Protestants: A History from Wittenberg to Pennsylvania, 1517-1740 presents a comprehensive thematic history of the rise and influence of the branches of Christianity that emerged out of the Protestant Reformation. * Represents the only English language single-volume survey of the rise of early modern Protestantism from its Lutheran beginnings in Germany to its spread to America * Offers a thematic approach to Protestantism by tracing its development within the social, political, and cultural context of early modern Europe * Introduces innovative argument that the central dynamic of Protestantism was not its struggle with Catholicism but its own inner dynamic * Breaks from traditional scholarship by arguing that the rise of Reformation Protestantism lasted at least two centuries * Unites Old World and New World Protestant histories