All Things Made New: The Reformation and Its Legacy

"MacCulloch is without doubt a gifted writer and the collection is readable and highly entertaining [He] has a keen eye for the ridiculous, and his playful sensibility works effectively to highlight the oftentimes less playful truths that lie at the heart of his subject matter."--Benjamin Saunders, Reading Religion

"Engaging... MacCulloch is an eminent professor of history at the University of Oxford, and not only brings a lifetime's learning to bear on his subject, but writes with vigour, empathy and wit. ... MacCulloch's book ... is not narrowly about religion, but broadly about identity and memory, about the importance of myths and why historians need to challenge them."--Malcolm Gaskill, Financial Times

"This excellent exposé of the English Reformation sheds light on how the period forged the practices of Western Christianity, both Protestant and Roman Catholic."--Library Journal

"Combining magisterial erudition with an accessible style, [MacCulloch] serves as a deft restorer of historical tableaux, stripping away the partisan varnishes that have altered our picture of these sixteenth and seventeenth-century movements... [his] essays on the Reformation and its legacy dazzle with flashes of fresh insight... [a] stunning feat of scholarship."--Commonweal

"MacCulloch ably conveys a sense of the ideological excitement of the era, when the majority of Western Europeans were jolted by the challenges of Martin Luther in terms of how people had considered death, salvation, and the afterlife... The author's treatment of the Tudors is masterly... Experts and lay readers alike can pick and choose elements from MacCulloch's vast store of knowledge."--Kirkus

"An intriguing set of essays...[with] fascinating tidbits about theology and church history in a format well suited to those who enjoy browsing a volume and tasting what they will."--Publishers Weekly

"An energetic, eccentric, and enjoyable meander through loosely connected themes of the English Reformation... MacCulloch's writing is characterized throughout by a skillful blend of expressive, accessible, and witty prose. He gives life to times much different than our own. At its best, the text is nothing short of captivating."--U.S. Catholic

"Like all enormous historical subjects, the Reformation is prone to myth-making among those who study it, and the only antidote is the sort of devil-in-the-details approach MacCulloch adopts... [He] is convincing about the place of ideas in the Reformation, one of the foundational blocks in Western thought."--Maclean's

"A remarkably coherent and consistently stimulating collection. Because MacCulloch writes so well, what would be an indulgence for many becomes a powerfully thoughtful reflection on both the foundations of the Protestant tradition and the very purpose of academic scholarship... This is a hugely readable book, sustained throughout by Diarmaid MacCulloch's marvelous instinct for the quirky and the original... Reading All Things Made New brings home an essential truth: that one can be funny, playful, and mildly seditious-and still be learned and authoritative. It is a lesson that academics need constantly to relearn."--Weekly Standard

"Overall, this is a delightful and enlightening book, and is not designed merely for those interested in the Anglican Church. As the author states in the preface, the work is not aimed just at Anglicans, and he does not see himself as an Anglican historian, but he is an historian who is an Anglican... The work belongs in all academic libraries which have holdings on the varied aspects of Reformation history, and especially upper-level college, university, and
seminary libraries. Much of the work can be readily enjoyed by educated, interested laypersons as well...Highly recommended."--Catholic Library World

"All Things Made New is a serious book on a serious subject. It is written with elegance and sometimes donnish wit, but it is very far from being a book for specialists. As the author says, he aims to 'reflect on scholarship and interpret it for a wider audience', and he wears his learning pretty lightly."--The Times (UK)

"Dazzling... prodigiously learned... MacCulloch has a gift for explaining complicated things simply."--Catholic Herald (UK)

"MacCulloch is one of very best public historians: a charismatic telly don who has served his time in the academic trenches and is, as this collection triumphantly confirms, able to write authoritatively and engagingly on a remarkably diverse range of topics in the history of Christian culture and thought."--Peter Marshall, Literary Review (UK)

"[All Things Made New] exhibits MacCulloch's skills profusely. He is a historian's historian in all three ways: masterful comprehension of the facts and history and ideas, an analytical mind on the history of Reformation and its reformers, and his jaunty prose clicks with wit, barb, and sparkle."--Jesus Creed, Patheos.com

The most profound characteristic of Western Europe in the Middle Ages was its cultural and religious unity, a unity secured by a common alignment with the Pope in Rome, and a common language - Latin - for worship and scholarship. The Reformation shattered that unity, and the consequences are still with us today. In All Things Made New, Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of the New York Times bestseller Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, examines not only the Reformation's impact across Europe, but also the Catholic Counter-Reformation and the special evolution of religion in England, revealing how one of the most turbulent, bloody, and transformational events in Western history has shaped modern society.

The Reformation may have launched a social revolution, MacCulloch argues, but it was not caused by social and economic forces, or even by a secular idea like nationalism; it sprang from a big idea about death, salvation, and the afterlife. This idea - that salvation was entirely in God's hands and there was nothing humans could do to alter his decision - ended the Catholic Church's monopoly in Europe and altered the trajectory of the entire future of the West.

By turns passionate, funny, meditative, and subversive, All Things Made New takes readers onto fascinating new ground, exploring the original conflicts of the Reformation and cutting through prejudices that continue to distort popular conceptions of a religious divide still with us after five centuries. This monumental work, from one of the most distinguished scholars of Christianity writing today, explores the ways in which historians have told the tale of the Reformation, why their interpretations have changed so dramatically over time, and ultimately, how the contested legacy of this revolution continues to impact the world today.