CATHOLIC ENLIGHTENMENT C: The Forgotten History of a Global Movement

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Whoever needs an act of faith to elucidate an event that can be explained by reason is a fool, and unworthy of reasonable thought. This line, spoken by the notorious 18th-century libertine Giacomo Casanova, illustrates a deeply entrenched perception of religion, as prevalent today as it was hundreds of years ago. It is the sentiment behind the narrative that Catholic beliefs were incompatible with the Enlightenment ideals. Catholics, many claim, are superstitious and traditional, opposed to democracy and gender equality, and hostile to science. It may come as a surprise, then, to learn that Casanova himself was a Catholic. In The Catholic Enlightenment, Ulrich L. Lehner points to such figures as representatives of a long-overlooked thread of a reform-minded Catholicism, which engaged Enlightenment ideals with as much fervor and intellectual gravity as anyone. Their story opens new pathways for understanding how faith and modernity can interact in our own time. Lehner begins two hundred years before the Enlightenment, when the Protestant Reformation destroyed the hegemony Catholicism had enjoyed for centuries. During this time the Catholic Church instituted several reforms, such as better education for pastors, more liberal ideas about the roles of women, and an emphasis on human freedom as a critical feature of theology. These actions formed the foundation of the Enlightenment's belief in individual freedom. While giants like Spinoza, Locke, and Voltaire became some of the most influential voices of the time, Catholic Enlighteners were right alongside them. They denounced fanaticism, superstition, and prejudice as irreconcilable with the Enlightenment agenda. In 1789, the French Revolution dealt a devastating blow to their cause, disillusioning many Catholics against the idea of modernization. Popes accumulated ever more power and the Catholic Enlightenment was snuffed out. It was not until the Second Vatican Council in 1962 that questions of Catholicism's compatibility with modernity would be broached again. Ulrich L. Lehner tells, for the first time, the forgotten story of these reform-minded Catholics. As Pope Francis pushes the boundaries of Catholicism even further, and Catholics once again grapple with these questions, this book will prove to be required reading.

Review

Ulrich L. Lehner's recent work has forged a new field of historical scholarship on the significant but forgotten role Catholics played in advancing the goals of the Enlightenment. ... Lehner has uncovered a fresh picture of the Catholic past that calls seriously into question any view of Catholics as straightforwardly anti-Enlightenment. He has also shown the common view of the Enlightenment as an anti-religious movement to be largely false. Lehner's excellent work brings into view paths not taken, insights obscured or forgotten by history, and possibilities still latent for religion in contemporary life. ― American Catholic Studies

Lehner undoubtedly makes an outstanding, original, and persuasive contribution to Enlightenment studies and to Catholic history. He has contributed significantly to the historiography of the "many Enlightenments" and makes a strong case for repudiation of the false but enduring myth that Enlightenment ideas and Catholicism were and are necessarily at odds. ― Journal of Church and State

For those who continue to see modernity fundamentally in tension with traditional Catholicism, Lehner's narrative will be difficult to stomach ... The Catholic Enlightenment's impartiality remains its greatest strength. Lehner attempts to stand above much of the historiographical in-fighting that has marked Enlightenment studies in the twenty-first century. The benefit is a measured book that, when it reaches paperback, will be a standard for courses on the history of Catholicism, and the Enlightenment. ― Grant Kaplan, Modern Theology

This is an important book that should be read not just by historians of Catholicism

Okładka: Hardcover

Liczba stron:266

Autor:LEHNER

Język: English: Published; English: Original Language; English

Data wydania: 2016-03-03

Waga: 1.202 gram

Wysokość: 0.8 cm

Szerokość: 6.5 cm

Długość: 9.4 cm

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