Introduction: Progress and Catholicism--Oil and Water?
Chapter 1: Catholic Enlighteners Around the Globe
Chapter 2: The Catholic Learning Curve: Toleration and
Tolerance
Chapter 3: Feminism, Freedom, Faith: Catholic Women and the
Enlightenment
Chapter 4: Catholic Enlightenment in the Americas, China, and
India
Chapter 5: Devils, Demons, and the Divine in the Catholic
Enlightenment
Chapter 6: Saints and Sinners
Chapter 7: Slaves, Servants, and Savages: Slavery in Catholic
Countries
Conclusion: The Death of Catholic Enlightenment and the Beginning
of a Papal Catholicism
Afterword
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Ulrich L. Lehner is William K. Warren Professor of Theology at
University of Notre Dame, Indiana. A member of the European Academy
of Sciences and Arts, he has received awards and fellowships from
the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, the Notre Dame
Institute of Advanced Study, the Earhart Foundation, the German
Humboldt Foundation and the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation.
He is the award-winning author of several scholarly works on
early modern and modern history of religion.
"Aside from its compelling conclusion, 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 it is a book that deserves the strong readership
that
it will no doubt receive."-Grant Kaplan, Modern Theology
"Ulrich 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
"What distinguishes his book is its global reach and its
illumination of so many parts of the Church s life, witness, and
worship...[Lehner] writes well and has combed a vast amount of
material in several languages."--The Catholic Historical Review
"This well-researched and intelligently written book, which may be
enjoyed by experienced scholars in the field, as well as
non-experts thanks to its accessible style, sheds new light on the
development of Catholic scholarship, philosophy, and theology in
the Age of Enlightenment Moreover, this is an honest book, given
that Lehner points out not only the merits of the Catholic
Enlightenment, but also its shortcomings and
failures."--Intellectual History
Review
"How far, then, the term 'Catholic Enlightenment' can be used as a
way of conceptualising the vast terrain of Catholic responses to
the modernising impulses of the eighteenth century may, then,
continue to be a point of scholarly debate. Such debates will,
however owe much to the industry, intellectual clarity, and
pioneering approaches of this book."--Journal of Religious
History
"Lehner has produced an impressive work that anyone with an
interest in church history will want to read."--Church of England
Newspaper
"This impressively learned study rewards-and demands-careful
reading. It opens up the possibility for further research into
neglected aspects of Catholic history, and provides lessons
(positive and negative) for those considering how the church today
might respond more productively to the intellectual and moral
challenges of the present era."--Commonweal
"[T]his book is informative on the various individual
reformers..."--CHOICE
"Lehner, with an impressive display of scholarship, tells a
different story, one in which 'only a small fraction of
Enlighteners [were] anti-religious,' working instead for 'a
balanced relationship between reason and faith.'"--The Public
Discourse
"[Lehner] offers a masterful reinterpretation of the relationship
between Roman Catholicism and the Enlightenment The book's global
scope is perhaps its most impressive feature. Building on his
scholarship on the Austrian and German Benedictines, Lehner weaves
a complex narrative that brings together areas and figures that had
been largely overlooked by eighteenth-century scholars This book
raises important questions about the ways in which historians
should
think about eighteenth-century learned culture, and it also forces
us to consider whether "the Enlightenment" continues to be a useful
category of analysis The Catholic Enlightenment is thus both a
provocative challenge to established narratives about the
Enlightenment and an extremely useful resource for scholars and
students of all levels."--H-Net
"Excellent With a sure-handed mastery of both primary and secondary
literature, Lehner provides a generous survey of Roman Catholic
contributions to the development of genuinely 'modern'
values."--Journal of the American Academy of Religion
"A masterful reinterpretation of the relationship between Roman
Catholicism and the Enlightenment."-H-Net
"In this comprehensive concise account, Ulrich L. Lehner, professor
of religious history at Marquette University, offers a masterful
reinterpretation of the relationship between Roman Catholicism and
the Enlightenment The book's global scope is perhaps its most
impressive feature Lehner weaves a complex narrative that brings
together areas and figures that had been largely overlooked by
eighteenth-century scholars This book raises important questions
about the
ways in which historians should think about eighteenth-century
learned culture, and it also forces us to consider whether 'the
Enlightenment' continues to be a useful category of analysis The
Catholic
Enlightenment is thus both a provocative challenge to established
narratives about the Enlightenment and an extremely useful resource
for scholars and students of all levels."--H-Net
"The Catholic Enlightenment is not only one of the best books I
have had the privilege of reading this year, it is certainly one of
the best books of history I have ever read."--The Imaginative
Conservative
"Outstanding...Especially relevant to current debates over
Francis's papacy...[an] important book."--First Things
"The Catholic Enlightenment is a major contribution to ongoing
efforts to show that, from its very beginning, Catholic
Christianity has rarely been closed to insights into the truth
attained by those of different faiths or none."--Library of Law and
Liberty
"Ulrich Lehner is the leading scholar of the Catholic
Enlightenment: he knows more about it, and has done more to make it
accessible, than anyone else. His brief survey, The Catholic
Enlightenment: The Forgotten History of a Global Movement, is a
pioneering survey that everyone interested in religion in the
modern world should study and savor." --David Sorkin, author of The
Religious Enlightenment: Protestants, Jews, and Catholics from
London
to Vienna
"This book synthesizes an extraordinary range of material with
eye-opening implications for our understanding of both the European
Enlightenment and modern Roman Catholicism. Lehner shows multiple
ways in which the robust, global Catholic Enlightenment continued
trajectories developed in the sixteenth-century Catholic
Reformation. He also makes a strong case for the abiding relevance
of the Catholic Enlightenment today. An outstanding achievement and
a
must-read for both scholars and students." --Brad Gregory, Dorothy
G. Griffin Professor of Early Modern European History, University
of Notre Dame
"Upending conventional wisdom, Ulrich Lehner persuasively
demonstrates that normal oppositions, conservative versus
progressive, Enlightener versus Catholic, modern versus traditional
are unhelpful in coming to grips with the fascinating history of
Catholic engagements with the Enlightenment. His beautiful prose
and captivating historical narrations are as enjoyable to read as
they are profound. The Catholic Enlightenment deserves to be well
read and
discussed not only by historians and theologians, but also by
anyone seeking to come to grips with our moment in history and
Catholicism's rich contributions to it. This work will make you
rethink what you
thought you knew." --D. Stephen Long, Cary M. Maguire University
Professor in Ethics, Southern Methodist University
"The value of the book lies in the sheer amount of information
recorded; the present reviewer. . . learned many helpful and
enriching things." --Catholic World Report
"Ulrich Lehner's excellent book unpacks the notion of the Catholic
Enlightenment, and provides us, as he says in the subtitle, with a
'forgotten history.'" - America Magazine
"This impressively learned study rewards--and demands--careful
reading. It opens up the possibility for further research into
neglected aspects of Catholic history, and provides lessons
(positive and negative) for those considering how the church today
might respond more productively to the intellectual and moral
challenges of the present era."-Commonweal
"Few, if any, scholars are as comfortable with such a wide variety
of Roman Catholic thinkers as Lehner. One feels the strength of his
work most in the sheer diversity of figures, themes, and cultures
he treats. More important, however, is its thorough and steady
demolition of so many abiding clichés about Catholicism and
modernity." --The Journal of the American Academy of Religion
"Ulrich L. Lehner, the foremost American scholar of Enlightenment
Catholicism, shares
his expertise in this clear, engaging survey."--Fides et
Historia
"Lehner's book is full of new and interesting insights, and proves
a provocative and engaging read."--Journal of Global Intellectual
History
"This is a stimulating book for theologians and historians because,
as the author affirms, 'The Catholic Enlightenment illustrates
where the dialogue of the church with modern thought was most
fruitful, and where it failed, and can thus serve as lesson and
potential guide for twenty-first century theology in its continuing
dialogue with modernity'"--Theological Studies
"Lehner's spirited and engaging prose in the pages of his thematic
tour de force through eighteenth century styles of Enlightenment
Catholicism has accomplished something that is long overdue, very
important, and admirable in its intent...[His] insights and very
readable approach to the topic promises to engender spirited debate
and fascinating scholarship about a topic that has been until quite
recently, if not precisely 'forgotten,' then certainly
under-appreciated and woefully under-examined by students of the
eighteenth century."--Journal of Jesuit Studies
"This is an important book that should be read not just by
historians of Catholicism and the eighteenth century but also by
journalists and pundits wanting to understand the Catholic
Church...Without doubt, Lehner's ground-breaking book is essential
reading for everyone studying the Enlightenment. It should not be
sidelined merely as a history of one religious response to the
Enlightenment, but rather received as a hugely significant
contribution to our
understanding of the history of ideas."--British Catholic History
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