John Bossy's "The Mass as a Social Institution"

Paper Summary:

"This paper explains that Bossy focuses upon the decline of the Mass, specifically the Eucharist, during the reformation period. The author points out that, as the mass lost its power, it also ceased to be a unifying phenomenon within Western European society. The paper relates that the communal elements bound up within the sacrificial aspects of the Mass became antiquated.

From the Paper:

"This is a brief review of John Bossy's, "The Mass as a Social Institution". As a leading authority in the field, it is unsurprising that Bossy's insight into the sociological and religious phenomenon otherwise known as the mass should be worthy of closer examination. To begin with, Bossy accurately notes that the pre-eminent place of the mass in pre-reformation Europe would be difficult to over-state (1983, 30). Max Weber once commented that the `great triumph' of the Judeo-Christian tradition was to create an over-arching and rational ethic that could effectively supersede moral values predicated upon kinship (29-30). "

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