Roland Bainton

Roland Bainton
Born March 30, 1894
Ilkeston, Derbyshire
Died February 13, 1984
Occupation Historian
Period 20th century
Subject Reformation history

Roland Herbert Bainton (March 30, 1894 – February 13, 1984) was a British born American Protestant church historian.

Life

He was born in Ilkeston, Derbyshire,[1] England and came to the United States in 1902. He received an A.B. degree from Whitman College, and B.D. and Ph.D.. degrees from Yale University. He also received a number of honorary degrees including a D.D. from Meadville Theological Seminary and from Oberlin College, Dr. Theologiae from the University of Marburg, Germany, and Litt.D. from Gettysburg College. A specialist in Reformation history, Bainton was for forty-two years Titus Street Professor of ecclesiastical history at Yale, and he continued his writing well into his twenty years of retirement.

Bainton's father was a pacifist, and he himself married a Quaker. Graduating from seminary just as World War I began, he affiliated with the Society of Friends' unit of the American Red Cross. Although he was ordained as a Congregationist minister, he never served as the pastor of a congregation.

Bainton wore his scholarship lightly and had a lively, readable style. His most popular books were Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (1950), which sold more than a million copies, and The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century (1952), both of which were widely used as textbooks. In all, he was the author of more than thirty books on Christianity. Many of Bainton's books are illustrated with examples taken from his collection of medieval and Renaissance drawings, woodcuts, and engravings.[2] He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1954.[3]

A collection of essays in honor of Roland Bainton was published in 1962.[4]

Works

Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther

Bainton published Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther in 1950. As of 2011, it is still in print. Kenneth Scott Latourette, in the chapter notes for "Luther and the Rise and Spread of Lutheranism" in his History of Christianity, lauds Bainton's biography of Luther as "A superb combination of accurate scholarship based upon a thorough knowledge of the sources and secondary works with insight, vivid, readable literary style, and reproductions of contemporary illustrations. It also contains so valuable a bibliography as to render needless an extended one in this chapter."[5]

In his chapter on Luther's writings in Invitation to the Classics,[6] Mark A. Noll singles out Bainton's biography: "Of the many superlative treatments, a half-century old study by Roland Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, has justly won a reputation as a classic work on a classic subject."

The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century

This volume went to press in 1952. Its value, also, is acknowledged by Latourette in the chapter notes on "Luther and the Rise and Spread of Lutheranism" (see note on Here I Stand), thus, "An admirable popular brief summary by an outstanding specialist".[7]

Other works

(Non-exhaustive)

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Roland Bainton at Biography.com accessed June 2007
  2. ↑ Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. Nashville: Abingdon. 1980 [1950]. back cover. ISBN 0-687-16893-7.
  3. ↑ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  4. ↑ "REFORMATION STUDIES: Essays in Honor of ROLAND H. BAINTON", edited by FRANKLIN H. LITTELL, JOHN KNOX PRESS RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
  5. ↑ Latourette, Kenneth (1975). "Luther and the Rise and Spread of Lutheranism". A History of Christianity Volume II: Reformation to the Present. New York: Harper & Row. p. 743. ISBN 0-06-064536-9.
  6. ↑ Noll, Mark (1998). "Martin Luther". In Louise Cowan and Os Guinness. Invitation to the Classics. Grand Rapids: Baker Books. p. 121. ISBN 0-8010-1156-6.
  7. ↑ Latourette. "Luther and the Rise and Spread of Lutheranism". History of Christianity: Reformation to the Present. p. 742.

Books by Roland Bainton

  • Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. Nashville: Abingdon. September 1991 [1950]. ISBN 0-687-16895-3. 
  • The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. Boston: The Beacon Press. 1952. ISBN 0-8070-1301-3. 
  • Christianity (First Mariner Books ed.). Boston: Mariner Books. 2000 [1964]. ISBN 0-618-05687-4. 
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