In The Division of Christendom, revered historian Hans J. Hillerbrand details the events and ideas of the sixteenth century and contends that the Protestant Reformation must be seen as an interplay of religious, political, and economic forces in which religion played a major role. Hillerbrand tells the fascinating story of the ways in which theological disagreements divided the centuries-old Christian church and the roles that leading characters such as Luther, Zwingli, Anabaptists, and Calvin played in establishing new churches, even as Roman Catholicism continued to develop in its own ways. The book covers all significant aspects of this period and interprets these important events in their own context while reflecting on the consequences of the Reformation for later periods and for today.
Hans J. Hillerbrand is a distinguished Reformation historian who is the author of a number of books on the sixteenth century, many of which have become standard texts. He is Professor of Religion at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He has served as President of the American Society of Church History and the American Academy of Religion, and was editor of The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation and The Encyclopedia of Protestantism.