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The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society Paperback – November 16, 2015

by Brad S. Gregory (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 140 ratings
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In a work that is as much about the present as the past, Brad Gregory identifies the unintended consequences of the Protestant Reformation and traces the way it shaped the modern condition over the course of the following five centuries. A hyperpluralism of religious and secular beliefs, an absence of any substantive common good, the triumph of capitalism and its driver, consumerism―all these, Gregory argues, were long-term effects of a movement that marked the end of more than a millennium during which Christianity provided a framework for shared intellectual, social, and moral life in the West.

Before the Protestant Reformation, Western Christianity was an institutionalized worldview laden with expectations of security for earthly societies and hopes of eternal salvation for individuals. The Reformation’s protagonists sought to advance the realization of this vision, not disrupt it. But a complex web of rejections, retentions, and transformations of medieval Christianity gradually replaced the religious fabric that bound societies together in the West. Today, what we are left with are fragments: intellectual disagreements that splinter into ever finer fractals of specialized discourse; a notion that modern science―as the source of all truth―necessarily undermines religious belief; a pervasive resort to a therapeutic vision of religion; a set of smuggled moral values with which we try to fertilize a sterile liberalism; and the institutionalized assumption that only secular universities can pursue knowledge.

The Unintended Reformation asks what propelled the West into this trajectory of pluralism and polarization, and finds answers deep in our medieval Christian past.

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  1. Print length
    592 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press
  4. Publication date
    November 16, 2015
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.75 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0674088050
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0674088054
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

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“A strikingly brave and wide-ranging work, in which a distinguished historian of early modern Europe interprets the contemporary world. The precision and clarity with which Gregory lays out his evidence and the accuracy with which he handles materials in many different languages and of many different kinds give this original book extraordinary credibility. It's rare for a book to attain this level of scholarship nowadays. An astonishing achievement.”―Anthony Grafton, author of Worlds Made by Words

“A work of deep moral seriousness. Gregory's greatest contribution is his portrayal of the Reformation of Christianity as a central moment of disturbance and creativity in the modern Western world. In this endeavor, he has no equal among living authors. The Unintended Reformation is simply the most intelligent treatment of the subject by a contemporary author. It is also the most unconventional and most stirring engagement I know with the problem of how the West has dealt with its heritage of plural religions and concepts of values and happiness.”―Thomas A. Brady, Jr., author of German Histories in the Age of Reformations, 1400-1650

“Gregory's insightful and compelling narrative invites us to recognize the surprising extent to which we are still what the Protestant Reformation and its heirs made us, a society of conflicting and contested truth claims. As he spells out the consequences―and the interest is in the detail―we become more sharply aware of sometimes unrecognized aspects of our present condition.”―Alasdair MacIntyre, author of God, Philosophy, Universities

“A revisionist manifesto, sharp-edged and provocative, The Unintended Reformation analyzes the legacy of the Protestant Reformation with an eye firmly fixed on the present. Gregory challenges many revered assumptions and does so with verve and brilliance. Bound to stir debate for years to come, this magisterial history of the early modern era belongs on the shelf right next to Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and Charles Taylor's A Secular Age.”―Carlos Eire, author of A Very Brief History of Eternity

“The Protestant Reformation is considered by many to be one of the pivotal events in the history of the Western world. No one can doubt the central role that Luther, Calvin, and other reformers have played in the lives of Christians through the years...[Gregory] approaches the continuing impact of the Reformation in what he terms a "genealogical" approach―one that sees the Reformation as the root of a tree whose branches reach into every aspect of modern life. Rejecting the "supersessionist" view, that contemporary Christendom constitutes a radically new understanding of God and of the world itself, Gregory insists that our views, even our presuppositions, must be reimagined and re-evaluated in ways that demonstrate how the Reformation continues to reach into our theologies, our laws, our lives...[A] rewarding look at the long reach of history, and how we are the poorer for ignoring it.”―Publishers Weekly

“[An] extraordinary new book...But however brilliant is Gregory's historical presentation (and it is brilliant), what ultimately distinguishes The Unintended Reformation is the sheer forcefulness of the narrative, which he pursues by examining the shift in perspectives on six distinct but interrelated themes since the sixteenth century: God, truth, institution, ethics, consumption and knowledge. The effect of this approach is to give the book an uncommon clarity: by going over what is essentially the single narrative in six different ways, each slight turn of the story illuminates the whole, and each new element comes across as both surprising and yet strangely familiar. The Unintended Reformation is unquestionably the most important contribution to the way we understand our present condition since Charles Taylor's A Secular Age. But it is also as a stinging rebuke to all those well-nigh fictitious accounts of the emergence of the enlightened West out of the intellectual darkness and decrepitude of the Middle Ages that now distort our collective self-perception. Let's hope Gregory's book wreaks havoc on some of these myths that we persist in telling ourselves.”―Scott Stephens, Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Religion and Ethics blog

“There could not be a more propitious moment for a book on greed and the historical roots of capitalism. Brad Gregory shows that historians have as much to contribute to contemporary debates about business and social ethics as most philosophers or economists...What is bold and unusual about The Unintended Reformation is that it comes from an explicitly Christian perspective and ends by arguing that only religion―properly understood as a doctrine of solidarity―can allow humanity to escape from the predicament of the modern, the material curse of poverty and the mental afflictions of prosperity. Gregory not only offers what is today a highly original combination of history and morality but also cogently explains why that combination is needed today.”―Harold James, Financial Times

“This book is truly breathtaking in its scope, erudition and sheer nerve. There is no faulting Gregory's grasp of Reformation history, but to his analysis of what has happened since there could be many objections raised. This is relatively unimportant, however. Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism was not completely right either, but it was brilliant nevertheless. Gregory's is a work not just of genuine scholarship but also of sincere moral purpose, which, even if it annoys, frustrates or fails to convince, has opened up an immensely important debate. There may yet be time to fix some of what went wrong in the Reformation.”―Lucy Wooding, Times Higher Education

“Restrained and erudite...Apart from furnishing an interesting and well written account of the Reformation, the book is perhaps most interesting when [Gregory] grapples with his opponents...[A] thought-provoking book.”―Nick Carn, Financial World

“A lucidly written and far-reaching analysis that shows how the contemporary Western world continues to be influenced by the complex transformations that occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries.”―J. Werner, Choice

“Charts how the godly Reformation led inexorably to the secularization of western society.”―Piers Paul Read, The Spectator

About the Author

Brad S. Gregory is Dorothy G. Griffin Professor of Early Modern European History at the University of Notre Dame.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press; Reprint edition (November 16, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 592 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674088050
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674088054
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.45 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.75 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 140 ratings

About the author

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Brad S. Gregory

Brad S. Gregory

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Brad S. Gregory is Professor of Early Modern European History at the University of Notre Dame. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University (1996) and was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows (1994-96). Before joining the faculty at Notre Dame in 2003, Gregory taught at Stanford University, where he received early tenure in 2001. Gregory has two degrees in philosophy as well, both earned at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. He has received multiple teaching awards at Stanford and Notre Dame, and in 2005 was named the inaugural winner of the Hiett Prize in the Humanities from the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture as the outstanding mid-career humanities scholar in the United States. Gregory's research focuses on Christianity in the Reformation era, the long-term effects of the Reformation, secularization in early modern and modern Western history, and methodology in the study of religion.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
140 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

jmartin
5.0 out of 5 stars Profound but well written
Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2012
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The Unintended Reformation, by Brad S. Gregory, is one of the most brilliant books i have read on the transformation of the culture of western Christendom into our current secularized society, and i have read hundreds. By "unintended," Gregory contrasts with the 'intended' Reformation, the much needed, well, reform, of the corrupt hierarchy of the Catholic church of the time, along with its distortion of perennial Christian doctrine. The the non-intention of Luther et al. was what resulted 'on the ground,' the creation of Christian denominations which exist til this day.

On p. 365, toward the end of the book in its conclusion, Gregory restated his thesis: ". . .medieval Christendom failed, the Reformation failed, confessionalized Europe failed, and Western modernity is failing, but each in different ways and with different consequences, and each in ways that continue to remain important into the present." Yet in that same conclusion, Gregory warns against "nostalgia," for none of those eras were as great as their public relations directors thought or think them to be.

He makes clear the 'forest' of the broad currents running through those centuries, but also underscores the 'trees' that each human actor in those years had free will. He shows how the Romantic era, as epitomized by Schliermacher in theology, stressed religion as feeling, but what if you don't, as many do not today, have that feeling, as some don't appreciate classical music. Gregory boldly asserts on p. 112, despite the intention of the Reformers, that they had no criteria of truth, even the Scriptures, because they were interpreted by private judgment, which led to the 'anything goes' fiasco we have today.

The enlightenment philosophes thought that they were being independent and objective, but they were just reporting the thoughts and feelings of their social set, much as in 1972, Pauline Meier wondered how Richard Nixon could have won 49 states, because in her rarified elitist circle, she "didn't know anyone who voted for him." The foundational documents of the United States as nation were purposely left empty of theistic or Christian doctrines, because it was implicitly presumed that the US was and would continue to exist on a foundation of Judaeo-Christianity as a country.

I was surprised at Gregory's formulation on p. 159 of Christian doctrine as "...the Father's incarnation as Jesus."

All in all, though, while not totally uncritical of the excesses of contemporary neo-conservative empire-building and consumerism, Gregory masterfully decodes the modern world, and shows that our current superficial western sociey is termite-ridden, a hollow shell, and has been for centuries.
23 people found this helpful
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D.C.
5.0 out of 5 stars Buckle-up
Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2012
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This book is unusual. Readers will begin wading into the recondite and seemingly bottomless depths of medieval scholastic disputation at one minute, and the next find themselves clinging to glaciers melting from an Inconvenient Truth. The Unintended Reformation is rigorously academic in its author's commitment to inform, debate with, and build upon the foundation of other scholars, employing the full technical apparatus with which knowledge is produced and critically assessed in the historical profession. But it also is directed toward the general public: its presentation is accessible and clear, and its author aims to engage questions with which all human beings living in the modern world ought to be concerned. Readers will be hard pressed to find a comparable work of history today (as opposed to historical sociology, in a Weberian vein) that sets out to discuss causal links between Times Square and a motley collection of robed men from sixteenth century Europe (that irrepressible image that the dustjacket triggers), in a way that is at the same time morally serious and intellectually responsible.

As a result of this achievement, the book has received a spectacular amount of play in academic circles spinning out extended reviews, lectures, conference panels, and entire conferences. Which means many people have heard (and commented) about the Unintended Reformation without necessarily having read it. Because the arguments are provocative (dealing with the birth and legacy of Reformed Christianity, an irreverent genealogy of a scientific or secular worldview, and the connections among doctrinal disagreement, consumerism, and climate change), they are easy to caricature. It would be a mistake and a considerable missed opportunity, however, just to follow the hype without grappling with the arguments' substance, expressed with both tremendous force and meticulous care, each one hosting feasts of supplementary analysis in the endnotes. In short, the book demands to be taken seriously, whether or not we submit to all the troubling conclusions.

One more strength worth noting is the author's abiding respect for all of his historical subjects. No one is introduced to be abused. In such a vigorously argumentative book, maintaining critical empathy all the way through is quite an accomplishment, but it appears to be a hallmark of all of Gregory's work.
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Mark Moncrieff
4.0 out of 5 stars An Important Book
Reviewed in Australia on March 11, 2024
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While it has taken me far longer than I had hoped to read this book, I am very glad that I have read this. For a number of years I have argued that Liberalism began in the Reformation and that is backed up by this book. It asked questions that I had not thought of and it has pointed me in directions that have opened my thinking.

How could the Universities brush Christianity aside so easily, even though it took a long time?

Why did rationalism seem like such a good answer, but it failed to provide the answers that it promised?

Why don't we live in a more Christian society, when that was the aim of the Protestant reformers?

This is not a light read, it is an academic book written by an academic, but with that proviso I think that the book is excellent.
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KurtL
1.0 out of 5 stars Nicht Kindle-tauglich
Reviewed in Germany on May 14, 2016
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Ich habe das Buch gerade heruntergeladen, weil es mich inhaltlich sehr interessierte und ich schon länger den Preis verfolgte. Seit der Taschenbuchausgabe ist es jetzt auch für den Kindle-Reader erschwinglich.
Zum Inhalt werde ich mich nicht äußern, weil ich das Buch umgehend zurückgebe.
Leider ist das Buch nicht ausreichend für den Kindle formatiert. Es gibt keine Seitenangaben, keine Kapitelunterteilung, keine Links zu den Fußnoten, keine einstellbare Schriftart. Das Gehe-zu-Verzeichnis enthält 3 Punkte: Titelseite, Inhaltsverzeichnis, Ende.
Das ist mir für den Preis zu wenig. Vor allem die Fußnoten sollten bei einem Werk dieses Umfangs erreichbar sein.
Ich bin enttäuscht, da ich so lange gewartet habe und werde verfolgen, ob es irgendwann einmal eine vernünftige Ausgabe für den Kindle gibt.
Ergänzung am 24. Mai 2016: Leider wurde der Kindle-Preis jetzt wieder annähernd auf die Höhe des gebundenen Buchs angehoben. Daher nochmal ein Stern Abzug. Vorschau für die Kindle-Ausgabe wird nicht angezeigt.
Ergänzung am 10. Oktober 2016: Die Leseprobe erscheint wie eine Kindle-Datei. Nach dem Kauf bekommt man aber, was ich oben beschrieben habe. Der Preis wäre ja jetzt in Ordnung. Danke für die freundliche Hilfe bei der Rückgabe.
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malcolm sinclair
5.0 out of 5 stars MOST THOUGHT PROVOKING BOOK ON REFORMATION OF RECENT TIMES
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 12, 2014
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probably the most important book on the Reformation and also the most thought provoking of recent times.
Gregory's work 'Salvation at Stake',on martyrdom at the time should Ideally be read before tackling the present work.
There are various reviews on the web by his academic peers,also responses from Gregory himself,which can give a
balanced,objective perspective on the book.All in all a must read.An excellent context in which to read Gregory,is that
of his Notre Dame colleagues, John van Engen and Mark Noll,neither of whom are Catholic.
It is always a pleasure to read works that are well-written, widely and deeply researched and breaking new ground,also
unbiased and irenic,which is what you will get from these historians.

Malcolm Sinclair
4 people found this helpful
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Christopher Gold
5.0 out of 5 stars The Unintended Reformation
Reviewed in Canada on December 25, 2012
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You want to know how we got in the confused situation we have now? This book is as close as you will get to an answer. It delves into some heavy stuff - be ready to go to Wikipedia on occasion - but it is the most convincing story I have read on the West's movement from a fairly unified mediaeval Christendom to today's 'hyperpluralism'. It's language is crystal clear - the author is a well respected university teacher - but dense with thoughts and information, and enough references to satisfy the most critical academic. It is one of the best half-dozen books I have ever read.
7 people found this helpful
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mandy garner
5.0 out of 5 stars Well written
Reviewed in Canada on October 14, 2019
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Brilliant book. Tremendous insight. If you enjoy history you will find this book fascinating.
One person found this helpful
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