Reciprocal Relationship. The intellectual and religious changes of the Renaissance and Reformation are often regarded primarily as the shapers of large institutions and structures of society: the churches where people worshipped, the courts where rulers governed, the buildings in which people lived and worked, the schools in which some people were educated. These changes also influenced much smaller structures and institutions as well, including the families in which most Europeans lived, and even people's own bodies, emotions, health, and sense of identity. Conversely, these small and what may seem to be private things—the family and the individual person—also shaped larger developments. Many artists, religious reformers, political leaders, writers, and explorers grew up in a family environment. This fact may seem self-evident, but for many centuries the history of the Renaissance and Reformation has ignored it; ideas were often described as if they were transmitted...