The Two Reformations: The Journey from the Last Days to the New World

In this last collection of his vital controversial and accessible writings Heiko A. Oberman seeks to liberate and broaden our understanding of the European Reformation from its origins in medieval philosophy and theology through the Puritan settlers who brought Calvin's vision to the New World. Ranging over many topics Oberman finds fascinating connections between aspects of the Reformation and twentieth-century history and thought--most notably the connection to Nazism and the Holocaust. He revisits his earlier work on the history of anti-Semitism rejects the notion of an unbroken line from Luther to Hitler to the Holocaust and offers a new perspective on the Christian legacy of anti-Semitism and its murderous result in the twentieth century.

Oberman demonstrates how the simplifications and rigidities of modern historiography have obscured the existential spirits of such great figures as Luther and Calvin. He explores the debt of both Luther and Calvin to medieval religious thought and the impact of diverse features of "the long fifteenth century"--including the Black Death nominalism humanism and the Conciliar Movement--on the Reformation.

The late Heiko A. Oberman, one of the twentieth century’s great historians of the Reformation, was at the time of his death Regents’ Professor of History at the University of Arizona. He was the author of many books, including the definitive biography of Martin Luther, Luther: Man Between God and the Devil. Donald Weinstein is professor emeritus of the Department of History at the University of Arizona.