Description: Conflict and war were common during the Reformation era. Throughout the sixteenth century, rising religious and political tensions led to frequent conflict and culminated in the Thirty Years' War (1618-48) that devastated much of Germany and killed one-third of its population. Some of the warfare, as in central and southern Europe, was between Christians and Muslims. Other warfare, in central and northwestern Europe, was confessional warfare between Catholics and Protestants. Religion was not the only cause of war during the period. Revolts, territorial ambitions, and the beginnings of the contemporary nation-state system and international order that emerged after the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) also fueled the trauma and tragedy of war. In many ways, the world of the Reformers and Protestant Reformation was a violent world, and it was within such a sociopolitical framework that the Reformers and their followers lived, worked, and died. This book introduces the teachings of the Protestant Reformers on war and peace, in their context, before offering relevant primary source readings. --
Brief description: Mark J. Larson holds a BA in Bible from Cedarville University, a ThM in systematic theology from Westminster Theological Seminary, and a PhD in historical theology from Calvin Theological Seminary.
Review Quotes:
""The authors have performed an invaluable service in marshalling a diverse array of well-contextualized primary sources on this subject. This book clearly represents an ideal starting point for the study of Reformed perspectives on questions of war and peace."" --Michael Snape, Durham University
""This is a superb volume! The ideas one encounters here are articulated by a range of different Early Modern reformers writing within their own particular settings; they speak to their own problems, specific concerns, idiosyncratic desires, and hopeful solutions. The authors introduce each reformer in a readable and scholarly manner, explaining who they are, what characterized their lives, and what situations they sought to address. The volume will make a brilliant addition to undergraduate or graduate seminars, not to mention one's personal library. The authors' selections are engaging, fresh, and illuminating."" --Jon Balserak, University of Bristol