Luther was by no means the first Christian to claim to be a reformer, Carlos Eire tells Greg Daly   Until the 1970s almost all historical writing about the Reformation was written from a confessional standpoint, according to Yale’s Prof. Carlos Eire. Since then, though, serious efforts at objectivity have been more commonplace, he says,…

Pope Francis’ praise 
for Luther continues the work of his predecessor, writes Greg Daly   Pope Francis’ praise for Martin Luther ahead of and during his visit to Lund last year – notably when he said that Luther’s intentions and his understanding of justification were not mistaken – may have sounded startling to some ears,…

If Luther created our world, he didn’t mean to, Brad Gregory tells Greg Daly   It’s something of a cliché to say that Martin Luther never intended to create the storm he generated, and that matters took their own momentum, but for Brad Gregory, this could hardly be more true. “Luther initially was just objecting…

The idea of indulgences has profoundly biblical roots, Greg Daly writes.   One of the Reformation’s greatest ruptures was its transformation of how Christians saw relations between the living and the dead: for those who embraced the ideas of Luther and the other Reformers, it was no longer possible to ask the saints in Heaven…

Ecumenism is more important than ever now, Cardinal Anders Arborelius tells Greg Daly   “We were of course very honoured and happy that the Holy Father could come here, and I think this has some historical reasons,” Cardinal Anders Arborelius tells The Irish Catholic of Pope Francis’ decision to visit the Swedish city of Lund last…

An award-winning novel is accused of getting Reformation England profoundly wrong, Greg Daly reports   Cambridge University’s Dr Richard Rex believes the award-winning bestseller Wolf Hall contains “some pretty major blunders” for “a work which aspires to a high level of historical accuracy”, but is quick to stress his awareness that historical fiction requires a…