ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book spans the chronological framework of the late fifteenth to the early eighteenth centuries, with particular focus given to the Reformation and post-Reformation eras. It reveals that although the relative values accorded these components differed considerably among Protestants and Catholics, as did their theological and practical foundations, they served to mould individual religiosity while drawing clear boundaries between orthodoxy and heterodoxy. The book also suggests that the multiplicity of voices in the late medieval Church prepared the ground for the religious complexity of the Reformation era. It indicates, however, that men and women acting as individuals or members of a larger group often took matters into their own hands. The book uncovers some major themes that cut across confessional and geographical divides.
