A study not of the institution of the Church but of Christianity itself,this book explores the Christian people, their beliefs, and their way of life,providing a new understanding of Western Christianity at the time of theReformation. Bossy begins with a systematic exposition of traditional orpre-Reformation Christianity, exploring the forces that tended to undermine it,the characteristics of the Protestant and Catholic regimes that superseded it,and the fall-out that resulted from its disintegration.