Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution—A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First

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Alister McGrath's  Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution--A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First  is a very concise history of Protestantism from its beginnings just before the medieval ages until about 2007. It could be a supplemental textbook or reference for seminary students because it has enough historical, theological, and technical details of that era to give students a good grounding on Christian history, but not too technical that an ordinary Christian wanting to know how we ended up with so many Christians denominations cannot understand.Mr. McGrath starts with the premise that Protestantism began with Martin Luther's dangerous idea, i.e., that Christians can read and interpret the Bible for themselves. As time passed and Christians realized they did not have to fall under the authority of the Roman Catholic Church for their understanding of the Bible, they also realized that they did not have to be under the authority of other theologians or Christian leaders for their interpretation or understanding of the Bible either. This gave rise to Christians' new-found apparent freedom in setting up new churches (denominations) or groups whose members believed what they want to believe based on various individuals' interpretation of Scripture. McGrath shows how several different groups of Christians could correctly interpret and understand the same key doctrinal verses in the Bible in different ways yet still remain true and within the bounds of the intended meaning of the disputed verses. Christians dividing and separating on doctrinal demarcation lines over differences of interpretation and understanding of the same verses gave rise to different denominations, sometimes within the same denominations themselves (e.g., different Baptist groups, Presbyterian groups, Methodist, or Lutheran groups). Implicit in McGrath's book is the development of the Protestant notion of Scriptural authority lying outside the Bible (sometimes even outside of God) and is in the hands of ordinary Christian believers---as opposed to the Catholic church's view which has always stressed that Scriptural authority flows from God to the Catholic church through the Pope hand-in-hand with what the Catholic church terms "spiritual tradition" (another name for Catholic practices that include the 7 sacraments) as passed down through the apostolic fathers.Though it talks about theological matters, this book is mainly an informative and historical book. It does not examine what, if any, role God or the Holy Spirit played in believers during the rise of Protestantism. It does not tell us if the Holy Spirit is considered to be the divine inspiration behind Luther's "dangerous idea" or of any of the other theologians or Christians who later started new Protestant denominations themselves. Even when discussing the Great Awakenings and the rise of Pentecostalism, McGrath objectively describes the Holy Spirit's incidental role only as viewed through the eyes of and felt by the people during those significant periods in Christian history. I believe this is only appropriate because this book is, after all, a book about history. Its main difference between other history books is that it puts the major events of world history in their proper contexts, especially since several significant historical events that spawned revolutions and gave rise to dominant patterns of modern thinking had their roots in the upheavals Protestantism itself caused.Overall, this is a very good book for the Christian enthusiast who wishes to have a well-rounded, non-partisan view of how Christianity got to where it is now. McGrath writes well and clearly builds on his foundational premise one chapter at a time. My only quibble is that McGrath peppers the beginning of every other 10 or so sentences with the word "Yet" so that as you go on reading, you can't help but notice that you've been reading so many "yet"s that the word begins to stick out and sometimes ruins his sentence flow.

Alister McGrath's latest book has been a long time in the making, and the end result certainly shows the care and meticulous attention he spent on the project. Christianity's Dangerous Idea is not only valuable as a history and examination of Protestantism, it is an especially good book on what it means to be a Protestant and how that meaning has shifted significantly since the movement's beginning.McGrath divides his book into three large sections. The first deals with the history of Protestantism from the Reformation to 19th century, the end of which marked a major watershed. Because of the complexity of the era and the broad goals which McGrath has set out for his book, his treatment is not exhaustive but is very good nonetheless. The second section deals in some greater detail with the major issues within Protestantism, both historically and today, such as the theories of the sacrament, the organization of Protestant churches, the distinctive traits of Protestantism, and--most interestingly for me--Protestantism's impact on culture, the arts, and science.The final third of the book is perhaps the most important, and examines Protestantism from about 1900 onward. The beginning of the 20th century marks the beginning of the Pentacostal movement, which has grown from a meeting of students and faculty in Kansas to a worldwide movement of perhaps half a billion people. McGrath devotes a great deal of time to examining what has made Pentacostalism so successful--research which I imagine was difficult but rewarding. This section also discusses Protestantism in the "global south" and Asia, as well as the movement's future, which is far from certain.The book's greatest strength is its straightforward, easily comprehensible writing--one of McGrath's trademarks--and its clear organization. Rarely have I seen something as complex as the Reformation dealt with so clearly and evenhandedly. McGrath deftly handles difficult issues, presenting all sides with pros and cons as simply as possible.I have already mentioned the book's only major weakness, which is posed by the limits of time and space. No single book can handle such a broad, difficult subject exhaustively. But within the limits set by his subject, McGrath has admirably crafted a detailed, thoughtful book on one of the most important religious movements in history.Recommended.

This book is excellent. Alister McGrath walks the reader through It explains the mysterious why behind Protestantism. That is something few others want to contemplate. To many slip into this fallacy that all faiths are equal. After you read this book you won't believe that lie anymore.The author starts out this journey with the words of the founder, Martin Luther. Then the reader is taken through the history of the faith all the way to current day. He does this in an easy way few other books come close to. The reader will learn a lot about theology through this trip. He also cites supurbly stories that show how Protestantism impacted America. The first colony that survived, Jamestown put a religious reference to the church of England in the Charter. Then you learn about the tremendous impact the great awakenings had on this country since before we were a country.I was also intrigued about how the faith is growing nowadays and dying here in this country. The author explains this growth in terms of culture events. That adds even more luster to the tail. A good example is South Korea. That land had 800,000 Protestants in 1957, then 5,294,000 in 78.Through this we are seeing some change in the faith.

Christianity's Dangerous IdeaAlister McGrath, Prof. of Historical Theology at Oxford University, is a prolific writer. His recent book is entitled Christianity's Dangerous Idea: the Protestant Revolution from the sixteenth Century to the twenty-first.What's this "dangerous idea"?So what was this "dangerous idea"? Some might say-- "justification by faith alone." McGrath argues there's a more basic and radical idea. "The idea that lay at the heart of the sixteenth century Reformation... was that the Bible is capable of being understood by all Christian believers--that they all have the right to interpret it and to insist upon their perspectives being taken seriously ...The dangerous new idea... was that all Christians have the right to interpret the Bible for themselves." [p. 2]What was this idea's impact?What was the impact of this "dangerous idea"? McGrath contends that Martin "Luther's radical doctrine of the `priesthood of all believers' empowered individual believers. It was a radical, dangerous idea that bypassed the idea that a centralized authority had the right to interpret the Bible. There was no centralized authority, no clerical monopoly on biblical interpretation." [p. 3] Even today the Roman Catholic Church claims this monopoly. In Catholicism, the individual Christian has neither the right nor the responsibility to interpret the Bible and declare its meaning. The Protestant Reformation restored that right to every believer. This (McGrath says) was its core concept which generated 500 years of growth and adaption in (non-Catholic) Christianity-- the missionary movement, the church's rapid rise in the global South, the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement, etc.Why is it "dangerous"?But why does McGrath call this idea "dangerous"? What's the "down side"? McGrath contends that "this new approach was dangerous and ultimately uncontrollable" [p. 3] Events in Germany [the Peasants' War (1525)] convinced Luther that "if every individual was able to interpret the Bible as he pleased, the outcome can only be anarchy and radical religious individualism." [p. 3] It is "dangerous" because "Protestantism is uncontrollable." [p. 477] Among Catholics the Vatican limits innovation in biblical interpretation and practice. But among Protestants, "with no centralized Protestant validating agency equivalent to the Vatican, there is no enforceable means by which... innovation can be controlled." [p. 472] How can deviations from orthodox belief and practice be controlled? "Without an overarching authority... opposing sides on controversial issues can only appeal to the Bible--yet the Bible is open to many diverse interpretations," says McGrath. Hence, "Protestantism is uncontrollable."Is this Christianity's `Achilles Tendon'?Has McGrath found Christianity's `Achilles Heel,' the fatal flaw among Protestants and evangelicals? From a human viewpoint it might appear so. But this ignores God's presence among his people via the Holy Spirit. There's no need for man's "centralized power," "validating agency" or "institutionalized authority," if believers heed God's Spirit. The Ark of the Covenant didn't need a human hand to steady it, as Uzzah discovered (2 Sam. 6:6-7). As Christians today we have the Scriptures in our hand and the Holy Spirit in our hearts; our God is living. The Christian path is marked by a dynamic interaction between God and His people in an unfolding environment. "Every location, every generation, every challenge forces the community of faith to reread the Bible, asking what it might have to say in this situation that it did not say in other situations." [p. 466] Here McGrath nails it! With the Spirit of Truth guiding us (John 16:13) we will progress along the path of God's purpose to his goal.Nigel TomesAlister E. McGrath, Christianity's Dangerous Idea: the Protestant Revolution from the sixteenth Century to the twenty-first, HarperOne, 2007, 552 pp