Notice bibliographique
- Notice
Type(s) de contenu et mode(s) de consultation : Texte noté : sans médiation
Auteur(s) : Lehner, Ulrich L. (1976-....)
Titre(s) : The Catholic enlightenment [Texte imprimé] : the forgotten history of a global movement / Ulrich L. Lehner
Publication : New York (N.Y.) : Oxford University Press, copyright 2016
Description matérielle : 257 pages ; 25 cm
Comprend : Introduction : Progress and Catholicism ; oil and water? ; Catholic Enlighteners
around the globe ; The Catholic learning curve : toleration and tolerance ; Feminism,
freedom, faith : Catholic women and the Enlightenment ; Catholic Enlightenment in
the Americas, China and India ; Devils, demons, and the divine in the Catholic Enlightenment
; Saints and sinners ; Slaves, servants, and savages : slavery in Catholic countries
; The death of Catholic Enlightenment and the beginning of a papal Catholicism.
Note(s) : Bibliogr. p. 221-248. Index
"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"--Fly leaf of book jacket
Sujet(s) : Église catholique -- 18e siècle
Mouvement des Lumières -- Religion -- Église catholique
Identifiants, prix et caractéristiques : ISBN 9780190232917 (cloth) (alk. paper). - ISBN 0190232919 (cloth) (alk. paper)
Identifiant de la notice : ark:/12148/cb450045920
Notice n° :
FRBNF45004592
(notice reprise d'un réservoir extérieur)
