World's Reformation

Alec Ryrie is professor of the history of Christianity at Durham University. He is the author of numerous books, including Protestants, Unbelievers, and the double prize-winning Being Protestant in Reformation Britain. He was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 2019.

“A highly readable, sweeping and intrigue-filled story of Protestant missions among non-Europeans between 1560 and 1800. . . . Mr. Ryrie has produced the rare book that deserves attention from both believers and skeptics.”—D.G. Hart, Wall Street Journal“This is Protestant missionary history presented not as an exultant march of conversion, but as a sometimes ragged, occasionally untidy, and imperfect effort to engage with a growing global community – one that often altered the missionaries themselves as much as the societies they tried to convert.”—Zeb Baker-Smith, Aspects of History“This beautifully written book is both original and profound. Ryrie demonstrates that Protestant churches devoted far more energy and money to the conversion of non-Christians outside Europe than they are generally given credit for. This book is major contribution to global history and a must read for all scholars of the Reformation.”—Andrew Pettegree, author of The Book at War “A monumental work of scholarship, remarkable for the breadth of its vision and the depth of its insights. It is frequently a tale of failure – sometimes iniquitous, sometimes heroic – but a failure out of which Christianity itself emerged transformed and improved.”—Peter Marshall, author of Heretics and Believers “With extraordinary range and razor-sharp insight, The World’s Reformation compels us to rethink Protestantism itself…By the end of this engrossing book, the reader has met a cast of sailors and traders, colonial pastors, translators, schoolmasters, and tireless evangelists who dreamed of nothing less than the ‘Reformation of the whole world.’”—Bruce Gordon, author of The Bible: A Global History