Reformation and the Culture of Persuasion

Why did people choose the Reformation? What was it in the evangelical teaching that excited, moved or persuaded them? Andrew Pettegree here re-examines the reasons that moved millions to this decisive and traumatic break with a shared Christian past. He explores the different media of conversion through which the Reformation message was communicated and imbibed - the role of drama, sermons, song and the book - and offers a persuasive new answer to the critical question of how the Reformation could succeed as a mass movement in an age before mass literacy.