Reformations Old and New
Subtitle: Essays on the Socio-Economic Impact of Religious Change C. 1470-1630 (St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History)
Edition: 1st ed edition
Publisher: Scolar Press
Published: November 1996
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9781859282205
Subjects: Christianity; European history: c 500 to c 1500; Religion: general; World history: c 1500 to c 1750; c 1500 to c 1600; c 1600 to c 1700; Religion - Church History; Reformation (1517-1648); Religion; Europe; Social conditions; Christianity - History - General; 16th century; Reformation
Description: This collection examines the 'practical' impact of religious change in Central and North-Western Europe from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. It focuses on the effects of reform on clergy, church resources, ecclesiastical patronage, education, and poor relief. The title reflects the fundamental conclusion that there was no one monolithic experience of 'Reformation', that initiatives were taken for very different reasons, and that they displayed innovative as well as conservative features.

While offering a great range of original research and subject matter, all of the contributors devote particular attention to three main themes: the blend between continuity and change, the share of religious factors in socio-economic developments, and the identification of winners and losers.

Taken together, the essays illustrate the scarcity of unambiguous trends, the tenacity of socio-economic structures, the modification of religious dogma by the 'real' world, and the conspicuous benefits of religious change for the social elites.