Centuries on, what the Reformation was and what it accomplished remain deeply contentious. Peter Marshall’s sweeping new history—the first major overview for general readers in a generation—argues that sixteenth-century England was a society neither desperate for nor allergic to change, but one open to ideas of “reform” in various competing guises. King Henry VIII wanted an orderly, uniform Reformation, but his actions opened a Pandora’s Box from which pluralism and diversity flowed and rooted themselves in English life.
With sensitivity to individual experience as well as masterfully synthesizing historical and institutional developments, Marshall frames the perceptions and actions of people great and small, from monarchs and bishops to ordinary families and ecclesiastics, against a backdrop of profound change that altered the meanings of “religion” itself. This engaging history reveals what was really at stake in the overthrow of Catholic culture and the reshaping of the English
The Reverend Dr. Peter Marshall was a Scottish-American preacher, and twice served as Chaplain of the United States Senate.
Born in Coatbridge (North Lanarkshire), Scotland, Marshall heard a strong calling to the ministry at a young age. Despite having no money, he nevertheless migrated to New York in 1927 when he was 24. He graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary in 1931, when he became the pastor of First Presbyterian Church, a small, rural church in Covington, Georgia. After a brief pastorate, Marshall accepted a call to Atlanta's Westminster Presbyterian Church in 1933. It was in Atlanta that he met his future wife, Catherine Wood, a student at Agnes Scott College whom he married in 1936. Marshall became pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. in 1937 and was appointed twice as U.S. Senate Chaplain, serving from January 4, 1947 until his sudden death just over two years later. He was 46 years old.
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