Few episodes in Western history have so shaped our world as the Protestant Reformation and the counter-Reformations which accompanied it.
But it was also a firestorm tearing through an old, stagnant, and dying forest, sowing the seeds for a burst of new and newly diverse life.
To understand why the Reformation unfolded as it did, we must.
The Reformation tore the seamless garment of Western Christendom in two, pitting king and pope, laity and clergy, Protestant and Catholic against one another.
Few episodes in Western history have so shaped our world as the Protestant Reformation and the counter-Reformations which accompanied it