This book consists of a series of statements from men and women dating between 1501 to 1559. These statements illustrate the ideas, beliefs, and sometimes the fates, of the people who had come to share a profound discontent with the church as it then existed and a positive determination to change it.

Writings include

• Erasmus and Hutten the humanists
• Luther and Melanchthon
• Zwingli
• Sattler the Anabaptist
• Servetus the Unitarian
• Calvin the theologian and lawgiver
• the English reformers, a special breed -- from the rabble-rousing Fish to Cromwell the administrator, Starkey the moderate, the King and the Archbishop of Canterbury

Spitz provides historical and theological context for each document and a reading list for further exploration.