Gerhart Ladner and "the idea of reform" : a modern historian's quest for Ancient and Medieval truth

This book examines the lifework of Gerhart Burian Ladner (1905-1993). Winner of the American Historical Association's Lifetime Award for Scholarly Distinction in 1991, he received the Homer Haskins Medal in 1961 for his seminal work on The Idea of Reform: Its Impact on Christian Thought and Action in the Age of the Fathers. Published in 1959 by Harvard University Press, his book's magisterial and expansive claims had immediate, direct, and enduring influence. It extends to historiography on periods extending from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Historiographically, Ladner's topic transcends or assimilates all these periods. His work generally influences histories of reform or reformation as well as the history of ideas. This historical reception and historiographical significance remain meaningless without one another. In this respect, they likewise emerge in dialogue with subsequent studies by Ladner himself. GERHART LADNER AND THE IDEA OF REFORM TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I INITIAL PROBLEMS AND RECEPTIONS II "OBJECTIVITY" AND HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE HI HISTORIES AS MYTHIC TRUTHS ORNARRATIVE REALITIES IV THE REALITY OF HISTORY AND THE HISTORY OF REALITY V PAST PRESENCE: REFORM AND OTHERHISTORICAL IDEAS ON THE PHILOLOGICAL OR PHENOMENOlOGICAL "MIDDLE GROUND" VI THE HISTORICITY OF REFORM AND ORIGINS OFLATE ANTIQUITY VII "PERSONAL" REFORM, REFORMATIO, ANDGREEK "REFORM" CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX