Out of Darkness

What kind of world stood behind Martin Luther’s challenge in 1517? Out of Darkness looks beyond the familiar beginning of the Protestant Reformation to examine the centuries of upheaval that preceded it.

John L. Wheeler traces the pressures bearing down on medieval Europe: famine, the Black Death, prolonged warfare, political instability, and declining confidence in religious institutions. Against this troubled background, the book follows early voices of reform, including John Wycliffe and Jan Huss, before turning to the conditions that helped the sixteenth-century Reformation spread.

The printing press, resistance to papal authority, and calls for a return to Scripture form part of a story reaching beyond theological debate. The book considers the Reformation’s influence on education, literacy, government, and the relationship between church and state.

Written for readers interested in Christian history and the forces that shaped the modern world, Out of Darkness presents the Reformation within its broader human setting. It tells of a civilization in crisis, the emergence of reform, and changes whose significance extended far beyond medieval Europe.