Protestants: A History from Wittenberg to Pennsylvania 1517 - 1740

Protestants: A History from Wittenberg to Pennsylvania, 1517-1740 presents a comprehensive thematic history of the rise and influence of the branches of Christianity that emerged out of the Protestant Reformation. Represents the only English language single-volume survey of the rise of early modern Protestantism from its Lutheran beginnings in Germany to its spread to America Offers a thematic approach to Protestantism by tracing its development within the social, political, and cultural context of early modern Europe Introduces innovative argument that the central dynamic of Protestantism was not its struggle with Catholicism but its own inner dynamic Breaks from traditional scholarship by arguing that the rise of Reformation Protestantism lasted at least two centuries Unites Old World and New World Protestant histories

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments vii Introduction: Law and Gospel 1 1 Foundations 8 Wittenberg and Rome 9 Leucorea 9 Our theology 11 Theses, dialogue, and debate 15 Martin Luther and the German nation 19 Swiss Protestants 24 The gospel of Christian freedom 24 Reformations 33 Order 33 Disorder 40 Geneva and Europe 47 The honor of Christ 47 The Reformed matrix 55 2 Kingdoms 60 Kings, Priests, and Prophets 61 Civic Protestantism 65 Theaters of reform 65 Commune and covenant 70 The Politics of Faith 74 Protestant polities 74 Conscience and authority 82 Scripture and identity 87 3 Communities 93 Biblical Utopias 94 The Pursuit of Purity 98 Wheat and tares 98 Godly people 107 New World Protestants 115 The holy commonwealth 115 The ways of providence 121 4 Dominions 128 Bonds of Communion 129 Under the cross 129 Confessional culture: the Protestants of Germany 135 Christian Subjects 144 The pansophic mind 144 The biblical soul 150 Protestant Environments 158 Liturgy and architecture 158 Christianography 163 The Missionary Turn 168 5 Revivals 174 Signs of the Times 175 Histories 175 Prophecy and wrath 180 True Christianity 184 Pietists 184 The radical rebirth 197 The End of Reformation 205 Politics and piety 205 Mixed multitudes 212 Epilogue: Modern Protestants 223 Endnotes 229 Index 261

About the Author :
C. Scott Dixon is Senior Lecturer at Queen’s University of Belfast, UK. He is the author of numerous books and articles on early modern religious history, including The Reformation and Rural Society (1996) and The Reformation in Germany (2002). Dixon has been the recipient of Alexander von Humboldt research fellowships in association with the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel and the Freie Universität Berlin.

Review :
“In this thoughtful and highly original book, Scott Dixon takes a thematic approach to the process of building the new Christian communities … Scott Dixon has done an admirable job, given the constraints of space and the breadth of his coverage, in painting a broad-ranging and sophisticated picture of a complex and expansive movement.”  (EHR Oxford Journal Clippings, 6 June 2012) "Dixon's contribution lies, rather, in his fascinating and highly original thesis that the formative phase of Protestantism, as a creative social force, must be viewed as extending to the revivalist impulses of the 18th-century Great Awakening in the New World...Dixon's writing here is detailed, solid, and compelling. Summing Up: Highly recommended." (Choice, 1 May 2011) "This is a remarkable work, for its striking originality, its powerful and independent-minded synthesis, its sensitivity to the primary and secondary material, its deployment of really gripping examples and case studies, and its conjoining of the European and North American Protestant experience….”—Mark Greengrass, University of Sheffield