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Article: Religion booknotes.(Burning to Read: English Fundamentalism and Its Reformation Opponents, Four Ways of Holiness for the Universal Church: Drawn from the Monastic Tradition, The Teachings of Modern Orthodox Christianity on Law, Politics, and Human Nature and Disciples of All Nations Pillars of World Christianity )(Book review)
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- September 26, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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According to the standard argument of Protestant historiography, the sixteenth-century struggle to provide a vernacular Bible, with the corresponding doctrine that each person can come to a knowledge of faith sola scriptura, was a pivotal moment in Western culture. The reformers scored an early victory for what some would later come to call "liberalism" by striking down all mediating authorities dictating who could read and what they should get out of that reading.
Burning to Read
English Fundamentalism and
Its Reformation Opponents
James Simpson
Belknap Press/Harvard University Press,
$27.95, 363 pp.