The Reformation Era

by Robert D. Linder

Although religious unrest had been brewing in Western Europe long before Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, historians view this event as the tipping point that shattered the unity of the Medieval Catholic civilization. Disillusioned by Church bureaucracy and awakened by the rise of Renaissance Humanism, Western Europe was primed for an alternative to the old order. Protestant reformers called for a return to scripture and a focus on individual faith, and the Catholic Church responded with a new focus on spirituality that culminated in the Council of Trent. In modern spiritual revivals, religious debates, and newer Church reforms, we can still see the legacy of the era Linder calls Midwife to the Modern World.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2000

About the author

Robert D. Linder was the Distinguished Professor of History at Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, and an acknowledged authority on modern religious history. He was the author or editor of fourteen books and more than one hundred articles in history and religion journals. He visited Australia each year since arriving on a Fulbright scholarship in 1987, and through the Evangelical History Association of Australia, of which he was a founder, and through many seminars and courses he taught in universities across Australia, making a major contribution to Australian religious history.

Linder earned his B.S. from Kansas State Teachers College, his B.D. and M.R.E. from Central Baptist Theological Seminary, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.

Linder was mayor of Manhattan, Kansas from 1971 to 1972.