Reforming the Church before Modernity

Presenting essays from a distinguished international cast of scholars, this volume considers the question of ecclesial reform from late antiquity to the 17th century and tackles this complex question from primarily cultural perspectives, rather than the more usual institutional approaches. The common themes are social change, centres and peripheries of change, monasticism, and intellectuals and their relationship to reform. This innovative approach opens up the question of how religious reform took place and challenges existing ecclesiological models.