Coming August 28th, 2017
2017 is the 500th year anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing his Ninety-five Theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, the event marking the beginning of the Reformation—and the end of unified Christianity. For Catholics, it was an unjustified rebellion by the heterodox. For Protestants, it was the release of true and purified Christianity from centuries-old enslavement to corruption, idolatry, and error.
So what is the truth about the Reformation? To mark the 500th anniversary, historian Benjamin Wiker gives us The Reformation 500 Years Later: 12 Things You Need to Know, a straight-forward account of the world-changing event that rejects the common distortions of Catholic, Protestant, Marxist, Freudian, or secularist retellings.
So what is the truth about the Reformation? To mark the 500th anniversary, historian Benjamin Wiker gives us The Reformation 500 Years Later: 12 Things You Need to Know, a straight-forward account of the world-changing event that rejects the common distortions of Catholic, Protestant, Marxist, Freudian, or secularist retellings.
Praise for The reformation 500 years later
"In The Reformation 500 Years Later Ben Wiker has written his best, and certainly his timeliest, book. It is neither an air-brushed account of Catholic Church history nor is it an assault on events celebrated by Protestants in this, the quincentennial of the Protestant Reformation. It is, rather, an honest Catholic’s appraisal of the factors contributing to that watershed event and the ramifications of it. More importantly, Ben has not written a history in the traditional sense; he has written a book on current events that looks in the rearview mirror for clues. The Reformation 500 Years Later will be enjoyed by both Catholics and Protestants alike and, if Ben succeeds in his noble aim, they will find a common cause."
Larry Taunton, founder and executive director of Fixed Point Foundation and author of The Grace Effect.
"While simplicity is often sought to calm the mind, it rarely offers an accurate picture of real life. Dr. Ben Wiker complicates easy and simplistic understandings of the 500-year-old Reformation with facts about the richly complicated and interwoven factors underlying that history. Important factors of early nationalism, Renaissance paganism and atheism, Turkish Islamic imperialism, the saintly and sinful popes, and the origins of ideas like 'Scripture alone,' and the supremacy of the state over the church interacted and brought much havoc. Wiker tells this story resolutely, honestly and well. This is a great read for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation."
Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J., founder and president of Ignatius Productions and EWTN television and radio host
"Benjamin Wiker has written a highly compelling, culturally rich book, studded with historical ironies. Yes, there is the power of ideas themselves and they have consequences, but how they came to power and in whose interests is an indispensable part of the story. Wiker reveals the way the secular revolution used the Reformation to further its aim of extinguishing Catholics and Protestants alike. Without gainsaying the profound differences between Protestantism and Catholicism, he also shows the grounds on which they urgently need to come together so that Christianity itself can survive the onslaughts against it from the rabid secularism and militant Islam of our times."
Robert R. Reilly, special assistant to Ronald Reagan and author of The Closing of the Muslim Mind and Making Gay Okay