The Radical Reformation

George Williams' monumental The Radical Reformation has been an essential reference work for historians of early modern Europe, narrating in rich, interpretative detail the interconnected stories of radical groups operating at the margins of the mainline Reformation. In its scope--spanning all of Europe from Spain to Poland, from Denmark to Italy--and its erudition, The Radical Reformation is without peer. Now in paperback format, Williams' magnum opus should be considered for any university-level course on the Reformation.

This 1991 collection of writings by early Reformation radicals illustrates both the diversity and the areas of agreement in their political thinking.

For over 30 years George Williams' monumental 'The Radical Reformation' has been an essential reference work for historians of early modern Europe, narrating in rich, interpretative detail the interconnected stories of radical groups operating at the margins of the mainline Reformation. In its scope -- spanning all of Europe from Spain to Poland, from Denmark to Italy -- and its erudition, this book is without peer. Now available in paperback, Williams' magnum opus should be considered for an college or university-level course on the Reformation.

Mario Biagioni presents an account of the lives and thoughts of some radical reformers of the sixteenth century, showing that the Radical Reformation played a pivotal role in the rise of modern Europe.

An important volume of scholarship, this book presents a collection of documents previously little known and inaccessible to the English-speaking world. This volume includes writings of the Radical Reformation--Anabaptist and Spiritualist--as well as three treatises by Juan de Valdes as a representative of Evangelical Catholicism. Long recognized for the quality of its translations, introductions, explanatory notes, and indexes, the Library of Christian Classics provides scholars and students with modern English translations of some of the most significant Christian theological texts in history. Through these works--each written prior to the end of the sixteenth century--contemporary readers are able to engage the ideas that have shaped Christian theology and the church through the centuries.

When the Radical Reformers demanded the separation of church and state, it was not to privatize their convictions or depoliticize the church, but rather an attempt to recognize Jesus as Lord over all. The theological movement known as Radical Orthodoxy is currently rethinking theology's influence by secular modernity, thereby making a bold critique of contemporary Christianity. It should not be surprising that Anabaptist theologians have found theological kinship with Radical Orthodoxy. Taking their cues from John Howard Yoder, Henri de Lubac, Jacques Derrida, Stanley Cavell, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Stanley Hauerwas, and others, writers in this volume engage Radical Orthodoxy on topics such as ecclesiology, martyrdom, worship, oath-taking, peace and violence. (Amazon).

This review brings together new research in three areas of Anabaptist studies and the Radical Reformation. Part One focuses on sixteenth-century Anabaptism, re-examining the ’polygenesis model’ of Anabaptism articulated by Stayer, Packull and Depperman. Part Two deals with the connections between Anabaptists and other Reformation dissenters, their marginalisation as social groups and their relations with the intellectual movements of the age. The final section addresses historiographic and comparative issues of writing the history of marginalised groups, investigating some preconceptions which influence historians’ approaches to Anabaptism and their implications for understanding other religious groups.