Casey
Puritan Board Junior
Over the summer I read a book by Ozment called The Age of Reform. I read it again in January as assigned reading for a class in Reformation Church History. The book was a joy to read, and I particularly liked the first half of the book where he meticulously prepares you for the Reformation and shows the streams of thought that flowed. A great gook.
Another book by Ozment, called The Reformation in the Cities, takes a more detailed look at the appeal of the Reformation to the laity. He finds (or translates himself) various documents (such as confessional manuals, etc.) that demonstrate rather clearly what lay piety was like. The Reformers hit a real sore spot for people who wanted to be devout Christians but for whom they had only two real means of expressing that devotion: confession (knowing painful burdens for penance would be put on them) and the Eucharist (which very few laity ever had access to anyway). I give a short summary of Ozment's main arguments with plenty of quotes here:
The Reformation in the Cities by Steven E. Ozment « Paradise Regained
I highly recommend both books!
Another book by Ozment, called The Reformation in the Cities, takes a more detailed look at the appeal of the Reformation to the laity. He finds (or translates himself) various documents (such as confessional manuals, etc.) that demonstrate rather clearly what lay piety was like. The Reformers hit a real sore spot for people who wanted to be devout Christians but for whom they had only two real means of expressing that devotion: confession (knowing painful burdens for penance would be put on them) and the Eucharist (which very few laity ever had access to anyway). I give a short summary of Ozment's main arguments with plenty of quotes here:
The Reformation in the Cities by Steven E. Ozment « Paradise Regained
I highly recommend both books!
I haven't read the second one you mention, but I might have to now.
