Benjamin Wiker

Wiker deftly and with simplicity shows the factors that led to the Luther's Reformation, how the reformation of the Christian Church has continued and developed to modern times. The Christian Church is always reforming due to cultural changes and theological challenges in order to maintain unity in its theological beliefs and as a religious society amidst diverse culture. However, the Reformation, and the reformations that followed, have always led to further divisions and breakups with the ruling religious structures to the point where we now have more than 200 Christian denominations in the America alone.

Wiker seems to contend that the underlying factors that led to the Reformation, e.g., paganism, Catholic abuses, Islam, etc., will, ironically, at least in America, lead the divided Christian Church to put aside theological differences (while, nevertheless, maintaining the Nicene Creed that unites it) and form a united front against the challenges and persecutions that would rise up.

Wiker provides a concise (only 189 pages), clear, and simplistic yet accurate understanding of the Reformation, the events and causes that led to it and the results that followed after to modern times. Wiker's account would be of interest to anyone studying or just wanting to no more about Luther's Reformation.… (más)

2017 is the 500th year anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing his Ninety-five Theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, the event marking the beginning of the Reformation—and the end of unified Christianity. For Catholics, it was an unjustified rebellion by the heterodox. For Protestants, it was the release of true and purified Christianity from centuries-old enslavement to corruption, idolatry, and error. So what is the truth about the Reformation? To mark the 500th anniversary, historian Benjamin Wiker gives us 12 Things You Need to Know About the Reformation, a straight-forward account of the world-changing event that rejects the common distortions of Catholic, Protestant, Marxist, Freudian, or secularist retellings.… (más)

Books abour politics, or about religion tend to be judged based on the bias of the reader. A book might be considered "excellent" if it supports your personal persuasion, or "awful" if contrary to your beliefs. And that may have little to do with how well researched, or how well written the book might be. So I believe it's probably nearly impossible to objectively rate books on these subjects, but I'm really trying.

Try as I did, I just couldn't get into this book. I was hoping for a book which would convince me of the author's beliefs and the strengths of his arguements. Separating out the passages which one accepts on faith alone, I found many of the authors statements just weren't adequately supported, or got lost in the jargon. I thought the book was filled with too many generalizations and stereotypes which just don't stand on their own. I tried quitting the book about 25% into it, but saw that it was generally very highly regarded, so I continued until I got about 50% into the book. But at that point, I gave up. If you want to be convinced on the merits, you may not like the book, if you're looking for reinforcement of existing conservative perspectives, and can drink the cool-aid, you may well love the book.… (más)