The hypothesis, therefore, which we should like to propose as a direction for research is the following: on the eve of the Re- formation, the average westerner was but superficially christianized. In this context, the two Reformations, Luther’s and Rome’s, were two processes, which apparently competed, but in actual fact converged, by which the masses were Christianized and religion spiritualized.

Jean Delumeau
Catholicism between Luther and Voltaire