Published in the wake of the deluge of books and articles commemorating the five hundredth anniversary of Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses, Calvin Lane's Spirituality and Reform proposes an attractive alternative to traditional narratives and timelines of premodern Western Christian reform. As a synthesis of a broad range of secondary literature, his thesis hinges on two important definitions. First, Lane uses the term spirituality “in an inclusive, capacious sense, referring to the subjective practice and experience of religion as well as the spiritual exercises . . . which individuals or groups have used to build up . . . their relationship with God” (2). Second, he posits that the myriad Christian attempts at reformatio ca. 1000–1800 should be distinguished from those of earlier eras by their common and explicit “search for a primitive Christianity, one perceived as more authentic and genuine than that being experienced.” (6) At the intersection of these two concepts—spirituality and reform—Lane argues that both elite and ordinary Christians across these eight centuries commonly experienced and propelled “a continuous dialogue between belief and practice” (1) that engendered “change felt with acuity” (6). This change spanned peoples, states, and centuries, and for Lane, it demonstrates the artificiality of historiographical periodization, specifically “the Middle Ages,” “the Reformation,” and “the Enlightenment.” (1) Thus he proposes a new narrative for second-millennium Western Christianity with a longer, more ecumenical scope that focuses on the ubiquity of reevaluation and modification within Christian religiosity.

In an introduction, twelve chapters, and an epilogue, Lane systematically presents a swath of overlapping Western Christian movements from this period, organized both chronologically and thematically with deference to his definitions of spirituality and reform. The first two chapters set the stage with vivid, succinct descriptions of Western Christian beliefs and practices around the turn of the millennium. The Mass takes pride of place, followed by Mary, the saints and relics, pilgrimage, and the sacraments. The next three chapters introduce medieval efforts to reform the papacy, secular clergy, monasticism, and mysticism, as well as famous reform movements in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, such as the beguines, the Devotio Moderna, conciliarism, and the efforts of Wycliffe and Hus. Four subsequent chapters address reform in the sixteenth century. Chapters 6–8 are organized thematically and treat mostly magisterial Protestant reform, while chapter 9 treats early modern Catholicism. The tenth chapter brings in the opportunities for reform that appeared in the Atlantic colonial world, particularly in Catholic missionary settings. Chapter 11 discusses martyrdom across Western Christian denominations. The final chapter extends the narrative to include later early modern reform and colonial movements, in particular those with affective or emotional emphases. Puritanism, Pietism, Quietism, and Methodism are a few examples.

The essence of Lane's argument is compelling, but it echoes positions that historians have held formally and informally for some years. Modern scholars have lamented the permanence and limitations of the traditional periodization of premodern Europe ad nauseam. They also have acknowledged the constancy of reform in premodern Western Christianity beginning during the high Middle Ages, with 1517 becoming more of a symbolic date when reformers began to establish lasting formal churches outside of Roman authority, an important marker but no less a continuation of earlier reform efforts. Lane's text, however, does reveal that making analytical connections between those two historiographical truisms can lead to quite fruitful interpretations.

Lane argues rather efficiently and convincingly that beginning ca. 1000 Western Christians developed a common obsession with restoring a lost, primitive Christianity. This occurred both within the Roman Church prior to the Protestant Reformation and among the different confessions and denominations that began to emerge during the sixteenth century. Lane is at his best when comparing the waves of efforts to regulate and simplify Christian life—both clerical and lay—that swept through Western Christendom throughout this period, from Benedictines to Franciscans to Beguines to Brethren of the Common Life to Zwinglians to Jesuits to Calvinists to Puritans to Moravians to Methodists. His reader can sense the constant apprehension that premodern Christians must have suffered.

A couple of characteristics of Lane's text limit the effectiveness of his argument. First, despite attempting to “lower” (1) the artificial historiographical boundaries that cut across this period, much of his analysis and indeed his chapter organization actually accommodates such boundaries, often explicitly and otherwise in essence. The continuous desire for reformatio among Western Christians is clear, but nonetheless, it appears to persist through a distinct Middle Ages, Reformations era, and Enlightenment era. The boundaries may be more permeable, but they seem to remain. Second, experiences of peoples from huge portions of Latin Christendom are either vastly underrepresented or not mentioned at all in this text. Italy and Germany play central roles, largely because of their hosting the Papacy and the brunt of the early Reformations, respectively. France appears less often, and Spain even less so, typically only when an order or movement is founded there. Non-German Central Europe (Bohemia, Moravia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Prussia, the Balkans) and Baltic Europe (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Livonia, Lithuania)—that is half of Latin Christendom—make virtually no appearance despite their enormous relevance, which several historians have brought to light increasingly during the past decade. The only part of Europe that receives continual, frequent attention is England—hardly representative of “the West.” Certainly it is impossible to account for every perspective and experience when covering eight centuries of history in a single monograph, but in this case some substantial contributors to the narrative of spirituality and reform in premodern Western Christianity remain absent.

Calvin Lane's Spirituality and Reform is an appealing interpretation of premodern Western Christianity and a useful survey of recent topical literature. It continues and advances current scholarly trends with accessible and memorable structure and prose. It may not single-handedly bring about the deconstruction of tedious historiographical barriers, but it certainly makes a clear case for why such deconstruction is necessary.