Before the Gregorian Reform

John Howe is Professor of History at Texas Tech University. He is the author of Church Reform and Social Change in Eleventh-Century Central Italy: Dominic of Sora and His Patrons and coeditor of Inventing Medieval Landscapes: Senses of Place in Western Europe.

• Introduction: A Pre-Gregorian Reform? 1. "Wolves Devouring the Lambs of Christ" 2. "Enter Confidently into the War of the Lord God" 3. "A White Mantle of Churches" 4. "To Rouse Devotion in a Carnal People" 5. "Following in the Footsteps of the Saints" 6. "When My Soul Longs for the Divine Vision" 7. "Learning Is Part of Holiness" 8. "The Body Is Not a Single Part" 9. "One Shepherd Presides over All Generally" Epilogue: A Pope Captured, A Church Triumphant

A comprehensive and accessible survey of two hundred years of church history.... A richly textured and arresting image of a world rooted in its Carolingian past yet foundational to the expansionist and ecumenical church of the later Middle Ages.... Indispensible to any medieval history syllabus.(H-Soz-Kult) Builds on a good deal of recent research which emphasises the deep roots of later developments, and draws attention to the diversity and vitality of religious life at this time.... He succeeds in evoking interest in the tenth-century Church.(English Historical Review) There is much of use here: the stress on the physical, acoustic and aesthetic aspects of developments in the tenth and early eleventh centuries is welcome, and these sections bring together a wide range of recent literature. Mediterranean areas, especially Italy, receive due attention... the emphasis on Byzantine ideas is refreshing.(Journal of Ecclesiastical History) An extensively researched, engagingly written, and nicely illustrated book.... Howe draws upon his own impressive research to demonstrate the numerous contacts between the Roman and Greek churches.(American Historical Review) Howe calls upon a truly impressive array of evidence and scholarship from the fields of history, literature, liturgical studies, art and architectural history, and theological studies in support of his argument, and scholars will profit immensely from perusing his footnotes. The book is loaded with important insights and asides.... Most importantly, Howe's work lands another hammer blow on the older, confessionally-driven, top-down paradigm of church reform... and does so in a style that is self-consciously accessible to specialist and non-specialist readers.(SPECULUM)