Kselman traces the career of Felicite de Lamennais (1782–1854) as a key figure who articulated th... more Kselman traces the career of Felicite de Lamennais (1782–1854) as a key figure who articulated the challenges faced by the Catholic Church in the age of democratic revolution. Struck by the demands for self-government by Catholics in Ireland, Belgium, and Poland, Lamennais envisioned an alliance of “God and Liberty” in which the Church would abandon its support of monarchy in favor of democratic regimes that would accept the separation of the Church and State. When this position was condemned by Pope Gregory XVI, Lamennais expanded his view of liberty to include the right of individual conscience to reject papal teachings. Lamennais’ struggle to reconcile Catholicism and freedom of religion made him a controversial figure in his own time, and established a contested legacy over an issue that continues to resonate in the modern world.
<p>This book explores how the French responded to the right of religious ch... more <p>This book explores how the French responded to the right of religious choice acquired during the revolutionary era. Religious liberty is usually part of a larger discussion about church-state relations, a context that veils the way it plays out in the lives of individuals. After establishing the legal and cultural framework for religious liberty during the Restoration (1814-1848), Kselman studies a number of prominent converts whose stories are documented in letters, memoirs, novels, and newspapers. These individuals, including Ivan Gagarin, George Sand, and Ernest Renan, moved both into and away from the Catholic Church, revealing the variety and complexity of religious choices in the modern era. Through an examination of their lives the book asks what it means for individuals to be allowed, as a normal aspect of life, to choose their own religious commitments, and how such choices affect personal identity and the process of fashioning a self. This book sheds light on the psychological, social, and religious reasons underlying their decisions to convert, the effects of their conversion on family and community, and how this sense of liberty informs our secular age.</p>
plague to rats or other rodents, this essay asks us to believe that this "failure" in observation... more plague to rats or other rodents, this essay asks us to believe that this "failure" in observation redounds simply to people before the nineteenth century being incapable of seeing millions of rats that must have strewn their streets, and of drawing connections between them and the disease ( ). Yet in subtropical zones such as India and China, where Yersinia pestis struck before Yersin cultured the agent, natives had no difficulty seeing rats drop from their rafters, realizing that the plague season had begun, and that it was time to abandon their huts. More positively, this collection will stimulate new research on the plagues from 541 to 750, not only on questions of the disease and demography, but also on the plagues' social and cultural consequences, a matter of interest to everyone concerned with pandemics.
... Nonetheless, the book's organization and conclusions serve as excellent templates for th... more ... Nonetheless, the book's organization and conclusions serve as excellent templates for those who might wish to do so. Dylan Bloy Gettysburg College A Social History of England, 12001500. ... Its editors have 440 | DYLAN BLOY Page 9. ...
plague to rats or other rodents, this essay asks us to believe that this "failure" in observation... more plague to rats or other rodents, this essay asks us to believe that this "failure" in observation redounds simply to people before the nineteenth century being incapable of seeing millions of rats that must have strewn their streets, and of drawing connections between them and the disease ( ). Yet in subtropical zones such as India and China, where Yersinia pestis struck before Yersin cultured the agent, natives had no difficulty seeing rats drop from their rafters, realizing that the plague season had begun, and that it was time to abandon their huts. More positively, this collection will stimulate new research on the plagues from 541 to 750, not only on questions of the disease and demography, but also on the plagues' social and cultural consequences, a matter of interest to everyone concerned with pandemics.
This book explores how the French responded to the right of religious choice acquired during the ... more This book explores how the French responded to the right of religious choice acquired during the revolutionary era. Religious liberty is usually part of a larger discussion about church-state relations, a context that veils the way it plays out in the lives of individuals. After establishing the legal and cultural framework for religious liberty during the Restoration (1814-1848), Kselman studies a number of prominent converts whose stories are documented in letters, memoirs, novels, and newspapers. These individuals, including Ivan Gagarin, George Sand, and Ernest Renan, moved both into and away from the Catholic Church, revealing the variety and complexity of religious choices in the modern era. Through an examination of their lives the book asks what it means for individuals to be allowed, as a normal aspect of life, to choose their own religious commitments, and how such choices affect personal identity and the process of fashioning a self. This book sheds light on the psychological, social, and religious reasons underlying their decisions to convert, the effects of their conversion on family and community, and how this sense of liberty informs our secular age.
The new book by Johannes Laichner on the priest Stephan Krismer takes the form of a short biograp... more The new book by Johannes Laichner on the priest Stephan Krismer takes the form of a short biography. Born at Christmas in the Austrian Karres near Tirol (p. ), the young Stephan Krismer decided early to become a priest, and was ordanined in (pp.-). The area around Tirol in this period was Catholic (p. ) but challenged by the French Revolution and the Enlightenment (p. ). The Hapsburgs had to cede this area to Bavaria in (p. ). Krismers was assigned in to the parish of Arzl, close to his place of birth (p. ). The transition to Bavarian control had brought many changes. It upset many patriots that Bavaria restricted its Christian traditions. Krismer condemned this (p. ). His 'Schrofe-Loch' homily of , in which he swore allegiance to Tirol's Catholic traditions and rejected, passively and peacefully, Bavarian influence, became famous (p. ). An uprising against the Bavarians began in Tirol with Krismer in the field as a military pastor. Initially successful (p. ), it was finally defeated by French and Bavarian troops in November (p. ). Continuing disturbances near Arzl, under Krismer, were put down by the Bavarians (p. ). Krismer became famous in the Tiroler area. He did not suffer any consequences for his involvement in the uprising, but was transferred to other parishes, first to Fiss (p. ) where, after , he promoted new monasteries (p. ). He did the same later in Kronburg (p. ). Krismer retired to Brennbichl in (p. ). He was much respected by the people and continued his interest in the monasteries (p. ). He died at the age of ninety-two in (p. ). Johannes Laichner honours Krismer as a pioneer of the faith in Tirol and as a strong promoter and patron of monasteries (p. ); he uses a wide range of historical and archival sources to elucidate his importance as a priest of Tirol. Although the many illustrations are an attractive complement to the text, the book's brevity means that the treatment of its subject is fundamentally superficial. Only a snapshot is given of the ecclesiastical history of Tirol and its remarkable priest. The topic should be discussed at a much deeper and wider level. Research on Stephan Krismer should continue.
Veiled Threats: The Logic of Popular Catholicism in Italy. By Michael P Carroll. (Baltimore:The J... more Veiled Threats: The Logic of Popular Catholicism in Italy. By Michael P Carroll. (Baltimore:The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1996. Pp. xvi, 275. $39.95.) In Veiled Threats Michael Carroll returns to the study of popular Catholicism in Italy, a project he began with Madonnas That Maim (Baltimore:The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992). In this study, however, Carroll moves well beyond his interest in Marian devotions to present a wide-ranging account of popular Catholicism in Italy since the Counter-Reformation. Carroll's work is based on an extensive reading of the secondary literature, which he combines with research in Counter-Reformation pamphlets and theological treatises, and with observations based on his own fieldwork. In his conclusion Carroll returns again to the psychoanalytic model he has employed in earlier works to explain his evidence, but the body of the text is by no means a reductive analysis, and roots his material firmly in the historical context of Counter-Reformation Italy. Carroll opens with a chapter in which he defends the concept of popular religion against critics such as Ellen Badone, William Christian, Jr., and Eamon Duffy. Carroll may overstate his differences with these scholars, however, with whom he shares a critical view toward models of religious change that emphasize the power of elites to shape the beliefs and practices of ordinary people. Official and popular Catholicism were not warring sets of beliefs, but mutually responsive systems that produced devotional forms that reflected creative adaptations satisfying to both clergy and people. Carroll's substantive chapters deal with an enormous and fascinating variety of popular devotions. He treats first of all the cults dedicated to powerful images, the most popular of which present the Madonna and the Child Jesus. Carroll reviews the attempts of the Jansenist-inspired Synod of Pistoia in 1786 to reform these cults, particularly those which involved covering images, a device that underscored the great and potentially dangerous power wielded by them. But the Synod's efforts ran aground in the face of popular resistance backed by papal support. The images themselves played a role in this dispute, when two dozen Marian statues in Rome began moving their eyes in 1796,"gloating" according to Carroll over their victory against Pistoia (p. 24). In the following chapters Carroll argues that such positive responses to popular beliefs were typical of the Counter-Reformation. The bishops gathered at the Council of Trent (1545-1563) were critical of images that represented false doctrines, but did not explicitly attack their invocation for supernatural assistance. In approving local image-cults bishops were motivated, according to Carroll, primarily by a desire to hold on to a popular constituency threatened by the Reformation, and by financial self-interest.The official church did introduce a more Christocentric piety to Italy, however, as Carroll demonstrates in a fascinating chapter that covers the development of processions commemorating the passion which used both living actors and statues. …
Although this book offers much high-quality material, some weak points exist. Kaiser argues with ... more Although this book offers much high-quality material, some weak points exist. Kaiser argues with passion that the pope and the transnationalism of the Catholic Church enabled the participation of Christian Democracy in European integration. But, as noted in the study, World War II was a period where these ideas were profoundly reformulated.Thus it is not persuasive that the pope’s actions in 1860s affected the postwar era, but rather the war created conditions conducive to an integration project.
Kselman traces the career of Felicite de Lamennais (1782–1854) as a key figure who articulated th... more Kselman traces the career of Felicite de Lamennais (1782–1854) as a key figure who articulated the challenges faced by the Catholic Church in the age of democratic revolution. Struck by the demands for self-government by Catholics in Ireland, Belgium, and Poland, Lamennais envisioned an alliance of “God and Liberty” in which the Church would abandon its support of monarchy in favor of democratic regimes that would accept the separation of the Church and State. When this position was condemned by Pope Gregory XVI, Lamennais expanded his view of liberty to include the right of individual conscience to reject papal teachings. Lamennais’ struggle to reconcile Catholicism and freedom of religion made him a controversial figure in his own time, and established a contested legacy over an issue that continues to resonate in the modern world.
<p>This book explores how the French responded to the right of religious ch... more <p>This book explores how the French responded to the right of religious choice acquired during the revolutionary era. Religious liberty is usually part of a larger discussion about church-state relations, a context that veils the way it plays out in the lives of individuals. After establishing the legal and cultural framework for religious liberty during the Restoration (1814-1848), Kselman studies a number of prominent converts whose stories are documented in letters, memoirs, novels, and newspapers. These individuals, including Ivan Gagarin, George Sand, and Ernest Renan, moved both into and away from the Catholic Church, revealing the variety and complexity of religious choices in the modern era. Through an examination of their lives the book asks what it means for individuals to be allowed, as a normal aspect of life, to choose their own religious commitments, and how such choices affect personal identity and the process of fashioning a self. This book sheds light on the psychological, social, and religious reasons underlying their decisions to convert, the effects of their conversion on family and community, and how this sense of liberty informs our secular age.</p>
plague to rats or other rodents, this essay asks us to believe that this "failure" in observation... more plague to rats or other rodents, this essay asks us to believe that this "failure" in observation redounds simply to people before the nineteenth century being incapable of seeing millions of rats that must have strewn their streets, and of drawing connections between them and the disease ( ). Yet in subtropical zones such as India and China, where Yersinia pestis struck before Yersin cultured the agent, natives had no difficulty seeing rats drop from their rafters, realizing that the plague season had begun, and that it was time to abandon their huts. More positively, this collection will stimulate new research on the plagues from 541 to 750, not only on questions of the disease and demography, but also on the plagues' social and cultural consequences, a matter of interest to everyone concerned with pandemics.
... Nonetheless, the book's organization and conclusions serve as excellent templates for th... more ... Nonetheless, the book's organization and conclusions serve as excellent templates for those who might wish to do so. Dylan Bloy Gettysburg College A Social History of England, 12001500. ... Its editors have 440 | DYLAN BLOY Page 9. ...
plague to rats or other rodents, this essay asks us to believe that this "failure" in observation... more plague to rats or other rodents, this essay asks us to believe that this "failure" in observation redounds simply to people before the nineteenth century being incapable of seeing millions of rats that must have strewn their streets, and of drawing connections between them and the disease ( ). Yet in subtropical zones such as India and China, where Yersinia pestis struck before Yersin cultured the agent, natives had no difficulty seeing rats drop from their rafters, realizing that the plague season had begun, and that it was time to abandon their huts. More positively, this collection will stimulate new research on the plagues from 541 to 750, not only on questions of the disease and demography, but also on the plagues' social and cultural consequences, a matter of interest to everyone concerned with pandemics.
This book explores how the French responded to the right of religious choice acquired during the ... more This book explores how the French responded to the right of religious choice acquired during the revolutionary era. Religious liberty is usually part of a larger discussion about church-state relations, a context that veils the way it plays out in the lives of individuals. After establishing the legal and cultural framework for religious liberty during the Restoration (1814-1848), Kselman studies a number of prominent converts whose stories are documented in letters, memoirs, novels, and newspapers. These individuals, including Ivan Gagarin, George Sand, and Ernest Renan, moved both into and away from the Catholic Church, revealing the variety and complexity of religious choices in the modern era. Through an examination of their lives the book asks what it means for individuals to be allowed, as a normal aspect of life, to choose their own religious commitments, and how such choices affect personal identity and the process of fashioning a self. This book sheds light on the psychological, social, and religious reasons underlying their decisions to convert, the effects of their conversion on family and community, and how this sense of liberty informs our secular age.
The new book by Johannes Laichner on the priest Stephan Krismer takes the form of a short biograp... more The new book by Johannes Laichner on the priest Stephan Krismer takes the form of a short biography. Born at Christmas in the Austrian Karres near Tirol (p. ), the young Stephan Krismer decided early to become a priest, and was ordanined in (pp.-). The area around Tirol in this period was Catholic (p. ) but challenged by the French Revolution and the Enlightenment (p. ). The Hapsburgs had to cede this area to Bavaria in (p. ). Krismers was assigned in to the parish of Arzl, close to his place of birth (p. ). The transition to Bavarian control had brought many changes. It upset many patriots that Bavaria restricted its Christian traditions. Krismer condemned this (p. ). His 'Schrofe-Loch' homily of , in which he swore allegiance to Tirol's Catholic traditions and rejected, passively and peacefully, Bavarian influence, became famous (p. ). An uprising against the Bavarians began in Tirol with Krismer in the field as a military pastor. Initially successful (p. ), it was finally defeated by French and Bavarian troops in November (p. ). Continuing disturbances near Arzl, under Krismer, were put down by the Bavarians (p. ). Krismer became famous in the Tiroler area. He did not suffer any consequences for his involvement in the uprising, but was transferred to other parishes, first to Fiss (p. ) where, after , he promoted new monasteries (p. ). He did the same later in Kronburg (p. ). Krismer retired to Brennbichl in (p. ). He was much respected by the people and continued his interest in the monasteries (p. ). He died at the age of ninety-two in (p. ). Johannes Laichner honours Krismer as a pioneer of the faith in Tirol and as a strong promoter and patron of monasteries (p. ); he uses a wide range of historical and archival sources to elucidate his importance as a priest of Tirol. Although the many illustrations are an attractive complement to the text, the book's brevity means that the treatment of its subject is fundamentally superficial. Only a snapshot is given of the ecclesiastical history of Tirol and its remarkable priest. The topic should be discussed at a much deeper and wider level. Research on Stephan Krismer should continue.
Veiled Threats: The Logic of Popular Catholicism in Italy. By Michael P Carroll. (Baltimore:The J... more Veiled Threats: The Logic of Popular Catholicism in Italy. By Michael P Carroll. (Baltimore:The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1996. Pp. xvi, 275. $39.95.) In Veiled Threats Michael Carroll returns to the study of popular Catholicism in Italy, a project he began with Madonnas That Maim (Baltimore:The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992). In this study, however, Carroll moves well beyond his interest in Marian devotions to present a wide-ranging account of popular Catholicism in Italy since the Counter-Reformation. Carroll's work is based on an extensive reading of the secondary literature, which he combines with research in Counter-Reformation pamphlets and theological treatises, and with observations based on his own fieldwork. In his conclusion Carroll returns again to the psychoanalytic model he has employed in earlier works to explain his evidence, but the body of the text is by no means a reductive analysis, and roots his material firmly in the historical context of Counter-Reformation Italy. Carroll opens with a chapter in which he defends the concept of popular religion against critics such as Ellen Badone, William Christian, Jr., and Eamon Duffy. Carroll may overstate his differences with these scholars, however, with whom he shares a critical view toward models of religious change that emphasize the power of elites to shape the beliefs and practices of ordinary people. Official and popular Catholicism were not warring sets of beliefs, but mutually responsive systems that produced devotional forms that reflected creative adaptations satisfying to both clergy and people. Carroll's substantive chapters deal with an enormous and fascinating variety of popular devotions. He treats first of all the cults dedicated to powerful images, the most popular of which present the Madonna and the Child Jesus. Carroll reviews the attempts of the Jansenist-inspired Synod of Pistoia in 1786 to reform these cults, particularly those which involved covering images, a device that underscored the great and potentially dangerous power wielded by them. But the Synod's efforts ran aground in the face of popular resistance backed by papal support. The images themselves played a role in this dispute, when two dozen Marian statues in Rome began moving their eyes in 1796,"gloating" according to Carroll over their victory against Pistoia (p. 24). In the following chapters Carroll argues that such positive responses to popular beliefs were typical of the Counter-Reformation. The bishops gathered at the Council of Trent (1545-1563) were critical of images that represented false doctrines, but did not explicitly attack their invocation for supernatural assistance. In approving local image-cults bishops were motivated, according to Carroll, primarily by a desire to hold on to a popular constituency threatened by the Reformation, and by financial self-interest.The official church did introduce a more Christocentric piety to Italy, however, as Carroll demonstrates in a fascinating chapter that covers the development of processions commemorating the passion which used both living actors and statues. …
Although this book offers much high-quality material, some weak points exist. Kaiser argues with ... more Although this book offers much high-quality material, some weak points exist. Kaiser argues with passion that the pope and the transnationalism of the Catholic Church enabled the participation of Christian Democracy in European integration. But, as noted in the study, World War II was a period where these ideas were profoundly reformulated.Thus it is not persuasive that the pope’s actions in 1860s affected the postwar era, but rather the war created conditions conducive to an integration project.
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