Five Women of the English Reformation

by Paul F.M. Zahl

Book Overview

Books on the history of the Reformation are filled with the heroic struggles and sacrifices of men. This compelling book by Paul Zahl puts the spotlight on five women -- Anne Boleyn, Katharine Parr,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802838251
• ISBN13: 9780802838254
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

CALLING ON CHRIST IN A DESPERATE WORLD

"There was a king of Yvetot, " wrote the French poet Pierre-Jean deBeranger, "little known to history." Pick any period of history of whichyou are especially fond, and you will feel strongly that some figure youdeem important is too "little known."Consider the era of the English Reformation. It is a time of tumultouschange. A king shifts his faith, leaders are burned at the stake, peopleflee the country, many monasteries are destroyed, and the king's successorsshift back and forth in the middle of the sixteenth century with astonishingrapidity. Read any work on this time and the authors TEND to focus on thepolitics, the leaders, the church, the liturgy and the men. When a woman ismentioned at all, the one bright light that gets nearly all the attention isElizabeth I (1533-1603).Nearly all the other women are less noticed, and when they are focused onlittle is said about the role THEOLOGY plays in their lives and ministries.In a highly provocative and little noticed book, "When Life and BeliefsCollide : How Knowing God Makes a Difference" (Zondervan, 2001), CarolynJames writes: "As I have met with hundreds of women, I have encountered awide spectrum of negative attitudes towards theology, from casualindifference to open hostility, and all points in between. Here and there,a few women may find theology fascinating, may even devote a lot of time tostudy it, but they are exceptional and, in the opinion of some, a littlepeculiar. Beyond these rare exceptions, most women cannot be bothered."Well, in the period of the English Reformation women COULD be bothered,indeed fascinated, by theology, as Paul Zahl's "Five Women of the EnglishReformation" (Eerdmans, 2001) shows. Dr. Zahl picks Anne Boleyn(1507-1536), Anne Askew (1521-1546), Katherine Parr (1514-1548), Jane Grey(1537-1554), and Catherine Willoughby (1520-1580) for his examination. "Allof these woman thought theologically," he writes. "They were laytheologians. They read theological books, most especially the Bible, andanything to which they could gain access from the continental ProtestantReformers. They talked theology. Their inner circles weretwenty-four-hours-a-day Bible studies. They saw everything that happenedthrough two lenses: the lens of the providence of God and the lens of thefurtherance of the Reformed religion."For Dr. Zahl, the "Reformed religion" comes to England in three successiveparts. "The first phase of Reformation theology was justification by gracethrough faith rediscovered. The second phase was the implications ofjustification by faith for the Mass, the Mass being the central action andtransaction of medieval Catholicism. The third phase of the EnglishReformation was the focus on election and predestination."Phase one concerns Anne Boleyn, "who died meekly but gave away nothing." Socompletely was she erased from the official record "it became as if she hadnever lived." For Zahl, however, she left the indelible mark of her faith."As queen, Anne understood h

Enthusiastically-told stories wonderful

Biographical historians would do well to emulate this book. This is history enthusiastically--never dully--told. Paul Zahl spins his true tales with zest, wit and total commitment to the subject: five women who dared to think and tell what they knew to be the truth. It's a difficult book to put aside, simply because the author is obviously time-travelling: you feel he was actually there, witnessing the remarkable times in which his subjects lived. Zahl brings each woman to life and makes the reader wish for more. Mary Zahl adds an epilogue that injects just the right amount of support for Paul Zahl's courage to write about women who are bigger than life--from a male perspective. Well done!