Excellent

Why not use the table of contents from the print version and tie it to the audio?
The "chapters" for the audio are not related to the table of contents.

It would be MUCH easier to refer back to previous topics.

This applies to many/all Audible books.

Thanks.

See below

Introduction

PART I: A COMMON CULTURE

1. The Old Church, 1490-1517
Seeing Salvation in Church. The First Pillar: The Mass and Purgatory. Layfolk at Prayer. The Second Pillar: Papal Primacy. A Pillar Cracks: Politics and the Papacy. Church Versus Commonwealth?

2. Hopes and Fears, 1490-1517
Shifting Boundaries. The Iberian Exception. The Iberian Achievement: The Western Church Exported. New Possibilities: Paper and Printing. Humanism: A New World from Books. Putting Renewal into Practice. Reform or the Last Days? Erasmus: Hopes, Fulfilled, Fears Stilled?

3. New Heaven: New Earth, 1517-24
The Shadow of Augustine. Luther: A Good Monk, 1483-1517. An Accidental Revolution, 1517-21. Whose Revolution? 1521-22. Evangelical Challenges: Zwingli and Radicalism, 1521-22. Zürich and Wittenberg, 1522-24. The Years of Carnival, 1521-24

4. Wooing the Magistrate,1524-40
Europe’s Greatest Rebellion, 1524-25. Princely Churches or Christian Separation, 1525-30. The Birth of Protestantisms, 1529-33. Strassburg: New Rome or New Jerusalem? Kings and Reformers, 1530-40. A New King David? Münster and It’s Aftermath

5. Reunion Deferred: Catholic and Protestant, 1530-60
A Southern Revival. Ignatius Loyola and the Early Jesuits. Hopes for a Deal: The 1541-42 Crisis. A Council at Trent: The First Session, 1545-49. Calvin in Geneva: The Reformed Answer to Münster . Calvin and the Eucharist: Protestant Divisions Confirmed. Reformed Protestantism: Alternatives to Calvin, 1540-60

6. Reunion Scorned, 1547-70
Crisis for the Habsburgs, 1547-55. 1555: An Emperor’s Exhaustion, a Pope’s Obsession. A Catholic Recovery: England, 1553-58. 1558-59: Turning Points for Dynasties. The Last Session of the Council of Trent, 1561-63. Protestants in Arms: France and the Low Countries, 1562-70

PART II: EUROPE DIVIDED: 1570-1619

7. The New Europe Defined, 1569-72
Northern and Southern Religion. Tridentine Successes. The Catholic Defense of Christendom, 1565-71. Militant Northern Protestants, 1569-72. The Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 1572. Poland 1569-76: An Alternative Future? Protestantism and Providence

8. The North: Protestant Heartlands
Defining Lutheranism: Toward the Formula of Concord. The “Second Reformation” in Germany. Baltic Religious Contests: Poland-Lithuania and Scandinavia . The Northern Netherlands: Protestant Victory. The Northern Netherlands: The Arminian Crisis . A Reformed Success: Scotland. Elizabethan England: A Reformed Church?. Ireland: The Coming of the Counter-Reformation

9. The South: Catholic Heartlands
Italy: The Counter-Reformation’s Heart. Spain and Portugal: King Philip’s Church. The Counter-Reformation as World Mission

10. Central Europe: Religion Contested
The Empire and Habsburg Lands: A Shattered Church. Habsburgs, Wittlelsbachs, and a Catholic Recovery. Transylvania: A Reformed srael. France: Collapse of a Kingdom, 1572-98. France: A Late Counter-Reformation

11. Decision and Destruction, 1618-48

12. Coda: A British Legacy, 1600-1700
New English Beginnings: Richard Hooker and Lancelot Andrews. Early Stuart England: The Church’s Golden Age? War in Three Kingdoms, 1638-60. A Spectrum of Protestantisms, 1660-1700. American Beginnings

PART III: PATTERNS OF LIFE

13. Changing Times
Time Endings. Hearing God’s Voice. Fighting Antichrist: Idols. Fighting Antichrist: Witches

14. Death, Life, and Discipline
Negotiations with Death and Magic. Telling out the Word. Godly Discipline. A Spirit of Protestantism?

15. Love and Sex: Staying the Same
A Common Legacy. The Family in Society. The Fear of Sodomy

16. Love and Sex: Moving On
The “Reformation of Manners”. Catholicism, the Family and Celibacy. Protestantism and the Family. Choices in Religion

17. Outcomes
Wars of Reformation. Tolerating Difference. Crosscurrents: Humanism and Natural Philosophy. Crosscurrents: Judaism and Doubts. The Enlightenment and Beyond

61 people found this helpful

Now I see why there is no sample ...

What did you like best about The Reformation? What did you like least?

It is a great story so far, but I will have to buy the book.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Reformation?

Sadly, when Anne Flosnik started to speak because I spent the first 5 minutes thinking my Kindle malfunctioned and was reading in the non-Whisper synch robotic voice.

What didn’t you like about Anne Flosnik’s performance?

She took theater 101 I guess. She must have made it through the training on enunciation but quit after that. Literally every syllable is emphasized equally. It sounds just like a robot because she pauses between every syllable. I also had to listen to it at 1.5 times the speed.

Do you think The Reformation needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It couldn't be any longer ...

Any additional comments?

I will buy the book. The fact that I seldom read a book over 200 pages speaks to both the quality of the book and the horrendous narration.

Please get an audio sample up so people can be forewarned about the reader's performance.

38 people found this helpful

Really? That's your narrator?

I am a huge fan of Diarmaid MacCulloch and got this audio book as a supplement to reading the actual book. The narrator makes this impossible. She's the worse. Audible could not have gotten a worse voice to read this awesome work.

The book itself is an incredible tome, mixing an encyclopedic study of the reformation with great storytelling.

35 people found this helpful

A sweeping opus on the 500th anniversary of Luther's 95 Theses

This is the second book I've "read" by the author, the first being "Christianity: The First 3000 Years". He brings together the myriad dramas, convulsions, upheavals, and, most importantly, ideas which shook Medieval Europe to the core. Despite being a faithful adherent to a confessional tradition which traces it's roots through the Reformation period and disagreeing with the author's own presuppositions and conclusions, he presents the narrative fairly, cogently, and with a scholarly nuance that I respect and enjoy. I heartily commend it.

9 people found this helpful

poor narrator

Could not bear the narrator therefore did not finish it. Looking at reviews of the book, looks like it is one of a kind, in depth book. I still cannot find any other good authoritative audiobooks on Reformation, so I emailed the publisher so they consider redoing the voice over with another narrator. Doubt it but I have my fingers crossed.

8 people found this helpful

Poor Narration.

Would you listen to The Reformation again? Why?

I would not listen this audiobook again unless business required it. Its too much work to follow the narrator.

What other book might you compare The Reformation to and why?

Other books address the topic with less depth, but are much easier to listen to.

What didn’t you like about Anne Flosnik’s performance?

Anne Flosnik put me to sleep.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I paid to much for this book just to find out that it was so difficult to listen to.

Any additional comments?

This book could at least be used as a non-pharmaceutical sedative.

14 people found this helpful

FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY do not listen to this narrator

I routinely listen to "dry", detailed histories and love a good in depth lecture. Being raised Lutheran but always more interested in history than religion itself, I was ecstatic to find such a long book, with great reviews, on the reformation. Unfortunately, the narrator is the worst I've ever experienced.

I usually dislike a new narrator when I start a book but he or she grows on me and I eventually zone in on the book. Well, 2 days into my 35 minute one way work commute and 1) I have no idea what's been discussed during the first 2 hours because I can't focus on the book through the awful narration, 2) I am energetic and ready to go when I get in the car. Within 15 minutes of listening, I'm riding on the rumble strips and almost rear ended someone because I was literally falling asleep. I had to turn on rap and drive on the highway with the windows down to recover from my stupor that Anne Flosnik put me in.

DO NOT GET THIS AUDIOBOOK! IT'S FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY!

4 people found this helpful

The narration made this book impossible for me

I cannot truly rate any aspect of this book except for the narration. I found the narration so very difficult to listen to that I gave up on this book after about 40 minutes. To be honest, the narration was punishing and grated on me. By the way, I moved onto the new book "Martin Luther" by Eric Metaxas, which was a marvelous history of the man and the movement, both as written and as read.

8 people found this helpful

A Delight for Comparative World Religions Junkies

Incredibly well researched and brimming over with real history chronologically revisited. Plus lots of amazing factoids and sound bites!

2 people found this helpful

An essential piece of history to understand the modern world

Best book I’ve read in years. Political, scientific, and military history of Europe require this *detailed* understanding of religion. Also illuminates today, our schisms, our end-of-the-world obsessions, our 'morals', our weaponizing of thought.
Also illuminates many of the great things of today - our tolerance, our pursuit of scientific truth, our desire to make a better world and be better people, our ability to sacrifice and persevere for beliefs, our ability to change, to adapt, and to strike out on our own if needed.
Highly recommended.

1 person found this helpful