“All these people described their doubts in the same way: as having been thrust unwillingly into their minds by the devil. We might be inclined to dismiss that. In fact it is vital for understanding what this kind of unbelief… — Alec Ryrie Copy Share Image
“Doubts crept up on them unawares, seeping to the surface or erupting without warning. At the least, the language of temptation tells us that although this phenomenon was widespread, it was no sort of movement or party. If these doubters learned their doubts from other people, they were not conscious of it. I have found no accounts of being tempted… — Alec Ryrie Copy Share
“One of Gunter’s fears was that the Bible was a ‘policy’, a deliberately manipulative hoax. This venerable theme, revived by Machiavelli, now seemed more… — Alec Ryrie Copy Share Image
“Luther’s breakthrough had a dazzling, corrosive simplicity to it. The power of those twin principles, “faith alone” and “Scripture alone,” lay in the word… — Alec Ryrie Copy Share Image
“In the 1640s, a formerly pious London teenager named Sarah Wight suffered four years of spiritual agonies. As she recalled: ‘I could see nothing… — Alec Ryrie Copy Share Image
“What makes Marlowe’s defiance and even D’Amville’s anticlerical contempt compelling is their moral edge. And in their very different ways, Acosta, Coornhert, Eleazar Duncan,… — Alec Ryrie Copy Share Image
“Luther disliked the idea of secret meetings, which he said reminded him of rats. Calvin had found a way of forming the rats into… — Alec Ryrie Copy Share Image
“All these people described their doubts in the same way: as having been thrust unwillingly into their minds by the devil. We might be… — Alec Ryrie Copy Share Image
