Divided by Faith: Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe - Hardcover

Kaplan, Benjamin J.

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9780674024304: Divided by Faith: Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0674024303 ISBN 13: 9780674024304
Publisher: Belknap Press, 2007

Synopsis

As religious violence flares around the world, we are confronted with an acute dilemma: Can people coexist in peace when their basic beliefs are irreconcilable? Benjamin Kaplan responds by taking us back to early modern Europe, when the issue of religious toleration was no less pressing than it is today.

Divided by Faith begins in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, when the unity of western Christendom was shattered, and takes us on a panoramic tour of Europe's religious landscape--and its deep fault lines--over the next three centuries. Kaplan's grand canvas reveals the patterns of conflict and toleration among Christians, Jews, and Muslims across the continent, from the British Isles to Poland. It lays bare the complex realities of day-to-day interactions and calls into question the received wisdom that toleration underwent an evolutionary rise as Europe grew more "enlightened." We are given vivid examples of the improvised arrangements that made peaceful coexistence possible, and shown how common folk contributed to toleration as significantly as did intellectuals and rulers. Bloodshed was prevented not by the high ideals of tolerance and individual rights upheld today, but by the pragmatism, charity, and social ties that continued to bind people divided by faith.

Divided by Faith is both history from the bottom up and a much-needed challenge to our belief in the triumph of reason over faith. This compelling story reveals that toleration has taken many guises in the past and suggests that it may well do the same in the future.

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About the Author

Benjamin J. Kaplan is Professor of Dutch History, University College London and the University of Amsterdam.

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Publisher
Belknap Press
Publication date
2007
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0674024303
ISBN 13 
9780674024304
Binding
Hardcover
Edition number
1
Number of pages
432
Rating
  • 4.01 out of 5 stars
    156 ratings by Goodreads

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780674034730: Divided by Faith: Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0674034732 ISBN 13:  9780674034730
Publisher: Belknap Press, 2009
Softcover