Protestantism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Mark A. Noll (PDF)

Description

Mark A. Noll presents a fresh and accessible history of Protestantism from the era of Martin Luther to the present day. Beginning with the founding of Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, and Anabaptist churches in the sixteenth-century Reformation, he also considers the rise of other important Christian movements like Methodism and Pentecostalism. Focussing on worldwide developments, rather than just the familiar European and American histories, he considers the recentexpansion of Protestant movements in Africa, China, India, and Latin America, emphasising the on-going and rapidly expanding story of Protestants worldwide.Noll examines the contributions from well-known figures including Martin Luther and John Calvin, along with many others, and explores why Protestant energies have flagged recently in the Western world yet expanded so dramatically elsewhere. Highlighting the key points of Protestant commonality including the message of Christian salvation, reliance on the Bible, and organization through personal initiative, he also explores the reasons for Protestantism’s extraordinary diversity.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I thought Noll did an exceptional job laying out a brief understanding of Protestantism. Because it is brief Noll flies past some interesting moments in the American experience. Yet a great resource for any teacher.

⭐fine

⭐I am very familiar with Mark Noll. He is the foremost scholar of American Christian history and one of the foremost scholars of any sort within Evangelicalism. I had two different classes with him. One on the reformation at Wheaton college as an undergrad in 1995, and a second at University of Chicago Divinity School on early North American Evangelicalism in 1997. He is a very good professor and a very good author.The fact that he was able to cram in as much about the history and range of the Protestant world in less than 150 pages, while making it quite readable is impressive. Noll also did not focus solely on the English-speaking or Western world of Protestantism. He spent about a third of the book talking about modern and non-Western expressions of Protestantism.Noll is writing for an educated reader, but not necessarily one that is educated about Christianity. I am fairly well read in Christian history and I still learned a number of things. At the same time, I would very much recommend this to someone who has almost no background in the history of Christianity because he is clear and gives a very good overview without getting too bogged down in minor details.The overarching theme of the book seems to be that Protestantism is not easy to define or easy to characterize. Noll repeatedly notes that diversity is one of the defining characteristics of Protestantism. Noll structured the book basically chronologically. The first third of the book is introduction and early Protestant reformers. The second third is the post reformation adaptations of Protestantism and the way that it diversified. And the last third is modern era and world-wide implications of Protestantism, especially Pentecostalism.The only real complaint I have is not with the book itself, but with the formatting. Publishers need to figure out how to deal with kindle conversations. Sidebar notes and pictures and comments are common in paperback books. But when converted to kindle format, sidebars do not work. They have to be moved to make sense in the text and set apart in a way that it is clear that they are not a part of the normal flow of the book. There were a couple of sidebars that were in the middle of a paragraph so I had to figure out what was going on and where the main text connected.In spite of the sloppy kindle conversion, I very much recommend the book.

⭐I have found this book to be very helpful for the course I am doing. Cuts the waffle and gets straight to the point. Would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone studding the reformation to church history

⭐excellent

⭐very beauty

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