Overview

Religious War and Religious Peace in Early Modern Europe presents a novel account of the origins of religious pluralism in Europe. Combining comparative historical analysis with contentious political analysis, it surveys six clusters of increasingly destructive religious wars between 1529 and 1651, analyzes the diverse settlements that brought these wars to an end, and describes the complex religious peace that emerged from two centuries of experimentation in accommodating religious differences. Rejecting the older authoritarian interpretations of the age of religious wars, the author uses traditional documentary sources as well as photographic evidence to show how a broad range Europeans - from authoritative elites to a colorful array of religious 'dissenters' - replaced the cultural 'unity and purity' of late-medieval Christendom with a variable and durable pattern of religious diversity, deeply embedded in political, legal, and cultural institutions.

Full Product Details

9781107088436

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Wayne P. Te Brake's comparative approach to religious war and peace across northwestern Europe after the Protestant Reformation offers a newly coherent language for understanding how Europeans learned - in complex and messy ways - to live side-by-side with those they viewed as 'heretics.' In a modern world facing new threats of religious war, Te Brake's clear-eyed yet optimistic interpretation of past generations' struggle to find religious peace will interest many readers - enhanced by his creative use of visual representations of religious co-existence from across the divided continent.' Randolph C. Head, University of California, Riverside 'Religious War and Religious Peace in Early Modern Europe brilliantly brings together three phenomena, which are usually treated separately: the dynamics of religious wars, the complex processes of religious peace-building, and the conditions for religious coexistence in early modern Europe. This is a highly stimulating contribution to both historical and present peace and conflict research.' Dagmar Freist, Carl von Ossietzky Universitat, Oldenburg, Germany

Advance praise: 'Wayne P. Te Brake's comparative approach to religious war and peace across northwestern Europe after the Protestant Reformation offers a newly coherent language for understanding how Europeans learned - in complex and messy ways - to live side-by-side with those they viewed as 'heretics.' In a modern world facing new threats of religious war, Te Brake's clear-eyed yet optimistic interpretation of past generations' struggle to find religious peace will interest many readers - enhanced by his creative use of visual representations of religious co-existence from across the divided continent.' Randolph C. Head, University of California, Riverside Advance praise: 'Religious War and Religious Peace in Early Modern Europe brilliantly brings together three phenomena, which are usually treated separately: the dynamics of religious wars, the complex processes of religious peace-building, and the conditions for religious coexistence in early modern Europe. This is a highly stimulating contribution to both historical and present peace and conflict research.' Dagmar Freist, Carl von Ossietzky Universitat, Oldenburg, Germany

Author Information

Wayne Te Brake is Professor of History Emeritus at State University of New York, Purchase, and an affiliated faculty member of the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life at Columbia University, New York. He is the author of Shaping History: Ordinary People in European Politics, 1500–1700 and Regents and Rebels: The Revolutionary World of an Eighteenth Century Dutch City, as well as a range of articles and book chapters on the comparative history of popular politics, religious contention, and revolution in early modern Europe. He has lectured extensively in both Europe and North America, and has taught an experimental, collaborative course on religion and politics at Koç University, Istanbul.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available