Stefania Tutino shows that the hermeneutical and epistemological anxieties that characterize our current intellectual climate are rooted in the early modern world. Showing that post-Reformation Catholicism did not simply usher in modernity, but indeed postmodernity as well, her study complicates the well-established scholarly view concerning the context of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic response to it. Shadows of Doubt provides a collection of case-studies centered on the relationship between language, the truth of men, and the Truth of theology. Most of these case-studies illuminate little-known figures in the history of early modern Catholicism. The militant aspects of post-Tridentine Catholicism can be appreciated through study of figures such as Robert Bellarmine or Cesare Baronio, the solid pillars of the intellectual and theological structure of the Church of Rome; however, an understanding of the more enigmatic aspects of early modernity requires exploration of the demimonde of post-Reformation Catholicism. Tutino examines the thinkers whom few scholars mention and fewer read, demonstrating that post-Reformation Catholicism was not simply a world of solid certainties to be opposed to the Protestant falsehoods, but also a world in which the stable Truth of theology existed alongside and contributed to a number of far less stable truths concerning the world of men. Post-Reformation Catholic culture was not only concerned with articulating and affirming absolute truths, but also with exploring and negotiating the complex links between certainty and uncertainty. By bringing to light this fascinating and hitherto largely unexamined side of post-Tridentine Catholicism, Tutino reveals that post-Reformation Catholic culture was a vibrant laboratory for many of the issues that we face today: it was a world of fractures and fractured truths which we, with a heightened sensitivity to discrepancies and discontinuities, are now well-suited to understand.

This empirical study explores how the sampled priests understand their priesthood. Chris A. Fallon reviews Liverpool's history of expansion and decline, which has left fewer and older priests serving fewer active Catholics and an undiminished number who still require baptisms, first communions, marriages and funerals. It contrasts the models of priesthood found in Liverpool with American studies of the cultic and servant leader models of priesthood, taking into account the theological viewpoints and personality profiles of the individuals who took part.

A Companion to the Medieval Papacy brings together an international group of experts on various aspects of the medieval papacy. Each chapter provides an up-to-date introduction to and scholarly interpretation of topics of crucial importance to the development of the papacy's thinking about its place in the medieval world and of its institutional structures. Topics covered include: the Papal States; the Gregorian Reform; papal artistic self-representation; hierocratic theory; canon law; decretals; councils; legates and judges delegate; the apostolic camera, chancery, penitentiary, and Rota; relations with Constantinople; crusades; missions. The volume includes an introductory chapter by Thomas F.X. Noble on the historiographical challenges of writing medieval papal history. Contributors are: Sandro Carocci, Atria A. Larson, Andrew Louth, Jehangir Malegam, Andreas Meyer, Harald Muller, Thomas F.X. Noble, Francesca Pomarici, Rebecca Rist, Kirsi Salonen, Felicitas Schmieder, Keith Sisson, Danica Summerlin, and Stefan Weiss.

An overview in primary documents of almost four hundred years of the American Catholic experience Among the first European explorers of the Americas, Catholics have a long and rich history in the United States. In this collection of significant letters, diaries, theological reflections, and other primary documents, the voices of Catholics in this country reveal what they have thought, believed, feared, and dreamed. American Catholic History spans the earliest missionary voyages in the sixteenth century, to the present day, illuminating the complex history, beliefs, and practices of what has become North American Roman Catholicism. In an engaging and accessible style, the brief introductions to each text provide historical and biographical context and illuminate broad themes in the development of the American Catholic tradition. From Catholicism's encounters with new frontiers to its long-time position outside mainstream culture, and from its intellectual life and political engagement to patterns of worship and spirituality, this book offers a lively first-hand review of Catholicism's multifaceted history in the United States. This expanded edition includes 34 new documents, and offers more robust coverage of the diverse communities of Catholics in this country.