Professor John Bossy died on 23 October 2015, and the historical world lost a truly original thinker. Many in the profession have already paid tribute to a much-loved colleague, tutor, mentor and friend, but his particular contribution to the history of Catholicism deserves especial mention. The very first issue of British Catholic History, the reconfigured Recusant History, contained his preface, fifty-six years after he had first contributed to the journal. It is only fitting that this journal should now acknowledge his lifetime’s contribution to the field. Bossy has bequeathed an important legacy to all those who work on the history of Catholicism in particular, the history of the Reformation more generally, and the history of religion in its broadest sense. The clarity and creativity of his historical understanding transcended many outworn assumptions during his lifetime and remains startlingly contemporary for historians of religion today. Bossy’s work on early modern Catholicism demonstrated the application of some of the most modern and exciting approaches of twentieth-century scholarship to one of the more antiquated and intractable branches of English history. It was evident from the start that he had an unusual capacity for sloughing off the weight of established wisdom and making a fresh and clear-sighted evaluation of any historical problem. The man who was famously to reclassify English Catholicism as a Nonconformist sect was himself an historical free-thinker. It was not just that he brought the theories of sociologists, anthropologists and the Annales school to bear on a subject still wreathed in both pious and academic cobwebs, although this in itself was of enormous benefit to the field. It was that he began from a different place and asked different questions. This is why, when others were still writing church history, Bossy from the first wrote the history of religion. English Catholicism was an area of historical study still bedevilled by caricatures set in place by Elizabethan propagandists and carrying the heavy burden of much confessionalized rhetoric. Bossy never felt the need to follow in anybody else’s footsteps, however, despite being able to recognize most of them with ease. The English Catholic

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约翰·博西（Fassy FBA）教授（1933-2015年）

约翰·博西（John Bossy）教授于2015年10月23日去世，历史世界失去了一位真正的原创思想家。该行业中的许多人已经向一位广受欢迎的同事，导师，导师和朋友致敬，但是他对天主教历史的特殊贡献值得特别提及。英国天主教历史的第一期，重新构造的《历史记录》，载有他的序言，距他首次为该杂志投稿已有56年。这本期刊现在应该承认他一生对这一领域的贡献才是恰当的。Bossy已为所有致力于天主教历史，尤其是宗教改革历史以及最广义的宗教历史的人们留下了重要遗产。他的历史理解的清晰性和创造力超越了他一生中的许多过时的假设，并且对于当今的宗教史学家而言仍然具有令人震惊的当代性。Bossy在早期现代天主教研究中的工作表明，二十世纪奖学金的一些最现代，最令人振奋的方法被应用到了英国历史上比较陈旧和难以捉摸的分支之一。从一开始就可以看出，他具有非凡的能力，可以减轻既有智慧的影响，并对任何历史问题进行新鲜而清晰的评估。这位著名的将英国天主教重新归类为不符合教派的人本人是一位历史悠久的思想家。他不仅带来了社会学家的理论，人类学家和Annales学校在虔诚的和蛛网的两个蜘蛛网中仍然提出了这个课题，尽管这本身对该领域具有极大的好处。那是他从一个不同的地方开始，并提出了不同的问题。这就是为什么当其他人仍在撰写教会历史时，博西从一开始就撰写了宗教史。英国天主教是一个历史研究领域，至今仍被伊丽莎白时代的宣传家设置的讽刺漫画所困扰，并背负着许多自白的言论。尽管能够轻松地识别大多数人，但Bossy从未感到有必要跟随别人的脚步。英国天主教徒 那是他从一个不同的地方开始，并提出了不同的问题。这就是为什么当其他人仍在撰写教会历史时，博西从一开始就撰写了宗教史。英国天主教是一个历史研究领域，至今仍被伊丽莎白时代的宣传家设置的讽刺漫画所困扰，并背负着许多自白的言论。尽管能够轻松地识别大多数人，但Bossy从未感到有必要跟随别人的脚步。英国天主教徒 那是他从一个不同的地方开始，并提出了不同的问题。这就是为什么当其他人仍在撰写教会历史时，博西从一开始就撰写了宗教史。英国天主教是一个历史研究领域，至今仍被伊丽莎白时代的宣传家设置的讽刺漫画所困扰，并背负着许多自白的言论。尽管能够轻松地识别大多数人，但Bossy从未感到有必要跟随别人的脚步。英国天主教徒 尽管能够轻松地识别大多数人，但Bossy从未感到有必要跟随别人的脚步。英国天主教徒 尽管能够轻松地识别大多数人，但Bossy从未感到有必要跟随别人的脚步。英国天主教徒