Reformation
The Dangerous Birth of the Modern World
by Harry Reid
GoodBookStall Review:
This Scottish polemic represents the Reformation as a series of uprisings which overthrew medieval institutions and established basic democracy. It claims to be ‘about religion, not legalism’, but is much more about politics conceived as the actions of powerful individuals. Heroes are Thomas Cromwell the lawyer; Cranmer the poet; Elizabeth I, the wisest ruler who helped Scotland out of French thraldom; Knox the democratic revolutionary; and Calvin whose teaching endowed Scots with egalitarianism. Chief villain is Henry VIII, who destroyed the monasteries which educated the poor. Reid, formerly Editor of The Herald, uncomplicatedly defines their legacies as today’s aspirations.
Reviewer: Su Reid (17/09/09)
This Scottish polemic represents the Reformation as a series of uprisings which overthrew medieval institutions and established basic democracy. It claims to be ‘about religion, not legalism’, but is much more about politics conceived as the actions of powerful individuals. Heroes are Thomas Cromwell the lawyer; Cranmer the poet; Elizabeth I, the wisest ruler who helped Scotland out of French thraldom; Knox the democratic revolutionary; and Calvin whose teaching endowed Scots with egalitarianism. Chief villain is Henry VIII, who destroyed the monasteries which educated the poor. Reid, formerly Editor of The Herald, uncomplicatedly defines their legacies as today’s aspirations.
Reviewer: Su Reid (17/09/09)
