Faust tells his servant, Wagner, "The past, my friend, is a book with seven seals. What you call the spirit of the ages is in reality the spirit of the men in which the times are reflected." What is happening to Reformation historiography today in the light of new ideological commitments illustrates Faust's point.

The historical interpretation of the Protestant Reformation was, up until the nineteenth century, ordinarily based upon what has been called classical Protestant and Catholic scholarship. Roman Catholic scholarship regarded the Reformation as a great misfortune that destroyed Catholic civilization and ruptured European unity. Luther was a rebel who opened the door to the violent revolutions patterned after his own rebellious and irresponsible conduct.