Diarmaid MacCulloch

Thomas Cromwell is one of the most famous - or notorious - figures in English history. Born in obscurity in Putney, he became a fixer for Cardinal Wolsey in the 1520s. After Wolsey''s fall, Henry VIII promoted him to a series of ever greater offices, and by the end of the 1530s he was effectively running the country for the King. That decade was one of the most momentous in English history: it saw a religious break with the Pope, unprecedented use of parliament, the dissolution of all monasteries. Cromwell was central to all this, but establishing his role with precision, at a distance of nearly five centuries and after the destruction of many of his papers at his own fall, has been notoriously difficult.Diarmaid MacCulloch''s biography is much the most complete and persuasive life ever written of this elusive figure, a masterclass in historical detective work, making connections not previously seen. It overturns many received interpretations, for example that Cromwell was a cynical, ''secular'' politician without deep-felt religious commitment, or that he and Anne Boleyn were allies because of their common religious sympathies - in fact he destroyed her. It introduces the many different personalities of these foundational years, all conscious of the ''terrifyingly unpredictable'' Henry VIII. MacCulloch allows readers to feel that they are immersed in all this, that it is going on around them.For a time, the self-made ''ruffian'' (as he described himself) - ruthless, adept in the exercise of power, quietly determined in religious revolution - was master of events. MacCulloch''s biography for the first time reveals his true place in the making of modern England and Ireland, for good and ill.

Diarmaid MacCullochs magnificent new history is the most authoritative and wide-ranging account of these epochal and often bloody events. He brilliantly describes the changing late medieval world into which Luther, Calvin and the other reformers erupted. He proposes an original new understanding of the often confusing origins of the exceptionally violent disagreements that divided men and women of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries disagreements for which they were prepared to kill and be killed. He examines the personalities of the leading Reformers and their opponents, and the mix of ideas, prejudices and accidents that shaped the various versions of Protestantism and Catholicism. He illuminates the complex battles between religious and secular powers, and shows how the resolution of these conflicts eventually redrew the map of Europe. He ends with the Enlightenment: a movement that would not have been possible without the Reformation, but which denied many of its most dearly held assumptions.

The Reformation was the seismic event in European history over the past 1000 years, and one which tore the medieval world apart. Not just European religion, but thought, culture, society, state systems, personal relations - everything - was turned upside down.

Although the young Edward VIs death in 1553 led to resounding defeat for his Protestant allies, his reign has a significance out of all proportion to its brief six-year span. For during its course Englands rulers let loose an explosive form of Christianity within the realm. In this lavishly illustrated book, MacCulloch underlines the significance of Edwards turbulent and neglected reign. As well as the young kings life and beliefs he takes a fresh look at the ruthless politicians who jostled for position around him and explores the strange afterlife of Edwards attempt at the religious transformation of his kingdom. In this MacCulloch traces a connection through the civil wars of the 17th century up to the present day.

Diarmaid MacCulloch, acknowledged master of the big picture in Christian history, unravels a polyphony of silences from the history of Christianity and beyond. He considers the surprisingly mixed attitudes of Judaism to silence, Jewish and Christian borrowings from Greek explorations of the divine, and the silences which were a feature of Jesuss brief ministry and witness. Besides prayer and mystical contemplation, there are shame and evasion; careless and purposeful forgetting. Many deliberate silences are revealed: the forgetting of histories which were not useful to later Church authorities (such as the leadership roles of women among the first Christians), or the constant problems which Christianity has faced in dealing honestly with sexuality. Behind all this is the silence of God; and in a deeply personal final chapter, MacCulloch brings a message of optimism for those who still seek God beyond the clamorous noise of over-confident certainties.

The Reformation was the seismic event in European history over the past 1000 years, and one which tore the medieval world apart. Not just European religion, but thought, culture, society, state systems, personal relations - everything - was turned upside down. Just about everything which followed in European history can be traced back in some way to the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation which it provoked. The Reformation is where the modern world painfully and dramatically began, and MacCullochs great history of it is recognised as the best modern account.

A SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, SPECTATOR, FINANCIAL TIMES, GUARDIAN, BBC HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEARThis is the biography we have been awaiting for 400 years Hilary MantelA masterpiece Dan Jones, Sunday TimesThomas Cromwell is one of the most famous - or notorious - figures in English history. Born in obscurity in Putney, he became a fixer for Cardinal Wolsey in the 1520s. After Wolseys fall, Henry VIII promoted him to a series of ever greater offices, and by the end of the 1530s he was effectively running the country for the King. That decade was one of the most momentous in English history: it saw a religious break with the Pope, unprecedented use of parliament, the dissolution of all monasteries. Cromwell was central to all this, but establishing his role with precision, at a distance of nearly five centuries and after the destruction of many of his papers at his own fall, has been notoriously difficult.Diarmaid MacCullochs biography is much the most complete and persuasive life ever written of this elusive figure, a masterclass in historical detective work, making connections not previously seen. It overturns many received interpretations, for example that Cromwell was a cynical, secular politician without deep-felt religious commitment, or that he and Anne Boleyn were allies because of their common religious sympathies - in fact he destroyed her. It introduces the many different personalities of these foundational years, all conscious of the terrifyingly unpredictable Henry VIII. MacCulloch allows readers to feel that they are immersed in all this, that it is going on around them.For a time, the self-made ruffian (as he described himself) - ruthless, adept in the exercise of power, quietly determined in religious revolution - was master of events. MacCullochs biography for the first time reveals his true place in the making of modern England and Ireland, for good and ill.

A brilliant kaleidoscope on the Reformation from its leading scholar and one of the best historians writing in English today (Sunday Telegraph)The Reformation which engulfed England and Europe in the sixteenth century was one of the most highly-charged, bloody and transformative periods in their history. Ever since, it has remained one of the most contested.Diarmaid MacCulloch is one of the leading British historians of this turbulent and endlessly fascinating era. Many essays in this volume expand upon his now classic Reformation: Europes House Divided, tracing, for example, the evolution of the English Prayer Book and Bible or reassessing the impact of the Reformation on Catholicism. Henry VIII and his archbishop, Thomas Cranmer, are both central presences, and MacCulloch swiftly dispatches some of the received wisdom about them. Throughout the book, he brilliantly undermines one persistent English tradition of interpreting the Reformation - that it never really happened - and establishes that Anglicanism was really a product of Charles IIs Restoration in 1660 rather than the Elizabethan Settlement of 1559. The inexhaustible variety of the Reformation is seen in a delightful mix of writings on angels, Protestant opinions about the Virgin Mary and such diverse personalities as William Byrd, John Calvin and the extraordinary seventeenth-century forger Robert Ware, some of whose malicious fantasies have polluted parts of Reformation history ever since.All Things Made New shows Diarmaid MacCulloch at his best - learned, far-seeing, sometimes subversive, and often witty. At the end of his essay on the great Elizabethan divine Richard Hooker, he writes The disputes which currently wrack Western Christianity are superficially about sexuality, social conduct or leadership style: at root, they are about what constitutes authority for Christians. The contest for the soul of the Church in the West rages around the question as to how a scripture claiming divine revelation relates to those other perennial sources of human revelation, personal and collective consciousness and memory; whether, indeed, there can be any relationship between the two. There is much wisdom, as well as much enjoyment, in this book.

Diarmaid MacCullochs epic, acclaimed history A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years follows the story of Christianity around the globe, from ancient Palestine to contemporary China. How did an obscure personality cult come to be the worlds biggest religion, with a third of humanity its followers? This book, now the most comprehensive and up to date single volume work in English, describes not only the main facts, ideas and personalities of Christian history, its organization and spirituality, but how it has changed politics, sex, and human society. Taking in wars, empires, reformers, apostles, sects, churches and crusaders, Diarmaid MacCulloch shows how Christianity has brought humanity to the most terrible acts of cruelty - and inspired its most sublime accomplishments.A stunning tour de force Simon Sebag Montefiore, Sunday Telegraph Books of the YearA landmark in its field, astonishing in its range, compulsively readable, full of insight ... It will have few, if any, rivals in the English language Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, GuardianA prodigious, thrilling, masterclass of a history book John Cornwell, Financial TimesEssential reading for those enthralled by Christianity and for those enraged by it Melvyn Bragg, Observer, Books of the YearMagnificent ... a sumptuous portrait, alive with detail and generous in judgement Richard Holloway, The TimesDiarmaid MacCulloch is Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University. His Thomas Cranmer won the Whitbread Biography Prize, the James Tait Black Prize and the Duff Cooper Prize. He is the author most recently of Reformation: Europes House Divided 1490 - 1700, which won the Wolfson Prize for History and the British Academy Prize.

The Bible observes that God made humanity a for a while a little lower than the angelsa If humans are that close to angels does the difference lie in human sexuality and what we do with it Much of the political contention and division in societies across the world centres on sexual topics and one third of the global population is Christian in background or outlook In a single lifetime Christianity or historically Christian societies have witnessed one of the most extraordinary about turns in attitudes to sex and gender in human history There have followed revolutions in the place of women in society a new place for same sex love amid the spectrum of human emotions and a public exploration of gender and trans identity For many the new situation has brought exciting liberation a for others fury and fear This book seeks to calm fears and encourage understanding through telling a 3000 year long tale of Christians encountering sex gender and the family with noises off from their sacred texts The message of Lower than the Angels is simple necessary and timely to pay attention to the sheer glorious complexity and contradictions in the history of Christianity The reader can decide from the story told here whether there is a single Christian theology of se

Una obra que se ocupa de la Cristiandad de manera universal, desde sus orígenes en el judaísmo y siguiendo los principales ejes de la fe cristiana, de corte clásico, que sigue cronológicamente la evolucion del cristianismo y sus ramificaciones. Gracias a su tematica, el lector actual conocera cuestiones casi olvidadas acerca del mensaje de Jesus y la compilacion del Nuevo Testamento, asi como su difusion por todos los rincones del mundo: Africa, Asia, America o Europa. Es un libro que aborda toda su historia intelectual, sin olvidarse de monjes y cruzados, santos y herejes, traficantes de esclavos y abolicionistas. Vivimos una epoca de intensa conciencia religiosa, salpicada de actos violentos que se cometen en nombre de Dios y donde creyentes y no creyentes cuestionan valores como la religion y la tradicion.

A richly entertaining history of the ways in which, for 3,000 years, the church has tied itself in knots over sex (and love and marriage) fabulous ObserverThe Bible observes that God made humanity for a while a little lower than the angels. If humans are that close to angels, does the difference lie in human sexuality and what we do with it? In a single lifetime, Christianity or historically Christian societies have witnessed one of the most extraordinary about-turns in attitudes to sex and gender in human history, bringing liberation for some and fury and fear for others.This book by Oxfords Emeritus Professor of the History of the Church seeks to calm fears and encourage understanding by telling the 3000-year-long tale of Christians encountering sex, gender and the family, with noises off from their sacred texts. It beckons us to pay attention to the sheer glorious complexity and contradictions in the history of Christianity, an epic of ordinary and extraordinary Christians trying to make sense of themselves and of humanitys deepest desires, fears and hopes.