War against the Idols
The Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to Calvin

Carlos M. N. Eire (Author)

9780521379847, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 27 January 1989

336 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.51 kg

"Excellently researched and argued, this book illustrates the clear connection between ideas and action and the significance ofverstehen." Christian Sociologist Newsletter

In the second decade of the sixteenth century medieval piety suddenly began to be attacked in some places as 'idolatry', or false religion. Wherever these ideas became accepted, churches were sacked, images smashed and burned, relics destroyed, and the Catholic Mass abolished. This study calls attention to the centrality of the idolatry issue for the Reformation. It traces the development of Protestant iconoclastic theology and practice, provides a survey and synthesis of its unfolding from Erasmus through Calvin, and lays a foundation for understanding the Reformed ideology that stood in conflict with Catholicism and Lutheranism. Professor Eire's main thesis is that the argument against 'idolatry' was central to Reformed Protestantism, both in its theological aspect and in its political ramifications, and that it reached its fullest and most enduring expression in Calvinism.

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The state of lay devotion in the late middle ages
2. Erasmus as critic of late medieval piety
3. Early reformers and the question of idolatry
4. Iconoclasm, revolution, and the reformation in Switzerland and Geneva, 1527–1536
5. Humanism and reform in France: the seeds of calvinism
6. John Calvin's attack on idolatry
7. Calvin against the nicodemites
8. From iconoclasm to revolution: the political dimensions of the war against idolatry
Conclusion
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]