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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church > General
The career of the French saint Vincent de Paul has attracted the
attention of hundreds of authors since his death in 1660, but the
fate of his legacy - entrusted to the body of priests called the
Congregation of the Mission (Lazarists) - remains vastly neglected.
De Paul spent a lifetime working for the reform of the clergy and
the evangelization of the rural poor. After his death, his ethos
was universally lauded as one of the most important elements in the
regeneration of the French church, but what happened to this ethos
after he died? This book provides a thorough examination of the
major activities of de Paul's immediate followers. It begins by
analysing the unique model of religious life designed by de Paul -
a model created in contradistinction to more worldly clerical
institutes, above all the Society of Jesus. Before he died, de Paul
made very clear that fidelity to this model demanded that his
disciples avoid the corridors of power. However, this book follows
the subsequent departures from this command to demonstrate that the
Congregation became one of the most powerful orders in France. The
book includes a study of the termination of the little-known
Madagascar mission, which was closed in 1671. This mission, replete
with colonial scandal and mismanagement, revealed the terrible
pressures on de Paul's followers in the decade after his demise.
The end of the mission occasioned the first major reassessment of
the Congregation's goals as a missionary institute, and involved
abandoning some of the goals the founder had nourished. The rest of
the book reveals how the Lazarists recovered from the setbacks of
Madagascar, famously becoming parish priests of Louis XIV at
Versailles in 1672. From then on, fealty to Louis XIV gradually
trumped fidelity to de Paul. The book also investigates the darker
side of the Congregation's novel alliance with the monarch, by
examining its treatment of Huguenot prisoners at Marseille later in
the century, and its involvement with the slave trade in the Indian
Ocean. This study is a wide-ranging investigation of the Lazarists'
activities in the French Empire, ultimately concluding that they
eclipsed the Society of Jesus. Finally, it contributes new
information to the literature on Louis XIV's prickly relationship
with religious agents that will surprise historians working in this
area.
When Henry VIII died in 1547 he left a church in England that had
broken with Rome - but was it Protestant? The English Reformation
was quite different in its methods, motivations and results to that
taking place on the continent. This book: * examines the influences
of continental reform on England * describes the divorce of Henry
VIII and the break with Rome * discusses the political and
religious consequences of the break with Rome * assesses the
success of the Reformation up to 1547 * provides a clear guide to
the main strands of historical thought on the topic.
The rulers of the overseas empires summoned the Society of Jesus to
evangelize their new subjects in the 'New World' which Spain and
Portugal shared; this book is about how two different missions, in
China and Peru, evolved in the early modern world. From a European
perspective, this book is about the way Christianity expanded in
the early modern period, craving universalism. In China, Matteo
Ricci was so impressed by the influence that the scholar-officials
were able to exert on the Ming Emperor himself that he likened them
to the philosopher-kings of Plato's Republic. The Jesuits in China
were in the hands of the scholar-officials, with the Emperor at the
apex, who had the power to decide whether they could stay or not.
Meanwhile, in Peru, the Society of Jesus was required to impose
Tridentine Catholicism by Philip II, independently of Rome, a task
that entailed compliance with the colonial authorities' demands.
This book explores how leading Jesuits, Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) in
China and Jose de Acosta (1540-1600) in Peru, envisioned mission
projects and reflected them on the catechisms they both composed,
with a remarkable power of endurance. It offers a reflection on how
the Jesuits conceived and assessed these mission spaces, in which
their keen political acumen and a certain taste for power unfolded,
playing key roles in envisioning new doctrinal directions and
reflecting them in their doctrinal texts.
2021 Catholic Media Association Award first place award in backlist
beauty. Benedictine Daily Prayer provides an everyday edition of
the Divine Office for people who desire to pray with the church in
a simple manner. Based on fifteen hundred years of liturgical
prayer within the Benedictine monastic tradition, Benedictine Daily
Prayer offers a rich diet of classic office hymnody, psalmody, and
Scripture. This fully revised edition includes: A new organization
for the Office of Vigils, structured on a two-week cycle Daily
Offices also arranged on a two-week cycle Patristic readings for
each Sunday Concluding prayers for the daily and seasonal offices A
more user-friendly layout Benedictine Daily Prayer is designed for
Benedictine oblates, Benedictine monastics, and men and women
everywhere. Small enough to fit in a briefcase for travel, it is
arranged by date. Scripture readings are from the NRSV.
Indulgences have been synonymous with corruption in the Catholic
Church ever since Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to
the church door in Wittenberg in 1517. Tingle explores the nature
and evolution of indulgences in the Counter Reformation and how
they were used as a powerful tool of personal and institutional
reform.
Margaret B. Ingraham's collection Exploring this Terrain bids the
reader to join her in a journey of discovery. In a world in which
speed is increasingly regarded as a virtue and distraction is its
inevitable consequence, each of these poems offers escape and
consolation. One by one they invite the reader to be still, to
observe, to listen, to "taste and see" - and ultimately to
experience the wonder that only attention can discover hiding in
the thin places within the various terrains of our everyday lives.
"What is the terrain that Margaret Ingraham explores in Exploring
this Terrain? It ranges from the Blue Ridge Mountains to Pluto. The
path crosses the trails of memory and illness, the natural world
and disintegration, and various parts unseen. Yet it stays, as
Margaret says near the end of the book, in the 'secret places of my
brokenness.' It is the beautiful landscape of wonder, the uneven
country of love, the difficult ground of faith." -Loren Graham,
author of Places I Was Dreaming.
The White Tower. A terrible vision. Her home invaded and precious
documents stolen. Lady Isabelle must flee her pursuers, posing as a
young male scholar in the New College of St Mary in Oxford. But
when she learns she is with child it won't be long until she is
discovered amongst their ranks. Can she bring herself to love an
infant conceived in evil? And will she ever be reunited with her
beloved Richard, or will Sir Henry Lormont's dagger find him first?
This deftly plotted 15th century novel traverses the well-trodden
pilgrimage routes from Oxford to Rome encountering lepers,
assassins, sea rovers and historical figures Lady Margaret Beaufort
and Edmund Tudor along the way. Superbly researched by a scholar of
the period, Clover blends history with the riveting story of a
woman who overcomes the restrictions placed on her sex to create a
page-turning novel.
This book explores the vital role of faith-based organizations
(FBOs) in compensating for the market's and government's inability
to provide vital services. Its key theoretical contribution is the
notion that poverty is the result of a triadic failure-when
markets, government, and civil society become dysfunctional at the
same time. Using data on Catholic missionaries' development work,
this study presents the various ways by which FBOs mitigate market
and government failures in healthcare, education, and social
services, and in the process build and strengthen civil society.
This study has two main objectives. First, it aims to present an
overview of missionaries' development work, evaluating the
socioeconomic significance of their faith-based development work.
In addition, various comparative advantages and disadvantages have
been imputed to FBOs in the religion-development literature, and we
assess to what extent missionaries actually exhibit these posited
qualities in practice. Second, the groundwork is laid for future
religion-development scholars by presenting a theoretical framework
and a method for evaluating the role and contributions of FBOs in
the larger community. This is an important investigation of
contemporary worldwide Christianity and its relationship with
development. As such, it will interest scholars of religious
studies and missiology, as well as development economics, public
service and the political economy.
First published in 1926. 'These documents are full of intimate
interest' Times Literary Supplement 'A serious and intensely
interesting piece of work' The Guardian The Jesuit missionaries
were some of the earliest Europeans to find their way into the
Mogul empire in the sixteenth century. Spending more years at
Akbar's court than others did months, and traversing his dominions
from Lahore to Kabul, and from Kashmir to the Deccan, they
undoubtedly sowed the seeds of British influence in the East.
Reproducing, or summarizing the most valuable of the missionaries'
letters written prior to 1610, this volume makes available the
illegible and scattered primary sources on the reign of the Emperor
Akbar, and as such, forms the earliest European description of the
Mogul Empire.
Originally published in 1975, this book helps students understand
why the Movements of the 12th century remained much more enclosed
and monastic or turned to heresy; How much the new orders of Friars
owed to the earlier movements and to what extent they arose from
the personal inspiration of Saint Francis and Saint Dominic. The
introduction is arranged to help the documents to speak for
themselves: it opens with a direct confrontation with Francis then
goes back to search the religious experience of the 10th to 12th
centuries for movements and especially well documented individuals
who can help explain the development of fashions and ideas. There
are sections on precursors, both monks and heretics, and on the
papal policies towards these movements, and the introduction closes
with a chapter on Dominic and an epilogue on the impact of the
Friars.
Magisterial in scope and scrupulous in its investigation and
attribution of sources, "Church and Ethical Responsibility in the
Midst of World Economy" is a detailed examination of the history of
capitalism, its defenders and its critics, with the aim of
developing a theological critique of both the material and
spiritual failures of the modern global economy. Professor Chung
traces the development of capitalism from the sixteenth century
onwards, how it shaped and was shaped in turn by European
colonialism and Enlightment ideas of the Social Contract. He
examines the strengths and weaknesses of the Marxist critique of
industrial capitalism, and analyses the rise of globalism as a form
of economic imperialism underpinned by the ideology of
neoliberalism. Although Chung acknowledges the role played by the
Christian churches in promoting and defending the capitalist ethos,
he points to the existence of theologically-grounded alternative
visions of a fairer, more responsible world economy, and defends
the view that the promotion of economic justice is a key part of
the prophetic ministry of the Church. "Church and Ethical
Responsibility in the Midst of World Economy" will take its place
as an important document in the ongoing ecumenical debate over
economic justice, challenging those who are comfortably complacent
about our global economic system and unwilling to be disturbed.
Paul S. Chung is Associate Professor at Luther Seminary, St Paul,
Minnesota. His books related to a prophetic theology of God's
mission, transcultural hermeneutics, and justice in the public
sphere include "The Cave and the Butterfly" (2010) and "The
Hermeneutical Self and an Ethical Difference" (published by James
Clarke & Co, 2013), among others. "Chung creatively constructs
a usable theological tradition to challenge the assumption of the
economic status quo as our inevitable future, integrating
inter-religious and cross-disciplinary resources in the struggle.
How can the ecumenical church serve as leaven for imagining and
implementing alternatives to global business as usual?" Craig L.
Nessan, Academic Dean and Professor of Contextual Theology,
Wartburg Theological Seminary.
In the past few decades there has been an explosion of interest in
the period of late antiquity. Rather than being viewed within a
paradigm of the fall of the Roman Empire, these centuries have come
to be seen as a time of immense creativity and significance in
western history. Popes and the Church of Rome in Late Antiquity
places the history of the papacy in a broader context, by comparing
Rome with other major sees to show how it differed from these,
evaluating developments beyond Rome which created openings for the
extension of papal authority. Closer to home, the book considers
the ability of the Roman church to gain access to wealth, retain it
in difficult times, and disburse it in ways that enhanced its
authority. Author John Moorhead evaluates patterns in the
recruitment of popes and what these suggest about the background of
those who came to papal office. Structured around a narrative of
the papacy's history from the accession of Leo the Great to the
death of Zacharias II, the book does more than tell what happened
between these years, applying new approaches in intellectual,
cultural, and social history to provide a uniquely deep and
holistic study of the period.
Pope Francis: His Life and Thought paints a compelling picture of a
truly remarkable man, showing the evolution of his theological
ideas in detail until his election as pope in 2013. Cardinal Jorge
Bergoglio was a highly unusual candidate for the papacy for two
main reasons: the 'pope from far away' is the first from the
Americas and the first former Jesuit to have been elected.
Bergoglio's theological principles have been profoundly shaped by
his Argentinean heritage and Jesuit spiritual formation. The author
also reveals that his thought was deeply a ected by his simple
Argentinean upbringing and fearless work in the slums of Santiago
and Buenos Aires as a young Jesuit, and later as a bishop and a
cardinal. Bergoglio has consistently emphasised the importance of
alleviating the suffering of the poor, following the teaching of
Vatican II, and in keeping with his own unflinching morality. This
volume reveals Pope Francis as an exceptionally humble and
altruistic man, doctrinally conservative, and engaged less in
politics than in the struggle to bring the Church to the margins of
society. It will be of great interest to any reader who wishes to
know more about this inspiring individual. Mario I. Aguilar is a
theologian from Chile, now Professor of Religion and Politics at
the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He has written
extensively on the Church in Latin America, Africa and Asia,
including Cardenal Raul Silva Henriquez: Presencia en la vida de
Chile 1907-1999 and A Social History of the Catholic Church in
Chile (9 volumes). He is a Camaldolese Benedictine Oblate and has
lived in Scotland for the past 20 years. "This reflection draws
upon Aguilar's own experiences as a Latin American theologian and
it engages directly with many of the Spanish sources that shed
light upon the life and thought of Jorge Bergoglio. He] cuts a
swath through fact and myth as he charts the new pope's formative
experiences in detail. . . . Food for thought for anyone seeking to
understand what has made him the pontiff he is." Prof. Gerard
Mannion, Amaturo Professor in Catholic Studies, Georgetown
University. "Pope Francis has already provided a breath of fresh
air, and this welcome and timely book explains why. Anyone who
thought God had no surprises up his sleeve will discover here how
this new leader has been formed to be a challenging and
transforming presence both in his own Church and further afield."
Rt Revd Prof. N.T. Wright, Former Bishop of Durham, Research
Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, University of St
Andrews.
First published in 1880, this is a fascinating collection of
essays by the nineteenth-century theologian and historian George P.
Fisher, arranged into three key classifications. The first group
comprises papers that relate to the history, polity and dogmas of
the Roman Catholic Church, with a particular focus on how the
religion of ancient Rome reappears in the characteristic features
of Latin Christianity. The second group of essays relates to the
New England theology that was pioneered by Jonathan Edwards and
entailed important modifications to the philosophy of Calvinism.
Unitarianism is also discussed in detail, which is the subject of a
paper on Channing, who was regarded as the most prominent
representative of the movement in America. The third set of essays
explores Theism and Christian evidences, with papers presenting
analyses of rationalistic theory, Atheism, and the intellectual and
spiritual career of the Apostle Paul. A fascinating and
comprehensive collection, this important reissue will be of
particular value to students interested in the interplay between
history and Christian theology.
The Book of Pastoral Rule, or Liber regulae pastoralis, by Pope
Gregory the Great-the pontiff responsible for the conversion of the
English to Christianity beginning in 597-is a guide for aspiring
bishops. Pope Gregory explains who ought and who ought not seek
such a position and advises on what sort of spiritual guidance a
bishop should provide to those under his direction. The Old English
Pastoral Care, a translation of Gregory's treatise completed
between 890 and 896, is described in a prefatory letter by King
Alfred the Great as his own work, composed with the assistance of
his bishops and chaplains. It appears to be the first of the
Alfredian translations into Old English of Latin texts deemed
necessary for the revitalization of the English Church, which had
been ravaged by the depredations of Scandinavian invaders during
the ninth century and by the decline of clerical competence in
Latin. This new edition and translation into modern English is the
first to appear in a century and a half.
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