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'Roland Herbert Bainton' (1894-1984) 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]

Contents

Works

''Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther''

''The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century''

Other Works

References

Notes

Books by Roland Bainton

Works

''Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther''

Bainton published ''Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther'' in 1950. As of 2006, 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."^[3]
In his chapter on Luther's writings in ''Invitation to the Classics'',^[4] 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".^[5]

Other Works

(Non-exhaustive)

★ ''The Age of Reformation''

★ ''Christian Attitudes Toward War and Peace''

★ ''The Travail of Religious Liberty''

★ ''Hunted Heretic: The Life and Death of Michael Servetus, 1511-1553''

★ ''Erasmus of Christendom''

★ ''Behold the Christ: A portrayal of Christ in words and pictures''

★ ''Women of the Reformation in France and England''

★ ''The Church of Our Fathers''

References

Notes

1. Roland Bainton at Biography.com accessed June 2007
2. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, , , , Abingdon, 1980, ISBN 0-687-16893-7
3. A History of Christianity Volume II: Reformation to the Present, , Kenneth, Latourette, Harper & Row, 1975, ISBN 0-06-064536-9
4. Invitation to the Classics, , Mark, Noll, Baker Books, 1998, ISBN 0-8010-1156-6
5. History of Christianity: Reformation to the Present, , , Latourette, , ,

Books by Roland Bainton

★ Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, , , , Abingdon, 1991, ISBN 0-687-16895-3

★ The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, , , , The Beacon Press, 1952, ISBN 0-8070-1301-3