Abstract
Diarmaid MacCulloch, a gifted historian and recipient of many book prizes for his exceptional scholarship, does not disappoint in his recent book All Things Made New. In witty and clear prose, MacCulloch makes the story of the Protestant reformations—the English Reformation in particular—accessible to a wide audience beyond specialists in early modern history. The only thing that might disappoint is that the book is not new work from MacCulloch; rather, it is a compilation of several substantial pieces previously published in various journals and edited volumes. Nonetheless, the placement of these essays into a single book provides a service far beyond the convenience of having them in one place. The essays interconnect brilliantly to deliver detailed studies of Henry VIII, Thomas Cranmer, the Tudor queens, William Byrd, and Richard Hooker, as well as analyses of the significant texts of the Book of Common Prayer, the King James Bible, and The Bay Psalm Book. They also work collectively to speak to larger topics and questions in Reformation studies, effecting a deep coherence of content and purpose across the book.
All Things Made New has three parts. Part I consists of six brief chapters that tackle subjects ranging from the Protestant reformers’ views of angels and of the Virgin Mary and analyses of John Calvin, the Council of Trent, and the Italian Inquisition. These six essays serve to deepen an overarching theme of the book concerning the Protestant reformations’ struggle over issues of authority. Parts II and III focus more directly on the English Reformation and constitute the heart of the book. Part II entails nine chapters that investigate various key figures and texts of the English Reformation. The author argues that King Henry VIII’s principle of balance shaped and illuminated the underlying logic of his policies. Additionally, MacCulloch elucidates Cranmer’s initial use of concord by persuasion followed by concord by coercion when the prior policy failed to reach the desired outcome (thus busting any myth of Cranmer’s so-called “tolerance”). He provides a compelling comparative study between the personalities and policies of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, and his account of William Byrd underwrites a larger argument that the English cathedrals and English choral music were crucial elements that set the English Reformation apart from the continent. Lastly, he illuminates the unifying effects of the King James Bible among Anglicans, English Dissenters, and the Scots.
The last section of the book comprises seven chapters that center around questions of English Reformation historiography, while simultaneously providing an analytical overview of secondary literature on the English Reformation. MacCulloch expertly takes to task several problematic aspects of English Reformation historiography, including efforts to obscure the fact that England had a reformation at all and the ways biographies and reputations can shift according to their various authors and contextual pressures. MacCulloch evidences these biases to illuminate the larger temptations of historians to narrate the story of the past in order to justify the present. He also rebukes avoidance of the study of ideas in Reformation studies as a fatal mistake. Such warnings concerning the historians’ tasks climax in the tale of Robert Ware of Dublin, who forged a set of fictional sources in the seventeenth century that for centuries were received as genuine. Thus, MacCulloch skillfully employs case studies of English Reformation history to crystallize questions concerning responsible practices of research and writing for the historical guild.
The strengths of the book are its illuminating chapters on English Reformation history and even-handed critical analysis of its historiography. The author urges the moral responsibility of historians to resist being misled by bias and “shoddy versions” of history. Moreover, MacCulloch points to the diversity and flexibility of Christianity—and Anglicanism specifically—as a virtuous strength that leaves room for adaptation to new contexts. Thus, the author’s own moral compass emphasizes an account of the forms of Christianity that keep the fact of human sinfulness at the forefront of any claims to truth, and he offers Anglicanism as a possible guide: “It may be that Anglicans will have to realize that it is one of the glories of their tradition that it … depends on the strong clash of opposites and … provides heroes who are examples of human frailty rather than role-models for uncomplicated courage …Such a heritage is a healthy corrective to the common relish of the religiously minded for telling other people what to do—and that corrective may be the diaconal task of Anglicanism within the Christian faith” (278). Such is a worthy cause and also indicates the openly acknowledged predisposition of the book.
G. Sujin Pak
Duke Divinity School