The Churches

The present volume focuses on 'internal church reform', defined as 'the pursuit of reform within the church, by the church and for the church'. The main themes are outlined in an introduction by Joris van Eijnatten and Paula Yates. There is then a series of country-by-country chapters, each written by a scholar from the country in question. [...]
Readers might wish for a concluding chapter with systematic comparisons. But the many excellent contributions will give them the material to make their own comparisons.
English Historical Review 2013 128: 176-178, HUGH McLEOD, University of Birmingham

Both volumes present valuable coverage of a range of country cases which few individual readers, if any, can be fully conversant with. The particularity of each is remarkable despite some affinities to be found among the contiguous countries of Great Britain and Ireland, the Low Countries, and the Nordic group respectively. The main essays provide useful works of reference made all the more useful for those who would want to delve further into the matters covered by the addition of bibliographies of works in the relevant languages as well as in English.
JOHN T.S. MADELEY, London School of Economic and Political Science, Politics, Religion and Ideology

Dubbelrecensie 'The dynamics of religious reform'
Keith Robbins ed., Political and Legal Perspectives en Joris van Eijnatten en Paula Yates ed., The Churches
Wel maken deze twee bundels duidelijk dat met een verbreding van de geschiedschrijving over religie veel winst te behalen valt. In een dergelijke verbreding slagen de bundels ten eerste door de geschiedenis van religieuze gemeenschappen niet tot de geschiedenis van kerken te reduceren. Ten tweede toont de eerste bundel ook aan dat een expliciete verbinding van religie en macht meer inzicht kan bieden in de manier waarop de plaats van religie in de moderne samenleving is veranderd.
Peter van Dam, Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis, 2012, nr 4
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Both of these volumes represent a major and unprecedented exercise in the comparative history of church reform during the nineteenth century and both employ the talents of a distinguished and international body of historians.
Though impressive in scope, these volumes are nevertheless accessible, with each chapter being followed by a useful bibliography. While their balance and geographical coverage may be open to question, these volumes represent the first contributions to a series which already shows considerable promise and which will no doubt serve as a major resource for the study of European religious life in the nineteenth century.
Michael Snape, University of Birmingham, UK, European History Quarterly 2013 43: 390

The present volume focuses on 'internal church reform', defined as 'the pursuit of reform within the church, by the church and for the church'. The main themes are outlined in an introduction by Joris van Eijnatten and Paula Yates. There is then a series of country-by-country chapters, each written by a scholar from the country in question. [...]
Readers might wish for a concluding chapter with systematic comparisons. But the many excellent contributions will give them the material to make their own comparisons.

English Historical Review 2013 128: 176-178, HUGH McLEOD, University of Birmingham

Both of these volumes represent a major and unprecedented exercise in the comparative history of church reform during the nineteenth century and both employ the talents of a distinguished and international body of historians.
Though impressive in scope, these volumes are nevertheless accessible, with each chapter being followed by a useful bibliography. While their balance and geographical coverage may be open to question, these volumes represent the first contributions to a series which already shows considerable promise and which will no doubt serve as a major resource for the study of European religious life in the nineteenth century.
Michael Snape, University of Birmingham, UK, European History Quarterly 2013 43: 390