Reviews

"David Collins has provided a deeply-nuanced and compelling analysis of the intersection of medieval hagiography, humanist scholarship, and reforming agendas in Germany during the generations of Erasmus and Luther. In the process, he illuminates complex relationships between the devotional pieties of, on the one hand, the late middle ages, and, on the other, the reformations of the sixteenth century. This excellent book will be of interest to students of both
medieval and early modern Christianity." --Thomas Head, author of Hagiography and the Cult of Saints: The Diocese of Orléans, 800-1200
"In this brilliantly structured and meticulously researched study, Collins demonstrates the compelling interest of saints' lives authored by a range of northern intellectuals. Steering deftly between the Scylla of Erasmus's acclaimed life of St. Jerome and the Charybdis of Luther's equally acclaimed mockery of the saints, Collins recovers the fascinating, nuanced contexts of hagiographic composition in the liminal period 1470-1530. The four central chapters
bring to life holy bishops, eccentric hermits, patriotic authors, and demanding patrons. Anyone with an interest in how medieval devotions survived Europe's passage to modernity will want to read this
book." --Alison Knowles Frazier, author of Possible Lives: Authors And Saints In Renaissance Italy
"Collins's subtle and nuanced analysis forces the reader to reconfigure his or her understanding of hagiography ... [an] important and rewarding study." --Catholic Historical Review
"Reforming Saints is a valuable contribution to our understanding of pre-Refromation German humanism and its relationship to Catholicism."-- R. Emmet McLaughlin, The American Historical Review
"...meticulous and engagingly written study...."--Bridget Heal
"In this meticulous and engaging study, David Collins examines the phenomenon of humanist hagiography."--Bridget Heal, University of St. Andrew
"Collins's deeply researched book is based on a meticulous analysis of more than forty free-standing Latin lives of saints that deal with men and women...."--Brad S. Gregory, University of Notre Dame
"Reforming Saints..open up new depth to our understanding of both German humanism and hagiographical literature."--Andrew Reinsch,