Department Chair
Andrew D. Nicholls, Ph.D., Professor of History
Date of Award
12-2014
Access Control
Open Access
Degree Name
History, M.A.
Department
History and Social Studies Education Department
Advisor
Martin F. Ederer, Ph.D. Associate Professor of History
Department Home page
http://history.buffalostate.edu/
First Reader
Martin F. Ederer, Ph.D. Associate Professor of History
Second Reader
York A. Norman, Ph.D. Associate Professor of History
Abstract
During the late medieval and Reformation era in Europe, a series of Christian devotional works were created that stressed a deeper personal relationship with Christ, rather than ritual and public devotion alone. These works span the time period from the early fifteenth century through the early seventeenth century and prepared the way for and shaped the Protestant and Roman Catholic reformations alike. The devotional works addressed here were created in the quest for reform, of both the individual and the Church. This occurred as the importance of developing a better relationship with Jesus was taking on a new urgency for both pre-Reformation and post-Reformation Catholics as well as for Protestants. For all denominations an important social common denominator was the emergence of a larger group of educated, literate laity confronting very difficult times. In the end, Latin Christianity would not survive the new approaches to Christianity intact, although varying branches of Christianity would find the reform and direction they craved—albeit at the price of religious and cultural unity that continues to influence (and trouble) European civilization to this day.
Recommended Citation
Quail, Christopher J., "Reforming Christianity by Reforming Christians: Devotional Writings of the Late Medieval and Reformation Era" (2014). History Theses. 29.
https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/history_theses/29
