must be determined with particular regard to the Christian idea of
reform which has no true equivalent in pre-Christian times.

It will be important also to touch briefly upon the relation between
early Christian-mediaeval and modern ideas of renewal and reform.
In modern times the term and idea of reform are applied to the re-
newal and intended improvement of many things, more often however
of social entities and of institutions than of individuals. The origins of
the Christian idea of reform on the contrary are related to the core of
evangelical and Pauline doctrine on the human person: to the ex-
perience of its newness in Christ. Scriptural μΕτμóρøωσις-refor-
matio, α+̕νακαíνωσις-renovatio, mean personal reformation, renovation
toward that image-likeness of man to God (κατ+̕ εήκóνα καì
ὁμοíωσιν Ⓗεοό, ad imaginem et similitudinem Dei) which according to
the Book of Genesis (1:26 f.) had been received by man in creation,
but had become impaired through sin. And yet, in spite of the personal,
individual character of the Christian idea of reform it became effective
as a supra-individual force at a relatively early date, above all, but not
exclusively, in monasticism. The crucial initial moments in this pro-
cess occurred in Late Antiquity and in the earliest Middle Ages or more
exactly in the patristic period; they occurred in different forms in
the Christian east and west and were followed, especially in the west,
by a long series of developments and variations of the idea of reform
and of related renewal ideas.

It is common usage among historians to speak of monastic reforms
and Church reforms, of imperial and Roman restorations and renova-
tions, of Theodosian, Anglo-Saxon, Carolingian, Byzantine, Ottonian,
Twelfth Century Renaissances, of Proto-Renaissances and Pre-
Reformations. Are all these manifestations of a tendency toward
renewal of the same order or are they heterogeneous? How far is one
justified in distinguishing biblical-patristic "reform" or "renovation"
not only from pre-Christian but also from other Christian renewal
ideas? Especially, what is the relation of reform to baptismal regenera-
tion on the one hand and to the Renaissance idea on the other?
Furthermore, what were the structure and dynamics of reform in a
society that was Christian at least in intention? How was it possible to
seek at the same time the Kingdom of God, not of this world, and to
strive for improvement of this world?

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