Author: Martin Luther, Phillip Melanchthon, Hulyrich Zwingli, John Calvin, Girolamo Savonarola
Series: History's Great Speeches #9
Narrator: Charles Featherstone
Unabridged: 3 hr 25 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Findaway Voices
Published: 10/19/2023
Genre: History - Europe
Includes: Bonus PDF
Martin Luther and John Calvin are household names, of a type where people have no idea about them other than knowing their importance in Christian thought and culture. It is surprising, therefore, how closely their language and concerns reflect modern times. Martin Luther was a rabble-rousing man of the people, filled with invective and the emotional force of connecting with humanity rather than culture or wealth. John Calvin’s sardonic sense of humour permeates a constant barrage of mythbusting that would do a modern-day fact checker proud.
Three less well-known writers round out the collection. Zwingli, Melancthon and Savonarola all preach with a force befitting true Christians fighting against the vast powers of a Catholic church that was the most powerful entity in Europe, and had consolidated a wide range of practices that broke the people away from an experience of divinity.
Savonarola speaks with the voice of a travelling preacher, a man of the people whose voice matched that of Eugene Debs. Zwingli spoke with a proud nationalism and pride that was wounded by the use of foreign armies, when the land could provide for all its citizens if managed correctly. Melancthon is an academic, providing a point-by-point deconstruction of the Pope’s claimed powers in ways that were irrefutable even for the Jesuit strains that held the Catholic Church’s intellectual force.
Just as with the liberation fighters, socialists, and anarchists of previous volumes, these historical figures lived under great threat, attacking vast forces with little more than courage and the certainty of their beliefs. They stand as the bridge over the cultural change between the middle ages and the renaissance.
Much can be said for a nation as proud and ancient as Wales. It is a nation that reaches far back into the shadows of history, from where it struggled to retain its freedom and proud culture. Of Celtic and Brittonic origins, the Welsh people were al...
If you want to discover the captivating history of the Celts, then pay attention...Today, the word Celtic means so many things. To most of us, it means something related to Ireland. We think of intricately designed Irish crosses, four-leaf clovers, ...
The perfect St. Patrick's Day gift, and a book in the best tradition of popular history -- the untold story of Ireland's role in maintaining Western culture while the Dark Ages settled on Europe. Every year millions of Americans celebrate St. Patric...
Yeats is widely regarded as one of the most important English-language writers of the 20th century. A hero of the pen rather than the sword. A Nobel Prize winner for Literature and a two-term senator of the Irish Free State, Yeats lived a full, acti...
The history of the Scottish nation is full to the brim with glorious heroes and epic struggles. Throughout the centuries of its fight for independence, Scotland gave birth to some truly exceptional men and women, who went above and beyond the call o...
Few are those that have not heard of the fearsome Vikings and their daring exploits. These Northern seafarers, the scourge of the Middle Ages, left their mark on the world’s history in a grand fashion. Courageous, defiant, and driven by the de...
A great nation needs a great leader. Just like a ship needs a capable captain, so does a proud and sovereign nation need a competent king to lead it through the tumultuous waves of history. Alas, history taught us that capable leaders are ...
About empty thrones, a lot can be said. Throughout history, both ancient and near modern, a lack of an heir and the sudden death of a beloved monarch always meant trouble. When the position of a king is up for grabs, a lot of eager hands come forwar...
The French Revolution of the late 1790s was one of the critical events in the history of Europe. It was the defining moment - a historic landslide that ushered the world into a new, completely different epoch. Alas, all such changes come at a great ...