Reformation Myths: Five Centuries Of Misconceptions And (Some) Misfortunes

by Rodney Stark

Publisher:

SPCK Publishing

, 2017

Overview

What has the Reformation ever done for us?

A lot less than you might think, as Rodney Stark shows in this enlightening and entertaining antidote to recent books about the rise of Protestantism and its legacy.

‘Rodney Stark takes no prisoners as he charges through five hundred years of history, upsetting apple carts left and right. Almost everything you thought you knew about the Reformation turns out to be a false narrative. . . In future, anyone who makes sweeping claims about the benefits of Protestantism ought to check their assumptions against Stark’s research first.’ Clifford Longley, author and journalist

‘Stark brings the insights of a distinguished sociologist of religion to bear on a range of inherited assumptions about the impact of the Reformation . . . The result makes for salutary reading in this year of commemoration and (not always justified) celebration.’ Peter Marshall, Professor of History, University of Warwick

‘Stark changed the way we think about the early Church and this book may change the way you think about Protestantism . . . Reformation Myths cuts through pious certainties and challenges us to think again about our cultural history.’ Linda Woodhead MBE DD, Professor of Sociology of Religion, Lancaster University

Contents

Introduction: the mythical ‘Protestant’ 1
1 The myths of full pews, pious kings and limited
monarchies 7
2 The misfortune of state churches, forced piety
and bigotry 26
3 The misfortune of nationalistic states 45
4 The myth of the Protestant Ethic 67
5 The myth of the Protestant scientific ‘revolution’ 89
6 The myth of Protestant individualism and suicide 109
7 The myth of Protestant secularization 122
8 The myth of harmful Protestant effects on the
Catholic Church 138
Conclusion: prejudice and persistence 155
Notes 157
Bibliography 169
Index 187

Product Details

• Title: Reformation Myths: Five Centuries Of Misconceptions And (Some) Misfortunes
• Author: Rodney Stark
• Publisher: SPCK Publishing
• Print Publication Date: 2017
• Logos Release Date: 2022
• Pages: 160
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9780281078288, 9780281078271, 0281078270, 0281078289
• Resource ID: LLS:9780281078288
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T22:48:08Z

About Rodney Stark

Rodney Stark is the award-winning author of How the West Won, The Victory of Reason, The Rise of Christianity, God’s Battalions, and many other books. He serves as Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University, where he is co-director of the Institute for Studies of Religion. Stark is the former president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and of the Association for the Sociology of Religion. Before earning his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, he was a staff writer for several major publications. Stark’s books have been translated into Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, and Turkish.