The Catholic Enlightenment
Format: Paperback
ISBN13: 9780190912284
Paperback|9780190912284
✨ Featured Offer
Brand New
$38.54
List Price: $31.99
🚚
See all 5 offers from $29.18 FREE standard delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
Overview
"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.
| ISBN-13 | 9780190912284 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 0190912286 |
| Weight | 0.94 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 9.20 x 0.60 x 6.10 In |
| List Price | $31.99 |
| Format | Paperback |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Pages | 272 pages |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Published On | 2018-11-01 |
View All Offers
Sort by:
Price
Condition
Seller
Seller Comments
Price
Used, Very Good
Seller details
Books From California
Simi Valley, CA, USA
Very Clean Copy-Over 500, 000 Internet Orders Filled.
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
✨ Brand New
Seller details
GreatBookPrices-
Columbia, MD, USA
100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition. We offer expedited shipping to all US locat...
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
Brand New
Seller details
Paperbackshop
Bensenville, IL, USA
New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot of...
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
Brand New
Seller details
Alibris
Sparks, NV, USA
Print on demand Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 272 p.
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026
Used, Good
Seller details
Bonita
Santa Clarita, CA, USA
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
Free delivery by: 05 Apr 2026