For over a century, the Carmelite Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face (1873-1897) has been revered as Catholicism's foremost folk saint of modern times. Universally known as "the Little Flower, " she has been a source of consolation and uplift, an example of everyday sainthood by "the Little Way. " This book puts aside that piety and addresses the torment of doubt within the life and writing of a saint best known for the strength of her conviction. Nevin examines the dynamics of Christian doubt, and argues that it is integral to the journey toward selfless love which Therese was compelled to take. Therese's metaphors for doubt were 'tunnel', 'fog', and 'vault', each one suggesting darkness, dimness, and enclosure. What, Nevin asks, did doubt mean to her? What was its source and nature? What was its object? He gives close attention to her reading and interpretations of the Old and New Testaments as pathways through her inner wilderness. Her Carmel of spiritual sisters becomes a vivid setting for this drama, with other women challenging Therese by their own trials of faith. One of Therese's indispensable lessons, Nevin concludes, is the acceptance of helplessness. Bringing a new direction to the study of Therese, and of the problematics of sainthood itself, this book reveals how Therese's response to divine abandonment is a unique and painfully won imitation of Christ.

Medicine and the Inquisition offers a wide-ranging and nuanced account of the role played by the Roman, Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions in shaping medical learning and practice in the period from 1500 to 1850. Until now, learned medicine has remained a secondary subject in scholarship on Inquisitions. This volume delves into physicians' contributions to the inquisitorial machinery as well as the persecution of medical practitioners and the censorship of books of medicine. Although they are commonly depicted as all-pervasive systems of repression, the Inquisitions emerge from these essays as complex institutions. Authors investigate how boundaries between the medical and the religious were negotiated and transgressed in different contexts. The book sheds new light on the intellectual and social world of early modern physicians, paying particular attention to how they complied with, and at times undermined, ecclesiastical control and the hierarchies of power in which the medical profession was embedded. Contributors are Herve Baudry, Bradford A. Bouley, Alessandra Celati, Maria Pia Donato, Martha Few, Guido M. Giglioni, Andrew Keitt, Hannah Marcus, and Timothy D. Walker. This volume includes the articles originally published in Volume XXIII, Nos. 1-2 (2018) of Brill's journal Early Science and Medicine with one additional chapter by Timothy D. Walker and an updated introduction.

This book reports on the lives and works of the most influential Catholic theologians of the twentieth century. * A new book from one of the foremost Roman Catholic theologians currently writing in English* Reports on the lives and works of the most influential Catholic theologians of the twentieth century* Covers theologians including: Chenu, the guru of the French worker priest movement; Congar who was imprisoned in Colditz; and Kung who was banned from teaching for decades because of his radical views* Highlights the involvement of each theologian with the Second Vatican Council, and the dissatisfaction of most with what was achieved* Includes a chapter on the controversial prelate, Pope John Paul II

Through a study of the church of Santa Prassede, Mary M. Schaefer offers a compelling examination of the ''golden ages'' for women active in ecclesial ministries, critically measuring feminist claims and providing evidence contrary to the official Roman position that women have never been ordained in the Catholic Church. The ninth-century church of Santa Prassede has been studied intensively in recent years, yet no scholar has yet recognized the significance of the balanced male and female imagery: both men and women disciples, Peter and Paul as family friends, Praxedes and her sister as house church leaders in the post-apostolic period assisted by bishop Pius I, and Pope Paschal's mother Theodora episcopa, for example. Praxedes' identification as ''presbytera'' by a Roman priest-historian in 1655 and by the Benedictine prior of the church in 1725 prompts analysis of women's ordination rites in churches of East and West. Santa Prassede preserves one of the largest intact programs of church decoration in Rome up to 1200. Schaefer investigates its scriptural and liturgical sources, and, in turn, reexamines its foundation myth. With the story of the church, Schaefer provides a detailed study of women in pastoral office (especially diaconas, presbyteras, and episcopal abbesses) from the first through twelfth centuries in the West. Women in Pastoral Office also shows how the liturgy as well as the vita of Praxedes and her sister Pudentiana (whose fourth century church is located down the hill) shaped this outstanding commission of the builder, Pope Paschal I (817-824).

The Nun in the Synagogue documents the religious and cultural phenomenon of Judeocentric Catholicism that arose in the wake of the Holocaust, fueled by survivors who converted to Catholicism and immigrated to Israel as well as by Catholics determined to address the anti-Judaism inherent in the Church. Through an ethnographic study of selected nuns and monks, Emma O'Donnell Polyakov explores how this Judeocentric Catholic phenomenon began and continues to take shape in Israel. This book is a case study in Catholic perceptions of Jews, Judaism, and the state of Israel during a time of rapidly changing theological and cultural contexts. In it, Polyakov listens to and analyzes the stories of individuals living on the border between Christian and Jewish identity-including Jewish converts to Catholicism who continue to harbor a strong sense of Jewish identity and philosemitic Catholics who attend synagogue services every Shabbat. Polyakov traces the societal, theological, and personal influences that have given rise to this phenomenon and presents a balanced analysis that addresses the hermeneutical problems of interpreting Jews through Christian frameworks. Ultimately, she argues that, despite its problems, this movement signals a pluralistic evolution of Catholic understandings of Judaism and may prove to be a harbinger of future directions in Jewish-Christian relations. Highly original and methodologically sophisticated, The Nun in the Synagogue is a captivating exploration of biographical narratives and reflections on faith, conversion, Holocaust trauma, Zionism, and religious identity that lays the groundwork for future research in the field.

Calixtus II (1119-1124) transformed the orientation of the papacy by signing the Concordat of Worms with the emperor, Henry V, in 1122, resolving the conflict over imperial investiture of bishops. As the tough-minded archbishop of Vienne, he had opposed the emperor and anyone else who stood in his way. As pope, he aggressively promoted the authority of the papacy, but suffered defeat in South Italy. To gain Henry V's support, he jettisoned his life-long opposition, and compromised over investitures. Students of the medieval papacy will find that this new interpretation of a pivotal pope challenges many of the conventional conceptions.

This volume in the American Religious Experience series chronicles the history and present situation of the Catholic Church and the American Catholic subculture in the United States. Catholics have had a long history in America, and they have often had conflicting demands - should they remain loyal to the authority of the pope in Rome, or should they become more accommodating to American culture and society? The Catholic Experience in America combines historical, sociological, philosophical, and theological and religious scholarship to provide the reader with an overview of the general trends of American Catholic history, without over-simplifying the complex nature of that history. The Catholic Experience in America examines many different aspects of what it's like to be a Catholic in United States today: Discusses the diversity of Catholicism within the Church, including the issues of race, ethnicity, and gender BLAddresses major turning points in American Catholic history, and how they have affected the everyday experience of American Catholics, such as immigration and nativism, the separation of church and state, and the election of John Kennedy as president. BLExamines how the Church has handled such contemporary issues as homosexuality, birth control and abortion, and religious education Provides a historical analysis of the rise and fall of a Catholic subculture capable of providing a Catholic religious identity in America The volume includes several appendices to further the readers understanding of the Catholic experience in America, including brief discussions of key documents and Church organizations, a glossary of terms, and basic demographic and statistical information.