Purpose of this Site
This site exists for several reasons and is intended to serve multiple audiences. While I have tried to meet multiple aims, it is inevitable that some will be better served than others.
My Students
The foremost purpose of this site is to serve my students; that is, those students who sign up for my History of the Reformation course, which is offered once every three years.
Other Students
Since the course is taught so rarely, it seems a shame that the materials gathered here should be unavailable the rest of the time. I therefore leave the site up and open to the public. It is my hope that it might be of use to colleagues at other institutions of higher learning, to teachers in the public schools, to those who homeschool their children, and to the general public who might be curious about the people and times of the Reformation. The pages I've written are not written for them, but might nevertheless be used by them.
Teachers
Teachers at every level are welcome to use this site as a resource. I ask that they do not copy pages to their own site, but that they make links into my own site as they see fit.
General Public
Anyone interested in learning about the Reformation is welcome to read and learn from the information here.
This site is not intended to be a substitute for doing library research. Any library will have more historical information than will this site. I will not help someone whom I believe has not put in a reasonable amount of time doing library research.
This site is not intended to be a tutorial or in any other way a complete resource on any aspect of the Reformation. It is what it is: a resource for my students that I'm sharing with others. So don't bother telling me I should have more maps or a timeline or an essay on this or that topic.
I have a question
Education takes time. You can have quick answers, but I won't give them, because answers are essentially worthless. Answers can be quick, but understanding takes time. In math, you can ask someone the answer to Question 5, but until you understand how to work Question 5 for yourself, you haven't learned math. The same applies to history.
I am not interested in helping people pass a class. Not even my own. I'm interested in helping people gain understanding of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Specifically, I'm interested to see how I might use the Internet as a tool for teaching such understanding. If you are interested only in answers, then you need to try some other resource. If you are interested in becoming educated, however, I hope that you find this site useful.
I still have a question!
I am very happy to help with questions. I ask only that you have done a reasonable amount of homework. Specifically, I will not answer any question the answer to which can be found by reading this site. I also expect that you have done some basic library research. Visit the Bibliography section of this site. Depending on your question, I'll expect you have read the appropriate volumes cited there.
If, after having taken some basic steps to learn about a topic, you still have questions, you are welcome to contact me via e-mail. My address is sknox@boisestate.edu.