Christianity: Luther's Legacy
Cultural discussion programme. Andrew Marr discusses the Reformation and its legacy with Sarah Dunant, Peter Stanford, Alec Ryrie and Linda Woodhead.
On Start the Week Andrew Marr looks back 500 years to the moment Martin Luther challenged the power and authority of the Catholic Church.
Peter Stanford brings to light the character of this lowly born German monk in a new biography.
Prior to Luther, for a thousand years the Catholic Church had been one of the greatest powers on earth, but in her study of the Italian Renaissance the writer Sarah Dunant reveals how bloated, corrupt and complacent it had become. Dunant also explores the role of the Church in the home, in a new exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Madonnas and Miracles, before the Reformation swept away such iconography.
The historian Alec Ryrie charts the rise of the Protestant faith from its rebellious beginnings to the present day, while the sociologist Linda Woodhead asks whether the defining characteristics of Protestant Britain, such as the freedom of the individual, national pride and a strong work ethic are still relevant today.
Producer: Katy Hickman
Image: Boy falling from a window, 1592 (c) Museo degli ex voto del santuario di Madonna dell'Arco.
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Sarah Dunant
Sarah Dunant is a writer, broadcaster and critic.
Madonnas and Miracles: The Holy Home in Renaissance Italy is on at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge until 4 June.
In the Name of the Family is published by Virago.
Peter Stanford
Peter Stanford is a writer, journalist and broadcaster.
Martin Luther: Catholic Dissident is published by Hodder & Stoughton.
Alec Ryrie
Alec Ryrie is Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham University.
Protestants: The Radicals Who Made the Modern World is published by William Collins.
Linda Woodhead
Linda Woodhead is Professor in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion and the Director of the Institute of Social Futures at Lancaster University.
That Was The Church That Was, co-authored with Andrew Brown, was published by Bloomsbury Continuum last year.
Credits
| Role | Contributor |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Andrew Marr |
| Interviewed Guest | Sarah Dunant |
| Interviewed Guest | Peter Stanford |
| Interviewed Guest | Alec Ryrie |
| Interviewed Guest | Linda Woodhead |
| Producer | Katy Hickman |
Broadcasts
- Mon 10 Apr 201709:00BBC Radio 4
- Mon 10 Apr 201721:30BBC Radio 4
Podcast
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Start the Week
Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday
