Abstract: Among the most important issues currently confronting historians of the early modern period is the degree to which the two Reformations, Protestant and Catholic, affected the religious lives of the common people in Europe. It is a matter that has engendered intense debate ever since the publication in 1971 of Jean Delumeau’s survey of the literature in Catholic Reformation history. In his book, Delumeau raised to unprecedented heights the stature of the Reformation’s contribution to western civilization, arguing that sixteenth-century religious movements succeeded in evangelizing the majority of the European people for the first time in the history of Christianity. The thesis rests on the premise that the common people of the Middle Ages were only vaguely informed of the precepts of the gospel and that their spiritual world-view more closely approximated to pagan than orthodox Christian beliefs. Keith Thomas had argued along similar lines that the English Reformation was responsible for replacing the medieval notions of a world animated by magical forces with a more modern view of a universe controlled by divine providence.1
Publication Year: 1989
Publication Date: 1989-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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