The Birth of Modern Belief: Faith and Judgment from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment

— —

Ethan H. Shagan

The Birth of Modern Belief

Faith and Judgment from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment

Ethan H. Shagan

$62.99

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Princeton University Pres
19 March 2019

European history; Medieval history; Religion & beliefs; History of religion; Protestantism & Protestant Churches; Christian theology

An illuminating history of how religious belief lost its uncontested status in the West.

This landmark book traces the history of belief in the Christian West from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, revealing for the first time how a distinctively modern category of belief came into being. Ethan Shagan focuses not on what people believed, which is the normal concern of Reformation history, but on the more fundamental question of what people took belief to be.

Shagan shows how religious belief enjoyed a special prestige in medieval Europe, one that set it apart from judgment, opinion, and the evidence of the senses. But with the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation, the question of just what kind of knowledge religious belief was - and how it related to more mundane ways of knowing - was forced into the open. As the warring churches fought over the answer, each claimed belief as their exclusive possession, insisting that their rivals were unbelievers. Shagan challenges the common notion that modern belief was a gift of the Reformation, showing how it was as much a reaction against Luther and Calvin as it was against the Council of Trent. He describes how dissidents on both sides came to regard religious belief as something that needed to be justified by individual judgment, evidence, and argument.

Brilliantly illuminating, The Birth of Modern Belief demonstrates how belief came to occupy such an ambivalent place in the modern world, becoming the essential category by which we express our judgments about science, society, and the sacred, but at the expense of the unique status religion once enjoyed.

By: Ethan H. Shagan
Imprint: Princeton University Pres
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm,
ISBN: 9780691174747
ISBN 10: 0691174741
Pages: 404
Publication Date: 19 March 2019
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Ethan Shagan is Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Popular Politics and the English Reformation (Cambridge University Press, 2003), Catholics and the 'Protestant Nation': Religious Politics and Identity in Early Modern England (Manchester University Press, 2005), and The Rule of Moderation: Violence, Religion and the Politics of Restraint in Early Modern England (Cambridge University Press, 2011).

Reviews for The Birth of Modern Belief: Faith and Judgment from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment

"""Shagan . . . traces the surprisingly complicated evolving meaning of belief in this engrossing intellectual history. . . . This impressive unpacking of the now-common-sense understanding of knowledge glides smoothly through its arguments and provides useful insights for scholars in religion and beyond."" * Publishers Weekly * ""If we care about [the] history [of belief] . . . this book is a terrific place to begin.""---Alec Ryrie, Church Times ""The Birth of Modern Belief is an eminently important book that also happens to be excellently written. It is a highly valuable contribution to religious studies’ ongoing debates over the concept of belief, and it should be read by not only anyone interested in the concept—although they especially should read it—but by just about anyone working in the study of religion.""---Jason Blum, Reading Religion ""This game-changing book will alter the way you understand the history and nature of belief in the West from the Middle Ages to our own time."" * Paradigm Explorer * ""A fine and important book.""---Dominic Erdozain, Modern Believing"