★已授權英、美、巴、荷

一部關於基督新教運動的重量級新史——基督新教史，即是現代世界史。

今天全人類人口大約有十分之一是新教徒，比例仍在上升。然而其他十分之九的人亦與基督新教攸戚相關，因為過去五百年以來多數歷史上的重大變革經常歸因，或怪罪於，基督新教：從自由主義到資本主義，從帝國主義到基本教義派，宗教寬容與排異，科學、工業、民主……這只是一小部份而已。

2017年是宗教改革五百週年，從一所德國大學不知名教授發動的連續小抗爭開始，意外促成一種全新形式的基督教，影響力席捲全球。《Protestants》述說基督新教的歷史，從在歐洲剛起步時就有所分歧，脆弱不穩；到後來以國教的強勢建制主宰歐洲，及衍生的問題；到捲入英國與美國的革命，其後更加分道揚鑣。乃至進入現代後的諸多矛盾，基督教協助催生了自由主義，又持續與其角力（有時反抗）；對於帝國與獨裁者，基督教既反對又支持；基督教豐沛而躁動的能量持續在今日社會中激起憤怒，有時又藉以平息爭端。

世世代代的保守派與傳統主義者與激進分子及改革派上演無止盡的爭執，後者以神為名，不惜摧毀傳統及根深柢固的悠久正統體制。簡言之，基督新教始終位於定義了每個世代的衝突鋒口——因此， 基督新教史，即是一部現代世界史！

Alec Ryrie is Professor of Christianity at Durham University and a first class honours graduate of the University of Oxford. He has written many books and articles on the Reformation in England and Scotland, including the prize-winning Being Protestant in Reformation Britain. He is the co-editor of the Journal of Ecclesiastical History and a licensed lay preacher in the Church of England.

He lives in a moorland village in the North of England with his wife and two sons and he ministers in a nearby rural parish.

“Learned and lively… Ryrie credits Protestants with playing significant roles in the spread of free speech and the placement of conscience ahead of government dictates. Throughout the sweeping narrative, he offers his well-considered opinions about how the Bible fits into the teachings of various Protestant denominations.... Rarely has an author of such deep faith offered such a tolerant, engaging history of any religion.”
–Kirkus review (starred)

“What a treat this book is. Its scholarship showcases one of the leading historians of Protestantism writing today, but the delight of it is the crisp prose, the quiet, cool wit, the wise judgements and the sheer scope from the gates of Wittenberg to the streets of Seoul. Alec Ryrie has a gift for showing how the history of religion is the history of people, in all their glorious, baffling, frightening and endearing variety.”
– Diarmaid MacCulloch, author of Reformation and Christianity


"In this compelling and sweeping book, Alec Ryrie charts the history of one of the greatest forces in the making of modernity: the rise of the Protestant faith and ethos. Without it, one is hard-pressed to envision the spread of capitalism or of democracy. Ryrie writes that his aim here 'is to persuade you that we cannot understand the modern age without understanding the dynamic history of Protestant Christianity.' To which I reply: Mission accomplished."
– Jon Meacham, Pulitzer prize winning author of American Lion and Thomas Jefferson