.
Timothy George, Theology of the Reformers (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1988) hardback, $22. An excellent survey
of the thought of four leading reformers: Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and Menno Simons.
Jaroslav Pelikan, Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700), vol. 4 of The Christian Tradition, Chicago
(paperback, $14). Pelikan offers an excellent, but unusually dense summary of Protestant and Catholic
theologies. One caution: he presumes that you really know your history.
G.R. Evans, The Language and Logic of the Bible: The Road to Reformation (New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1985).
Alister E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Doctrine of Justification, 2 vol. (New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1986).
Heiko Oberman, The Impact of the Reformation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), paperback, $20.
Jaroslav Pelikan, The Reformation of the Bible / The Bible of the Reformation (New Haven: Yale, 1996) hardcover,
$40. NEW.
Bernard M.G. Reardon, Religious Thought in the Reformation (London: Longman, 1995), hardcover, $60. NEW.
3. SOURCES OF REFORMATION AUTHORS: ANTHOLOGIES
Hans Hillerbrand, ed., The Reformation: A Narrative History Related by Contemporary Observers and Participants
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1978) paperback, $19. The subtitle tells what makes this collection
so unique and so valuable. Hillerbrand weaves together a coherent narrative from excerpts from personal
letters and diaries, from government decrees, from polemical pamphlets. A must for anyone doing research.
Gerald Bray, ed., Documents of the English Reformation (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994) NEW in paperback.
G.R. Elton, Renaissance and Reformation, 1300-1648 (New York: Macmillan, 1976).
John H. Leith, Reformed Reader: A Sourcebook in Christian Theology, Volume I: Classical Beginnings, 1519-1799
(Nashville: Westminster / John Knox, 19__) paperback, $30.
Heiko A. Oberman, ed., Forerunners of the Reformation: the Shape of Late Medieval Thought (New York: Holt,
Rinehart, and Winston, 1966). Valuable collection of sources.
John Baillie, John T. McNeill, and Henry P. Van Dusen, eds., Library of Christian Classics (Philadelphia:
Westminster / John Knox), paperback, $25. An older series with texts by Reformation writers:
" G.W. Bromiley, ed., Zwingli and Bullinger
" Joseph Haroutunian, ed., Calvin: Commentaries
" John T. McNeill, ed., Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion
" Wilhelm Pauck, ed., Luther: Lectures on Romans
" Wilhelm Pauck, ed., Melanchthon and Bucer
" E. Gordon Rupp & Philip S. Watson, ed., Luther and Erasmus: Free Will and Salvation
" George H. Williams & Angel M. Mergal, ed., Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers