The Story of Civilization "The Reforamtion" by Will Durant

[bcullum]

Has anybody ever read the story of Civilization “The reformation “ by Will Durant? A friend and I were talking the other day and he mentioned how great the reformation was ….and I asked him to explain pls… He started mentioning the usual suspects when discussing this topic with a protestant…the days of incorrectly used Indulgences and corrupt Papacy ect ect…which I explained the best I could. He then said he had a great book he would like me to read and I said sure why not I enjoy learning about history and the truth of Catholic faith… I didn’t know he was going to bring me a 930 page book. Anybody have a review of this book so I can know where I am heading before I start turning the pages. Thanks

 

[Contarini]

That’s surprising–Durant is actually quite cynical about the Reformation. Anyway, while Durant’s work is impressive simply by virtue of one man trying to write about all of human civilization, I don’t find the actual results to be very impressive. Whenever I dip into it, I find it to be full of bias and distortion. And the bias is very definitely coming from a secular, rationalist viewpoint.

If you want a good overview of the Reformation, I’d look at more recent works like those of Euan Cameron or Diarmaid MacCulloch (one Protestant, the other ex-Anglican and not currently practicing any religion).

For a work at least as well-credentialed and probably no less biased than Durant’s (but biased on your side), I’d look at Daniel-Rops.

Edwin

Edwin