The Catholic enlightenment : the forgotten history of a global movement / Ulrich L. Lehner.

9780190232948 (ebook) :

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2016.

1 online resource.

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The most cherished values of modernity are unthinkable without the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. Equal rights, the growth of democracy, and the idea of perpetual progress stem from thinkers who lived 250 years ago but whose ideas are as attractive as ever. This book argues that while Catholic beliefs are commonly assumed to be at odds with modernity, most of the progressive reforms associated with the Enlightenment actually began to take shape during the Catholic Counter-Reformation two centuries earlier and were staunchly defended by enlightened Catholics during the eighteenth century. This is the forgotten story of a progressive Catholicism that actively engaged with the world. Although this mode of thought declined in the nineteenth century, it reemerged powerfully at and after Vatican II (1962-1965).

Oxford scholarship online.

Print version :

Books / Online

English

April 19, 2016

Includes bibliographical references and index.