The Catholic Enlightenment: A Global Anthology (Early Modern Catholic Sources)
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
The Catholic Enlightenment: A Global Anthology presents readers with accessible, translated selections from the writings of fifteen major Catholic Enlightenment authors. These early modern authors include women, priests, lay intellectuals, and bishops. Twelve of these figures are being brought into English for the first time. The purpose of the volume is to provide students, scholars, and interested non-specialists with a single point of departure to delve into the primary sources of the Catholic Enlightenment. This anthology shows the geographical and intellectual diversity of the Catholic Enlightenment, while also demonstrating significant threads of commonality in intellectual orientation.
One strength of this volume is the geographical spread of the figures considered. Included are Catholic thinkers from England, the United States, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, France, Portugal, and the Italian and German-speaking lands. Another strength of this volume is the breadth of subject matter treated – it features pastoral letters, mystical tracts, pedagogical treatises, political manifestos, and theological works. These texts elucidate Catholic Enlightenment views on topics such as the history of women’s education, liturgy and devotions, and the relationship between church and state.
The co-editors, Ulrich Lehner and Shaun Blanchard, have assembled a team of international scholars from Europe and the Americas for this exciting project. Lehner is one of the central scholars behind the renewed interest in the Catholic Enlightenment. He co-edits the volume, contributes to the introduction, and introduces and translates two significant German-speaking figures. Shaun Blanchard, who has recently published a monograph on radical Catholic Enlightenment figures, also co-edits, contributes selections from two English-speaking figures and has completed the first English translation of a section of Lodovico Muratori’s landmark On the Regulated Devotion of a Christian since 1789.
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- Shows the geographical and intellectual diversity of the Catholic Enlightenment
- Presents translated selections from the writings of fifteen major Catholic Enlightenment authors
- Provides students, scholars, and interested non-specialists with a single point of departure to delve into the primary sources of the Catholic Enlightenment
- Introduction: The World of Catholic Enlightenment - Ulrich L. Lehner and Shaun Blanchard
Part 1. Italy
- Liturgical Renewal and the Fight against Superstition - Lodovico Antonio Muratori (1672-1750), Translated by Shaun Blanchard
- A Female Mystic of the Catholic Enlightenment - Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799), Translated by Glauco Schettini
Part 2 Spain
- The Problem of Miracles - Benito Jerónimo Feijoo y Montenegro, OSB (1676-1764), Translated by Alison Weber
- Women and Education - Josefa Amary Borbón (1749-1833,) Translated by Joanna Barker
Part 3 Mexico
- On the Indigenous Use of Cannabis - José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez de Santillana (1737-1799), Translated by Elena Deanda-Camacho
Part 4 Portugal
- A Woman Scientist and Poet Leonor de Almeida Portugal - Marchioness of Alorna (1750-1839), Translated by Vanda Anastácio
Part 5 Brazil
- Pastoral Care in South America - Tomás da Encarnação Costa e Lima, Bishop of Pernambuco (1723-1784), Translated by Alexandre Martins Evergton Sales Souza
Part 6 Germany (Holy Roman Empire)
- The Creed of an Enlightened Faith - Johann Caspar Ruef (1748-1825), Translated by Ulrich L. Lehner
- Celibacy and Liturgical Renewal - Benedict Maria von Werkmeister (1745-1823), Translated by Ulrich L. Lehner
Part 7 France
- The Influence of Women on French Literature - Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest du Saint Aubin, Comtesse de Genlis (1746-1830), Translated by Joanna Barker
- The Senses and the Knowledge of God - Etienne Bonnot de Condillac (1714-1780), Translated by Kara E. Barr
- Church, State, and Masonry - Claude Fauchet (1744-l793), Translated by Joseph F. Bymes
Part 8 Poland
- The Good Citizen - Stanislaw Konarski (1700-1773), Translated by Andrew Doll
Part 9 England
- British Catholicism as Reasonable and Patriotic Christianity - Joseph Berington (1743-1827), Edited by Shaun Blanchard
Part 10 United States of America
- Catholicism and Democracy - John Carroll (1736-1815) Edited by Shaun Blanchard
This pioneering volume makes it possible to put key Catholic Enlightenment sources in the hands of American students. It will revolutionize our ability to teach the subject to students at all levels. It will be a major aid in transforming the regnant conception of the Enlightenment as a secular phenomenon hostile to religion.
David Sorkin, author of The Religious Enlightenment: Protestants, Jews, and Catholics from London to Vienna
Introduced with confidence and concision by two leading scholars, this volume offers a wealth of important, if oft-neglected, primary texts from the extensive world of the Catholic Enlightenment. Each is originally translated with short, prefatory essays and useful bibliographies for further reading. The result is a valuable resource for scholars, teachers, and general readers interested in the history of Catholicism, Enlightenment, and the long eighteenth century.
Darrin M. McMahon, Dartmouth College
Gone are the days when one could ignore the existence of a rich and vibrant Catholic Enlightenment. This collection of texts, the first of its kind, powerfully brings to light Catholicism’s multifaceted engagement with the values and methodologies of the eighteenth century. It is sure to become an indispensable resource for all those interested in the history of Christianity and its role in the intellectual foundations of modernity.
Helena Rosenblatt, author of The Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-first Century