Ulrich L. Lehner

The first two hundred year history of sexual violence and rejection of ecclesial norms in a religious order. The book is based on extensive archival research in dozens of European archives and libraries. It uncovers early modern networks of homosexuals in the clergy, patterns of pederastic and sadistic behavior, but also action patterns of cover-up and secrecy among the superiors of the order.
Cases from Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and Mexico.

OPEN ACCESS PUBLICATION

The Benedictine Beda Mayr,OSB, (1742–1794) was one of the main figures of the German Catholic Enlightenment. He was not only the first Catholic to wrestle with the challenges of Reimarus and Lessing, but also the first to develop an ecumenical methodology for a reunion of the churches. The text, translated from the German original for the first time, presents a theologian who intentionally went to the margins of orthodoxy in order to allow for more interconfessional dialogue. Mayr argued that Catholic theology should follow minority opinions for unsettled dogmatic questions, which would allow for easier union agreements with Protestant churches. Moreover, he suggested limiting ecclesial infallibility to directly revealed truths, thereby reducing the authoritative truth claims of conciliar or papal decisions.

Although the study of Catholic Enlightenment is booming among historians and theologians, too few texts are available in reliable translations. A major strength of this edition is not only that its introduction introduces the reader to the colorful landscape of eighteenth-century theological discussions, but also presents the entire text of Mayr's book (with the exception of its appendix) thereby allowing the reader to see the strengths and weaknesses of Enlightenment ecumenism.

Mayr's Limited Infallibility was put on the Index of Forbidden Books, on which it remained until the 20th Century. It invites readers to a modern, non-scholastic way of theologizing for the sake of Christian unity.

One cannot understand Catholic "reform" if one has not analysed how the term was understood from the 14th to the 18th c. Catholics understood reform traditionally either as bringing something back into shape or as making something better. Moreover, they were convinced that church discipline had changed over time, while the core deposit of faith did not. Thus, reform concerned mostly the form in which the same faith was preached, but also how it could take root in people's hearts under changed and new circumstances.
While most studies of Catholic Reform focus entirely on social disciplining or political aspects, this study unearthes the spiritual side of this reform: What kind of spiritual exercises helped the faithful, what metaphors were used and for what purpose, etc.

1 The Dynamics of Reform

2 The Varying Theologies of the Priesthood

3 The Homily

4 Teaching the Faith in a Parish

5 The Spiritual Formation of the Family

6 Lay Movements Transforming the Church

7 Eucharist and Confession

8 Transformation through Prayer

9 Symbols and Images

10 Mary and Joseph: Images of Hope

In a world dominated by half-truths, illogic, and intellectual laziness, Think Better helps readers understand what reason is and how to use it well.

Reason is a powerful tool not only for finding our way in an increasingly complex world but also for growing intellectually and emotionally. This short, accessible volume unlocks the dynamics of human reason, helping readers to think critically and to use reason confidently to solve problems. It enables readers to think more clearly and precisely about the world and tackles a number of profound philosophical questions without getting bogged down with jargon. Topics include knowledge, identity, leadership, creativity, and empathy.

Written in an accessible style that integrates philosophy, illustrations, personal anecdotes, and statistical data, this book is well suited for use in undergraduate, classical school, and home school contexts. It is an invaluable guide for anyone interested in gaining better reasoning skills and a more rational approach to life.

From amazon.com:
""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 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 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."

40 essays by Ronnie Hsia, Ulrich Leinsle, Marius Reiser, Thomas Marschler, Trent Pomplun, Jean-Louis Quantin, William O'Brien SJ, Stefania Tutino, Carl Trueman, Andreas Beck, Willem van Asselt, Eric Carlsson, Stephen Hampton, Benjamin Mayes, Robert Kolb, Risto Saarinnen, Ola Tjorholm, Sarah Mortimer, Jeff Bach, Keith Stanglin, Hartmut Lehmann, Jonathan Strom, Craig Atwood, Stephen Burnett, Emanuele Colombo, Aza Goudriaan, Carolina Armenteros, Eric Watkins, Maria Rosa Antognazza, Stephen Gaukroger, Jonathan Israel, John Henry.

Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2016, 350pp.
In the present day, there is widespread confusion regarding the theological achievements of the Catholic Enlightenment. This book outlines such contributions in the fields of biblical exegesis, church reform, liturgical renewal, and the move towards a more tolerant view of other churches and religions. Since some of the most important Catholic Enlighteners lived in Germany, this book concentrates on their endeavors, but also frequently points to other European players. Only an un-polemical historical assessment of the Catholic Enlightenment can help us to get out of the current gridlock of interpreting Vatican II: was there a break with tradition or was there continuity? By reviewing the historical debates that preceded Vatican II, the unknown, marginalized or deliberately forgotten roots of the conciliar debates come to light that can help us fine tune future hermeneutical endeavors. This history is hitherto unknown to most researchers. Indeed, it is possibly the most neglected field of modern literary history.

Darrin Mcmahon:
"Ulrich Lehner has written a book that anyone with an interest in eighteenth-century Catholicism and the more general phenomenon of religious Enlightenment will want to read. Focused on the roughly 150 monasteries (composed of some 3500–4000 professed monks) in the German-speaking Benedictine communities of southern and Middle Germany, Austria, and Switzerland over the course of the eighteenth century, the book draws on extensive primary research in local and regional archives as well as the very [End Page 585] best of contemporary scholarship in German and English. Lehner is nothing if not a thorough and industrious scholar, and the wealth of information he has amassed alone makes this book a valuable resource. But he is also a fluid writer, with an eye for piquant details and arresting stories, ensuring that the narrative is enlivened along the way by a great number of vivid and sensitive portraits of individuals, like the “Catholic Werther”."

It is widely agreed that Protestant scholasticism influenced Kant’s thinking on the question of Divine Providence. But the nature and extent of that influence have never been explored in detail. This is the scholarly lacuna the present volume seeks to fill. It shows how Kant, from his pre-Critical period onward, grappled with the concept of Divine Providence, sought to subjectivize and naturalize it, and how Protestant scholasticism played an important role, both positive and negative, in this endeavor. It also makes clear how this critical philosophical conversation gave rise to a powerful notion of the progress of the human species – a vital part of the Enlightenment’s enduring legacy. This study thus provides not only a unique theological-philosophical overview of 18th-century speculation on the question of Divine Providence; it also sheds important new light on the significance of the German Enlightenment.

Topos-Taschenbuch-Verlag:  2015
Monastery Prisons; Monastic Prisons; Crime
Unveils a history of deception within monasteries, raises issues of criminal law & violence in monasteries. Moreover it contributes to gender&women's history, the history of sexuality and more.

Otto Knab's fox fables belong to the most celebrated accounts of German resistance literature. Out of print for decades, this reprint makes the fables again accessible, together with a historical introduction.

Wipf and Stock: Library of Forbidden Books 2017

Reviews
(1) Kant-Studien 101 (2010): 119–120 [R. Pozzo].
(2) Journal of Ecclesiastical History 57 (2006): 790-791 [W. P. Ward]
(3) Theological Studies 68 (2007): 471-472 [J. Betz]
(4) Journal for the History of Modern Theology  15 (2008): 173–174 [J.  Wischmeyer].
(5) Theologie und Philosophie 81 (2006): 585-587 [G. Sala]
(6) Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie 53 (2006): 527-531 [S. Knebel]
(7) Theologische Revue 103 (2007), 516-518 [A. Winter]

"Enlightened Monks investigates the social, cultural, philosophical, and theological challenges the German Benedictines had to face between 1740 and 1803, and how the Enlightenment process influenced the self-understanding and lifestyle of these religious communities. It had an impact on their forms of communication, their transfer of knowledge, their relationships to worldly authorities and to the academic world, and also their theology and philosophy. The multifacetedachievements of enlightened monks, which included a strong belief in individual freedom, tolerance, human rights, and non-violence, show that monasticism was on the way to becoming fully integrated into the Enlightenment. Ulrich L. Lehner refutes the widespread assumption that monks were reactionary enemies ofEnlightenment ideas. On the contrary, he demonstrates that many Benedictines implemented the new ideas of the time into their own systems of thought. This revisionist account contributes to a better understanding not only of monastic culture in Central Europe, but also of Catholic religious culture in general.

Reviews:
 
"Lehner is nothing if not a thorough and industrious scholar, and the wealth of information he has amassed alone makes this book a valuable resource. But he is also a fluid writer, with an eye for piquant details and arresting stories, ensuring that the narrative is enlivened along the way by a great number of vivid and sensitive portraits of individuals."
Darrin McMahon, The Catholic Historical Review

"This book is of the same calibre as Derek Beale's magisterial work about monasticism during the Ancien Régime."
Rainald Becker, Francia Recensio

"No scholar interested in early modern monasticism or Catholicism, the Catholic or German enlightenments, or religion and the Enlightenment can afford to overlook this book ... This book deeply contextualizes intellectual and religious history. One of its great virtues is the way it combines monastic responses to new historical, legal, philosophical, and theological ideas with concrete attention to monastic material culture, social practices and institutional innovations."
Brad S. Gregory, Theological Studies

"Beautifully written and cogently argued, Lehner’s book makes a thoroughly convincing case for – what those clinging to a Voltairean Enlightenment will hardly believe – enlightened monks."
James Lees, Eighteenth Century Studies

"This fascinating book … might stimulate monastic communities today to ask whether they too could learn from the Enlightened Monks."
James Leachmann, Benedictine Culture

"This book is highly entertaining."
Johannes Reich, Erbe und Auftrag

"A stimulating book that will leave no one indifferent!"
Daniel Misonne, Revue Benedictine

"Many of the ideas and reforms of these eighteenth century Benedictines are in many ways strikingly similar to the radical changes in monasticism after the Second Vatican Council. … It is the great merit of this book to have saved these enlightened Benedictines from oblivion and to have unearthed a monastic culture that was characterized by its openness to modernity."
Klaus Schatz, Theologie und Philosophie


"Engagingly written, deeply researched, and seriously engaged with current research, Lehner’s work demonstrates that the Enlightenment was far more than a secular movement pitted against an obscurantist religious outlook. It was, rather, a multi-faceted trend to reconcile science and reason with matters of faith. Enlightened Monks illustrates how, paradoxically, an institution known most as a relic of the medieval past actually stood on the front lines of this endeavor."
from the Gilmary Shea Prize Committee

"This little summary doesn’t do justice to the book’s range and depth of research. Lehner offers, among other things, an excellent description of mo- nastic prisons, as well as deftly drawn portraits of various savants, rogues, and dreamers in and out of the mon- asteries. Enlightened Monks also pro- vides important context for the later German revival of theology centered in nineteenth-century Tübingen. Despite its somewhat recherché title, this is one the most interesting books I’ve read this year."
Lawrence S. Cunningham, Commonweal

"This very learned and highly original book, based on little-known and often obscure sources, reveals the existence of a remarkable subculture of Enlightened, even revolutionary, monks who had personal as well as literary and philosophical connexions with the non-monastic world."
Journal Ecclesiastical History, Derek Beales, Cambridge

Lehner's work marks a significant step in original research. His extensive citation of archival sources offers a new perspective on European religious culture... The book's content appeals to a wide range of scholars and is not reserved for the narrow musings of the specialist. The sociologist and historian will be intrigued as will the philosopher and the theologian.
Journal of Church and State

"Far from idle malingerers or enemies of Enlightenment, Lehner recounts how these monks interacted with and contributed to the Enlightenment. Lehner's monks voraciously consumed Enlightenment-era scholarship, supported reforms that would relax monastic duties in favor of a life of knowledge, invoked the language of natural rights to call for freedom of conscience and privacy from their abbots, corresponded with other luminaries, gave public lectures, produced original research on sacred and secular topics, and thus fully participated in the Republic of Letters. As such, Lehner has proffered a convincing argument that the German Benedictines might be counted not only as constituents of the Catholic Aufklärung, but as figures who existed squarely within the Enlightenment itself."
Religious Studies Reviews

"As a model of contemporary historiography and engaging scholarship, Enlightened Monks is about as good as it gets." J. Yegge, catholicbooksreview.org

"Die zunaechst als Praemisse begruendete besondere Affinitaet des Benediktinerordens zur Aufklaerung wird ueberzeugend nachgewiesen, katholische Aufklaerung erhaelt ein weiteres Profil."
S. Benz, Historische Zeitschrift"

This book was forbidden by the Nazi government as it outlines a defense against the charges brought forth against Catholicism. It is a piece of Catholic reform theology that articulated a new understanding of what it means to be Church.

Wipf and Stock: 2016

Church History 77 (2008): 185–187 [E. Midelfort]:"Ulrich Lehner here presents two excellent exemplars of the Catholic Enlightenment in Germany, a movement that has obtained serious scholarly attention only in fairly recent times. Indeed, for many scholars, the very idea of a Catholic Enlightenment has seemed like a contradiction in terms. For others, the Catholic Enlightenment reached its high point in the dissolution of the Jesuit Order (1773) or in the statist reforms of Joseph II in Austria. It is, therefore, useful to consider the writings of Benedikt Poiger (1755-1832), an Augustinian canon at Reichenhall. In 1780 he published a short treatise of 38 pages declaring the foolishness of believing that witchcraft could ever be real. His argument rested on a definition of witchcraft as essentially based on a pact with the devil, a pact for which the biblical evidence was notably poor. The early Church, too, while often consumed with resisting the devil, knew nothing of pacts with the devil. For Poiger, scholastic theologians starting in the thirteenth century made a fundamental error by elaborating a notion of witchcraft that broke with the healthy traditions of the early Church."

Reviews
(1) Archivio Teologico Granadino 70 (2007): 267-68 [P. Olivares].
(2) Zeitschrift für Katholische Theologie 130 (2008): 263–264 [Lothar Lies].
(3) Trierer Theologische Zeitschrift 118 (2009): 177-178 [S. Müller].
(4) Gregorianum 90 (2009): 191–192 [J. Becker].

Reviews
(1) Das Historisch- Politische Buch 57 (2009), 23 [D. Fleischer].
(2) Theologische Literaturzeitung 134 (2009): 1223–1226 [C. Spehr].
(3) Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Religions- und Kulturgeschichte/Revue suisse d'histoire religieuse et culturelle 103 (2009): 324–325 [P. Hersche].
(4) Zeitschrift für Bayerische Kirchengeschichte 78 (2009): 279-281 [H. P. Marti].
(5) Review Essay by Manfred Weitlauff, “Der Siegeszug des Papalismus. Von Febronius bis in die Gegenwart: Zu zwei Febronius-Streitschriften des Trierer Weihbischofs Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim (1701–1790),” Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 121 (2010): 221–241.

Reviews
(1) Das Historisch- Politische Buch 57 (2009), 23 [D. Fleischer].
(2) Theologische Literaturzeitung 134 (2009): 1223–1226 [C. Spehr].
(3) Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Religions- und Kulturgeschichte/Revue suisse d'histoire religieuse et culturelle 103 (2009): 324–325 [P. Hersche].
(4) Zeitschrift für Bayerische Kirchengeschichte 78 (2009): 279-281 [H. P. Marti].
(5) Review Essay by Manfred Weitlauff, “Der Siegeszug des Papalismus. Von Febronius bis in die Gegenwart: Zu zwei Febronius-Streitschriften des Trierer Weihbischofs Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim (1701–1790),”  Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 121 (2010): 221–241.

ABSTRACT
In order to provide a nuanced understanding of early modern
religious history, the metaphors of ‘border’ and ‘layer’ have
proved particularly useful. This article proposes utilizing Nicolai
Hartmann’s ontology and Helmuth Plessner’s anthropology to
deepen our comprehension of these metaphors. It also highlights
the existence of competing metaphors, such as ‘confessional
osmosis,’ which can mislead or downplay personal agency.
To test the efficacy of stratigraphic metaphors, two case studies
are presented: the multi-confessional city and multiple
conversions. These case studies demonstrate how stratigraphic
metaphors can capture the simultaneity of the simultaneous,
commonalities and differences within the lives of historical
agents. The conversions of the nun Martha Zitter provide a
particularly insightful illustration for the use of such metaphors.

Pope Francis recently described synodality, which St. John Paul II introduced into the vocabulary of the Church,[1] as a "challenge" and as a "journey."[2] In what follows I will first determine what could be understood by these terms, then outline what synodality could mean for the study of Church history, and then suggest through three case studies for a hermeneutic of synodality in historical theology.

In 1937 a series of sexual abuse cases in Catholic institutions rocked Germany. The Nazis cleverly used these trials for their propaganda. Goebbel’s propaganda machinery attempted to portray the entire Catholic clergy as either homosexual (then still a criminal offense) or pedophiles or as financially hostile to the state, instrumentalizing for this purpose the court cases against a number of religious. By painting the clergy as a band of abusers, the Nazis tried to undermine the faithful’s trust in their pastors and bishops, and ultimately their faith. Some bishops protested in public with sobering numbers, demonstrating that 99.9 % of clergy were never involved in any such crimes, but the theology professor Paul Simon (1882–1946) adopted a different strategy.

https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/paul-simon-and-the-mystery-of-a-sinful-church/#print

Historians of Early Modernity who analyze the religious life of confessional groups often misunderstand their inner logic. The ontology of Nicolai Hartmann and the anthropology of Helmuth Plessner can be helpful for rediscovering this logic by understanding religious life as "layers" of societal existence. Moreover, they articulate a model for how to talk diligently about "borders" and confessional interaction across boundaries, and borders, which retires the vague concept of "confessional osmosis."
After all, the lack of careful semantics in confessional history created massive distortions, as methodological flaws in Etienne François, and the misinterpretation of Martha Zitter's conversion narrative by Merry Wiesner-Hanks and Beth Plummer show.

Les historiens de la première modernité qui analysent la vie religieuse des groupes confessionnels se méprennent souvent sur leur logique interne. L'ontologie de Nicolai Hartmann et l'anthropologie de Helmuth Plessner peuvent aider à redécouvrir cette logique en comprenant la vie religieuse comme des "couches" de l'existence sociétale. En outre, ils proposent un modèle pour parler avec diligence des "frontières" et de l'interaction confessionnelle à travers les "frontières", ce qui élimine le concept vague d'"osmose confessionnelle".
Après tout, l'absence d'une sémantique prudente dans l'histoire confessionnelle a créé des distorsions massives, comme le montrent les défauts méthodologiques d'Etienne François et la mauvaise interprétation du récit de conversion de Martha Zitter par Merry Wiesner-Hanks et Beth Plummer.
---

Los historiadores de la modernidad temprana que analizan la vida religiosa de los grupos confesionales a menudo malinterpretan su lógica interna. La ontología de Nicolai Hartmann y la antropología de Helmuth Plessner pueden ser útiles para redescubrir esta lógica al entender la vida religiosa como "capas" de la existencia social. Además, articulan un modelo sobre cómo hablar diligentemente de "fronteras" e interacción confesional a través de "fronteras", que retira el vago concepto de "ósmosis confesional".
Después de todo, la falta de una semántica cuidadosa en la historia confesional creó distorsiones masivas, como demuestran los defectos metodológicos de Etienne François y la interpretación errónea de la narrativa de la conversión de Martha Zitter por Merry Wiesner-Hanks y Beth Plummer.

ecent research has demonstrated not only the existence of a variety of Enlightenments, but also the importance of the religious aspect to this worldwide process. In particular, special interest has been paid to the long-neglected Catholic Enlightenment, which entailed many strands of thought by Catholic intellectuals and political leaders who attempted to renew and reform Catholicism from the middle of the 18th to the early 19th century. This renewal was an apologetic endeavor designed to defend the essential dogmas of Catholic Christianity by explaining their rationality in modern terminology and by reconciling Catholicism with modern culture. The Catholic Enlightenment was in dialog with contemporary culture, not only by developing new hermeneutical approaches to the Council of Trent or to Jansenist ideas, but also by implementing some of the core values of the overall European Enlightenment process that tried to ‘renew’ and ‘reform’ the whole of society, and thus truly deserves the label Enlightenment.

Ludovico Muratori summarized his thoughts about the limits of reason and freedom of speech in De Ingeniorum Moderatione in Religionis Negotiis (1714). This article presents and analyses this important work.
https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/the-catholic-enlightenment-and-the-freedom-of-the-theologian/#print

Reviews
(1) Studi Kantiani 18 (2005): 225–228 [Silvestro Marrucci].
(2) Giornale di Metafisica 28 (2006): 193-197 [Rosa Maria Lupo].
(3) Theologie und Philosophie 81 (2006): 471 [W. Csech]
(4) Rivista di Filosofia Neo-scolastica vol. 98 (2006): 610–614 [P. Grillenzoni]
(5) Zeitschrift für Katholische Theologie 128 (2006) 467-68 [Otto Muck]
(6) Philosophische Rundschau 54 (2007) 31-53 [Andreas Urs Sommer].
(7) Die Tagespost Nr. 50, April 28th, 2005

Für den Theologen und Kirchengeschichtler bilden die Gnadenstreitigkeiten, und was mit ihnen zusammenhängt, geistesgeschichtlich die entscheidende Auseinandersetzung der frühen Neuzeit. Sie führen vor Augen, wie die katholische Theologie zum letzten Mal aus ...

The Cathedral Vicar Paul Simon (1882–
1962) published numerous books and
pamphlets in defense of the Catholic faith
against the attacks of Nazi ideology. His
widely read book “The Human Element
in the Church of Christ” (1936) was such
a work of apologetics, which this article
introduces in more detail.

This handbook presents essays from a wide range of scholars about Christian theological literature in the period 1600 to 1800. Our introduction addresses several issues concerning the shape and contents of the handbook: first, the intention and scope of the volume; second, what are the actual boundaries of a study of early modern theology that is broadly assigned to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; third, why we use the term “early modern”; fourth, how early modern theology should be examined, analyzed, and understood given the varied intellectual, social, and political contexts of the era; and fifth, how the present volume is organized.

... Franz Kollar) (1718-1783) sowie die Edition (1762) des Mainzer Akzeptationsinstru-23 Den fiktiven Autorennamen übernahm der Verfasser von seiner Schwester Febronia, einer Stiftsdame in Juvigny, oder von seiner Nichte Febronia, die den Ordensnamen Jus-tina führte. ...

This chapter examines the Catholic Church’s engagement with the Enlightenment from 1670–1815. It considers Catholic philosophies of the Enlightenment and new conceptualizations of natural law. The chapter also explores Catholic exegetical discussions during the period, showing how Enlightenment concerns enabled new styles of attention to the Scriptural text, new Patristic scholarship, and the origins of the later liturgical movement. Jansenist and Gallican theologies stimulated reflection on eccelesiology and the papacy, and a variety of thinkers developed new theologies of the state, and of the economy. This period also saw the rise of the Catholic ultramontanism that was to mark Church life until the Second Vatican Council.

This chapter examines the Catholic Church’s engagement with the Enlightenment from 1670–1815. It considers Catholic philosophies of the Enlightenment and new conceptualizations of natural law. The chapter also explores Catholic exegetical discussions during the period, showing how Enlightenment concerns enabled new styles of attention to the Scriptural text, new Patristic scholarship, and the origins of the later liturgical movement. Jansenist and Gallican theologies stimulated reflection on eccelesiology and the papacy, and a variety of thinkers developed new theologies of the state, and of the economy. This period also saw the rise of the Catholic ultramontanism that was to mark Church life until the Second Vatican Council.

O’Connor, Michael. Cajetan’s Biblical Commentaries: Motive and Method (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2017). St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History. 302 pp.

Giorgio Caravala, Beyond the Inquisition. Ambrogio Catarino Politi and the Origins or the Counter-Reformation. Translated by Don Weinstein (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2017).

Eamon Duffy: Reformation Divided. Catholics, Protestants and the Conversion of England (London et al.: Bloomsbury, 2017).

Alphonsus of Liguori, Theologia Moralis: Moral Theology. Vol. 1, Books I-III on Conscience, Law, Sin and Virtue. Translated by Ryan Grant (Mediatrix Press, 2017).

Anne Ashley Davenport, Suspicious Moderate. The Life and Writings of Francis a Sancta Clara, 1598–1680 (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2017).

Roeck, Bernd. Der Morgen Der Welt Geschichte der Renaissance (München: C. H. Beck, 2017)

Reinhardt, Nicole, Voices of Conscience: Royal Confessors and Political Counsel in Seventeenth-Century Spain and France (Oxford: OUP, 2016).

Tutino, Stefania, Uncertainty in Post-Reformation Catholicism. A History of Probabilism (Oxford: OUP, 2017).

Reynolds, Phillip L. How Marriage Became One of the Sacraments (Cambridge University Press, 2016)

Brugger, E. Christian, The Indissolubility of Marriage & The Council of Trent (CUA Press, 2017)