By any reckoning the Reformation has proved a giant among international movements of modern times – a catalyst for dramatic changes in intellectual life, social behavior, and material conditions. The dean of Reformation scholarship, A. G. Dickens, in collaboration with John M. Tonkin, examines the whole field of historical writing on this major segment of modern Western history, from its earliest struggle over the meaning of Christianity to the emergence of larger questions of human freedom, the development of objective attitudes, and research into social-religious structures. The Reformation in Historical Thought will become the standard critical guide to the main developments of Reformation studies, as well as a stimulus to further research. Its vast scope and penetrating analysis will make it a classic of early modern European intellectual history.