The Age of Reform, 1250-1550: An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe

by Steven E. Ozment

“A masterful . . . intellectual and religious history of late medieval and Reformation Europe.”— Christianity Today

"A learned, humane, and expressive book."—Gerald Strauss, Renaissance Quarterly

The seeds of the swift and sweeping religious movement that reshaped European thought in the 1500s were sown in the late Middle Ages. In this book, Steven Ozment traces the growth and dissemination of dissenting intellectual trends through three centuries to their explosive burgeoning in the Reformations—both Protestant and Catholic—of the sixteenth century. He elucidates with great clarity the complex philosophical and theological issues that inspired antagonistic schools, traditions, and movements from Aquinas to Calvin. This masterly synthesis of the intellectual and religious history of the period illuminates the impact of late medieval ideas on early modern society.

Genres: History, Church History, Religion, Medieval, Medieval History, Nonfiction, Christianity

458 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

A specialist in early modern and modern Germany, the European family, and the Protestant Reformation., Steven Ozment was the McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History emeritus at Harvard University.

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, engaging textbook. I particularly liked Ozment's overview of later medieval thought, theological, philosophical, and political. A subject like that can be difficult to cover in a textbook due to its technicality, but this is a nice balance of clear explanation, the occasional in-depth case study, and plenty of excerpts from primary sources. More textbooks should go that route, I think.

I also liked the choice of time frame, 1250-1550. Most books on intellectual thought would either go late medieval or Reformation, but Ozment decides to go for both and it really adds an originality to his work. I could have done with a little more interweaving of the two halves, but the fact that both of them are there allows him to demonstrate how the Reformation managed to be a shocking, traumatic moment for those who lived through it, but also a somewhat unsurprising development in retrospect, given the general trends of late medieval thought.

My only slight qualm is that I think he's a bit too hard on late medieval Catholicism. Don't get me wrong, a lot of it was kind of a disaster - but it was also a disaster that had been going on for a while. People had been complaining about corruption, clerical wealth, uneducated priests, and more for centuries before the Reformation, so it makes Ozment's claim that the Reformation sprung out of a general sense of spiritual repression a bit unconvincing (or at least underdeveloped). Still a very good textbook, though.

Just as a heads up, since this is a textbook: there are certain parts that may be somewhat slow going if you don't have any background in theology. The majority of it is very accessible and readable, but if you don't have any background in the subject you'll occasionally need some patience and a trip over to Google. It's worth it, though - this sort of mixture of clarity and depth is hard to find.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I was expecting a pretty traditional textbook that recounted the late medieval period and the Reformation. And it is that, sort of, but it's presented in a really interesting way.

Ozment argues against the traditional narrative of late medieval intellectual history: the flowering of scholasticism, the threat of nominalism (Ozment calls William of Ockham the Black Death of medieval intellectual history), and then intellectual stagnation until the Reformation. He instead suggests that Ockham's thought didn't cause the break between the two periods, but provided the central link between them. You can probably guess it based upon the years that start and end the book (1250 and 1550), but Luther comes out of this work looking very medieval.

After a whirlwind tour through scholastic thought (loosely organized around different approaches to the questions of salvation, epistemology, and exegesis and starring Augustine, Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham), Ozment also takes a look at less dialectical forms of spirituality during the period, particularly Bernard of Clairvaux, Franciscans, and beguines. The second half of the work looks at Luther and the Reformation, with particular attention at how Luther's theology was likely derived from a mixture of German mysticism and Ockham's nominalism. Ockham's God was much more remote and unrestrained than Aquinas's: God was not bound to create the universe that he did, and he possessed the power to alter it at will. But Ockham's God wasn't arbitrary either, as is often suggested: he was instead based on the concept of covenants. God made the universe work the way it worked because he promised to, not because he was required to. This way of approaching theology stresses the omnipotence of God, and it's easy to understand how it would not be a large leap to Luther's theory of salvation.

[Ethan Preston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this book to be an excellent introduction to religious and political history surrounding the Reformation. Ozment is fair to both the Reformers and their opponents in this history and is willing to be critical of both. I especially appreciated the way in which Ozment showed the Reformation's continuity with the preceding centuries. There was very few places where I thought Ozment was unfair to a figure. I also think he is a bit cynical about the Reformations lasting theological contribution.

[Sam Nesbitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible and lucid account of the historical continuities and discontinuities between the Medieval and Reformation eras of Western Christianity. Beginning with the High Medieval period, Ozment traces doctrinal, liturgical, political, and social elements that contributed to the development of reform, whether in the Protestant context or the Catholic. Although aligning himself ultimately within the consensus that the Reformation was ultimately a failure (a debated issue that he does not fully elucidate for the reader), Ozment weaves together an astounding account of Medieval and Reformation history that is often generous in interpretation and always clear in articulation.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully informative, deeply researched, and pleasing to read. I digs me some Steven Ozment! I’d like to read more of him.

[Martin Daenke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a good overview of Medieval theology and society, but ironically it drops off when it gets to the Reformation as it doesn’t provide a breakdown of the ideas of the Protestant reformers and just provides biographical information instead.

[Daniel Schotman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book. Very clearly explained and well structured. I especially liked the constant interaction between political ideas and historical situations, moments and events.

Very nice how it builds up from the easy rediscovery of classical texts (Scholastic philosophy, Aquinas, Abelard, etc.), Dante, Marsilius, Ockham, the Renaissance and eventually the Reformation, Luther, Zwingli and Calvin.

Book is also very good in terms of explaining and summarising theories and paradigms of other scholars and experts in specific topics.

This is how a good Intellectual history should be written.
Really will read this again at a later stage if only for certain chapters or reference.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Run of the mill textbook...While excellently written and researched, unless the subject interests you, don't bother...

[AskHistorians]

This is an invaluable intellectual history of the movements that led up to the Reformation, covering all the intellectual movements that led to its creation (and opposition).

[Canny Tay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book "The Age of Reform, 1250-1550" authored by Dr. Steven Ozment, once a professor of ancient and modern history at Harvard University (just passed away about 4 months ago), is another worth reading book for those who are interested in ancient Christian history. He carefully delineates what happened during the early Middle Ages (476 AD - 1000 AD), high Middle Ages (1000 AD - 1300) and later Middle Ages (1300 AD - 1500 AD), yet his real emphasis is more on the later Middle Ages. The book mainly described two areas of reformation. One within the Catholic church; the other, of course, regarding Protestant Reformation. This book was written in 1980 and had won the Schaff History Prize in 1981. If you love history, I think this book you will not want to miss it.

[Mike Bright · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a ton of information and analysis in this text. It is well organized and readable. I learned a lot. It sets the stage for the Reformation by going over the history, trends, and traditions leading up to it. You get a good sense of what is happening in society physically, intellectually, and theologically. The last few chapters focus in on key figures in the Reformation such as Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and Knox. This is a textbook for a graduate level course, but Dr. Ozment makes the material quite accessible.

[Steve Wegman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A textbook on the Reformation starting in the early middle ages and how circumstances made possible the movement highlighted by Luther, but involving many others all over Europe. 450 large pages with tons of footnotes, it varies between compelling stories and dense, arcane theological concepts. Looking in detail at the times is vital to understanding what drove the Reformation and why it developed as it did into what it did, and this book gave much of that background.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives you a thorough overview of the Reformation, with much heavier focus on the developments of religion and society prior than after. Dense with often difficult prose; I probably averaged 5 or 6 minutes a page. Wasn't exactly a joy to read, I found myself feeling relief whenever a page was filled with a map or a reproduction of a painting.

[Thomas Noriega · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the language is outdated, but Ozment turns the intellectual preconditions of the Reformation into a compelling narrative, rich with the political and theological turmoil of the late middle ages.

[Ted Milne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough dissection of the Reformation including all the major players in the era. Enlightening!

[Stella Huang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive review on the Reformation. Glad that I persevered through it.

[Tyson Guthrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An essential resource on the Reformation.

[Søren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hopefully, god forgives me for reading weird manga.

[Scott Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read! Very detailed, more or less unbiased historical approach.

[Ben Sibley]

Partial.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best part of this book is the physical layout. Wide-margins and larger print make for a more pleasurable read. The content is very accessible also.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading the first section on theology, I thought to myself "this is going to be a hard row to hoe." I was ready to quit. But the following chapters were easier to follow and pretty interesting. Ozment is very good at summarizing key issues and differences between thinkers--types of mysticism, schools of thought about the Renaissance, etc. I jotted these things down.

Quotes:

“In the fourteenth century, mysticism became to the poverty movement of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries what monasticism had been to martyrdom in the early Christian centuries: the continuation in a new form of an ideal that had ceased to be practicable.” 115

“The humanities became for Protestant theologians what Aristotelian philosophy had been to late medieval theologians—the favored handmaiden of theology: the rhetorical arts served the more basic task of communicating true doctrine.” 315

[Matt Cavedon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly effective summary of the German and Swiss reformations, focused on the political and psychological factors that made Protestantism appealing. Strong balance of intellectual and social history, and of mainstream and radical approaches to religious protest and change.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book on the Reformation I have ever read and is probably the best book I have read in the past year. Highly recommended.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, not at all dry, history of the Reformation