Why read Monks, Miracles and Magic?

Book cover of Monks, Miracles and Magic: Reformation Representations of the Medieval Church

Book description

Helen L. Parish presents an innovative new study of Reformation attitudes to medieval Christianity, revealing the process by which the medieval past was rewritten by Reformation propagandists. This fascinating account sheds light on how the myths and legends of the middle ages were reconstructed, reinterpreted, and formed into a historical…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Monks, Miracles and Magic as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Harriet Lyon

Author

This book explores post-Reformation attitudes to the medieval past, which was continuously debated and rewritten according to the shifting religious landscape of the sixteenth century and beyond.

Helen Parish’s work helped me to see the merits and benefits of crossing the rather arbitrary divide between the medieval and early modern periods, since it so deftly places medieval and Reformation sources in dialogue.

Her book also makes fascinating reading for anyone wanting to better understand reformed Protestantism as a culture of adaptation and accommodation, as much as of destruction and the outright rejection of the Catholic past.

From Harriet's list on The best books about the impact of the English Reformation.