ePub The Catholic Enlightenment: The Forgotten History of a Global Movement by Ulrich L. Lehner in History

Review

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Subtitle; The Forgotten History of a Global Movement Is AccurateBy Mary Ann FischerI'm still reading this one and mainly because there's SO much here that I did not know!!The author writes beautifully such that scholars will not be bored nor will students find it inaccessible.4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. The Middle WayBy GDPUlrich Lehner's 'The Catholic Enlightenment' is a perfectly good book that presents a survey of reform-minded Catholicism spanning the sixteenth century through the end of the eighteenth century; along with a nod to the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65 when the Roman Catholic Church formally addressed the relationship of the Church and modernity. In keeping with the book's subtitle; "The Forgotten History of a Global Movement" there is evidence of Catholic Enlightenment thinking from around the world … e.g.; France; Portugal; Spain; Italy; Central Europe; the Americas; China; Italy; et cetera.The scope of the book is both its strength and its Achilles’ heel; as it covers a tremendous amount of territory; but can't do so to any great depth in its 218 pages of text. 'The Catholic Enlightenment' is strongest when addressing the period of the French Revolution; offers a pretty good introductory treatment of Jansenism; and outlines the pan-European tensions with the Jesuits. There is a very satisfying sketch of the Carmelite nuns guillotined in France's Reign of Terror; as well as a brief look at the Knights of Malta that proved fascinating (and timely).The Enlightenment; of course; is a highly contentious topic with historians frequently constructing narratives that serve their own ideological purposes.Jonathan Israel's Revolutionary Ideas: An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre is an example of one end of the spectrum. Israel writes of Radical Enlightenment thinkers as the prophets of modernity; while the French Revolution they inspired "denied the validity of ideas; customs; institutions; or laws inherited from the past absolutely and totally" (p. 11); thus founding modernity itself. Israel recognizes that this repudiation of the past was "opposed or uncomprehendingly regarded by most of the population and even most of the National Assembly" (p. 11).Israel's conceited brand of valorizing the Radical Enlightenment is captured perfectly in Pierre Manent's Beyond Radical Secularism: How France and the Christian West Should Respond to the Islamic Challenge. Manent characterizes a current prevalent viewpoint among the worshipers of modernity: "Humanity is irresistibly carried along by the movement of modernization; and modern humanity; humanity understood as having finally reached adulthood; is a humanity that has left religion behind" (p. 10). He writes of such "modern humanity" as incredulous that any religion could be the source of personal animation in the enlightened 21st Century. This secular posture leaves "modern humanity" smugly "waiting only for the slower ones to kindly join him" (p. 61). Manent concludes with these words: “To declare or even to guarantee the rights of human beings is not sufficient to bring men together. They need a form of common life” (p. 116) that can; perhaps; be found in religion and spirituality.Another book that offers an interesting perspective on the Enlightenment is Darrin M. McMahon's Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment and the Making of Modernity. McMahon focuses upon those who articulated reservations; objections; or; in many cases; outright hostility to the Enlightenment's animating 'philosophie' of progress and radical change reliant solely on reason. The book's title; "Enemies of …" captures its orientation: counter-Enlightenment and; in particular; counter-Revolutionary reactionary thinking. McMahon postures reactionaries as not only impossibly seeking the past; but an idealized; imaginary past.Lehner's book addresses a space between those two postures; specifically; Catholics who sought reconciliation between their faith and the Enlightenment.An example was Abbe Claude Fauchet (1744-93) who strove; Israel writes; "… to bridge the gap between Catholicism and radical thought; assuring listeners at every turn that Jesus was a lover of liberty; equality; and human rights …" (p. 136). Faucet took part in the July 14th attack on the Bastille; joined the Constitutional Church; and was a member of the Legislative Assembly. Lehner writes; "[He] struggled sincerely to balance [his] commitment to the French Revolution with [his] faith; often not very successfully and often not very boldly …" (p. 209). His efforts only proved that sometimes life is indeed a vale of tears: the Roman Catholic Church considered him a heretic and a schismatic; while his moderate politics; however well intentioned; led to the guillotine (Oct. 31; 1793).On a cheerier note; Lehner also writes of Caspar Royko (1744-1814); who was a “professor of church history in Prague” and who “boldly professed that Catholics should not regard Protestants as enemies but as brethren. None of this sounds remarkable to twenty-first-century readers; but it was revolutionary at the time” (p. 61). One senses that Royko; through faith and ecumenism; was seeking the “common life” that Manent recognizes as necessary for a true society.The challenge Catholic Enlightenment thinkers confronted in the eighteenth century is; in many ways; the same challenge for people of religious faith today (usually without the threat of a guillotine; thank Goodness). We all enjoy a world filled with the political; scientific; and technological benefits of the Enlightenment. In Daniel Brewer’s The Enlightenment Past: Reconstructing Eighteenth-Century French Thought; he writes; “… it may seem that resisting the Enlightenment is logically impossible; tantamount to venturing into the illogical; the irrational; the premodern” (p. 23). Indeed; the fruits of the Enlightenment overwhelmingly represent our reality; but; Enlightenment and religion need not be an either/or choice. Many still look to their faith for community (or a “common life”); strength; and; hopefully; salvation. Brewer identifies an approach like this to the Enlightenment as “postmodern”. As such; Lehner's book offers insight into the past and the "postmodern" present; a search for a middle way of faith and Enlightenment; without surrendering to a soulless modernity. It is worth a read.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. A fascinating readBy James WatrousA fascinating read. One hears that the Enlightenment was in conflict with religion; and there is some truth to that. With this thinking the Catholic Church could not go together. Yet; it's not true. There was a movement within Catholic that embraced ideas of the Enlightenment and also had influence on Enlightenment thinking. One example was the Catholic criticism of the mistreatment of Native Americans; which many so-called Enlightenment advocates believed Native Americans were inferior to them and they could exploit them in the name of progress. There are many more examples in Professr Leher's book. Read it and be enlightened (yes; the pun is intended but you will learn much you did not know).