Modern Catholicism Research Articles

Skin Colour and Priesthood. Debating Bodily Differences in Early Modern Catholicism*

Can people of different skin colours become Catholic priests? What may seem self‐evident from today's perspective, Catholic theologians and canon lawyers controversially debated in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. While most authors agreed that colour per se was not a problematic factor, an increasing number argued that non‐white individuals should not serve as priests in white communities because of the negative reactions they would provoke there. This article argues that by taking this “perspectivist view” the Catholic Church could claim universality and flexibility in its admission policy whereas, in fact, it incorporated and reinforced anti‐Blackness. The article analyses the hitherto unexplored history of this debate, situates it within broader thinking about bodily differences in an increasingly global Catholic world and shows how it intersected with practical issues surrounding the establishment of an indigenous clergy throughout the Catholic empires and missionary zones.

Priests Behaving Badly: The Problem of Scandal in the Early Modern Catholic Church

Priests Behaving Badly: The Problem of Scandal in the Early Modern Catholic Church

The Lutheran Experience in the Ottoman Middle East: Stephan Gerlach (1546–1612) and the History of Lutheran Accommodation

Abstract This article examines what it meant to be Lutheran in the early modern Middle East. Its point of departure is a letter in which Stephan Gerlach, a sixteenth-century Lutheran chaplain to the imperial ambassador in Istanbul, asked his superiors about the type of behaviour that befitted him as a Lutheran. Was he allowed to wear a Turkish turban to see mosques and learn about Islam? Was it permissible for him in exceptional circumstances to accept communion under both kinds from a Roman Catholic monk? Was he allowed to postpone the Sunday sermon to attend Greek Orthodox ceremonies? Reconstructing how sixteenth-century Lutherans who had business in the early modern Middle East tried to resolve such issues not only affords new insights into the Lutheran experience in the Ottoman Empire; it also raises a set of fundamental questions about late sixteenth-century Lutheranism itself. Did Lutherans in this period develop forms of religious accommodation similar to those of early modern Catholics? Did travel in the Eastern Mediterranean demand a more flexible and more fluid form of Lutheranism? Could one even adhere to Lutheranism’s core principles so far away from the place where the movement had first taken root? Through an examination of various Lutheran treatises and travelogues, I show that sixteenth-century Lutheranism did not develop an official policy of accommodation. Instead, Lutheran responses to questions about accommodation, (dis)simulation and conformity were often makeshift and idiosyncratic, because Lutheranism formulated little to no official guidance on the movement as a lived religion.

Subversive Theology: The Patristic Theology of Joseph Turmel

Among nineteenth-century Protestant theologians were those who sought to deconstruct aspects of the Patristic synthesis in order to “purify” those of the incursions of Hellenism and liberate the authentic Gospel. The Catholic Patristic scholar Joseph Turmel (1859–1943) shared the deconstructive aspect but also tried to delegitimate Christian theology more generally. He did this in major part by resorting to pseudonyms to avoid detection. His series of articles published in 1906 under Antoine Dupin formed part of this agenda. The article explores how Turmel came to adopt this larger strategy, how the Dupin series on the early theology of the Trinity contributed to it, and the multiple efforts to unmask the true author behind the pseudonym. Turmel's aims in this writing and others like it form part of the larger story of Roman Catholic Modernism.

The Catholic Modernity of Pope Benedict XVI: Healthy Secularity and Christian Jurisprudence

This article examines the concept of healthy secularity in the thought of Pope Benedict XVI. In developing the idea of healthy secularity, Benedict builds upon longstanding themes in Catholic social thought while also provoking a deeper engagement with western modernity. Rather than placing Christianity and the secular in an oppositional framework, Benedict positions Christianity as the foundation of an authentic secular order. In so doing, he opens up new modes of critical engagement with western legal and political thought. Yet, while the concept offers a creative theological method for addressing contemporary issues, it depends for its realisation on vanishing cultural resources that are being eroded by the very secular order he aims to heal.

Among All the Nations

I spent much of the first decade of the 2000s writing a book about the Catholic Church in nineteenth and twentieth-century Vietnam. I came to the topic as a scholar of Vietnam, and very much not as a scholar of modern Catholicism. In the project's early stages I searched high and low for a general history to fill in the (many) gaps in my knowledge of the subject. The best I could find was Nicholas Atkin and Frank Tallett's 2003 Priests, Prelates & People: A History of European Catholicism since 1750. This book, although excellent and still worth reading, is squarely grounded in scholarship written from an older national and regional approach to the Church's modern history. It essentially ignores the fact that in the modern era more than ever before, Catholicism's historical epicenter in Europe was irreducibly tied to the rest of the world not only through the Ultramontane Church but also through the circulation of ideas and the printed word, migration, and (above all) European imperialism, and that the Church's institutional and cultural evolution since the eighteenth century is incomprehensible outside of such frameworks (Atkin and Tallett devote an astounding 5 of their 333 pages of text to the European empires in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, which made up two-thirds of the global Catholic population at the time they finished their book).

Facing up to Modernity: Major Issues in Roman Catholic Modernism

Facing up to Modernity: Major Issues in Roman Catholic Modernism

Book Review: Kindred Spirits: Friendship and Resistance at the Edge of Modern Catholicism, by Brenna Moore

Book Review: <i>Kindred Spirits: Friendship and Resistance at the Edge of Modern Catholicism</i>, by Brenna Moore

Церковь как институт. Полемика в католических журналах «Concilium» и «Communio»

The article analyses the polemics on the institutional and authoritative aspects of life of the Catholic Church in the international Catholic journals “Concilium” and “Communio”, created in the first few years following the Second Vatican Council. The former welcomed reforms and sought to extend the conciliar innovations to various spheres of Catholic Church life; the latter was represented mainly by conservative authors. These journals, which numbered among their authors the most prominent theologians of their time, express different views on the post-conciliar development of Catholicism, illustrate the long-standing conflict between modernism and traditionalism, reveal the specific make-up of the modern Catholic academic community as well as a new phase in the development of Catholic mass-media. The author concludes that the institutional aspect of the life of the Catholic Church constituted an important part of the discussion in these journals, especially in the 1970-ies - the early 1980-ies. Whereas the authors of “Concilium” advocated for democratization of Church life, the limitation of authoritative powers of the bearers of the Church office and the distribution of authority in the Catholic Church, “Communio” attempted to protect the authority of Catholic magisterium, warn against a hasty reinterpretation of the institutional power and emphasize its inextricable connection with the nature of the Church itself. At the same time, “Communio” took care to meet the requirements of the academic genre, while “Concilium” expressed a high degree of critical anti-institutional pathos, which the declared intention to accept Church reform does not directly imply. The texts published in the journals demonstrate a deep-rooted conflict, which dates back to the period of fighting modernism, and, being still unresolved, continues to determine the life of the Catholic Church. The contrasting editorial policies reflect, on the one hand, the intensifying polarization and the pluralistic character of Catholic theology after the Second Vatican Council, on the other hand – a close interaction between the religious and the socio-political life spheres of modern Catholics, which renders the analysis of religious communication even more relevant.

Czech Catholic modernism The renewal of Catholic literature combined with social and ecclesiastical reform

In Central Eastern Europe the theme of the modernist crisis in the ecclesial milieu is still a hotly debated topic. In the Czech lands this phenomenon differs in a number of moments from other countries, for instance in that the Czech reformers openly called themselves modernists willingly since 1895, as the protagonists of the revival movement of Catholic literature. This study is divided into three parts. The first one outlines the development of Czech historiography of the modernist and anti-modernist crisis in the Czech lands, which has undergone a dynamic development especially in the last thirty years. In the second part, it summarizes its results and the current state of knowledge of this historical phenomenon. The author focuses here on the specific and unique elements of Czech modernism, for the understanding of which a broader historical context of the church history of the Czech lands is necessary. In the third part the author presents the current challenges and prospects of research in this area.

Czech Catholic Modernism The renewal of Catholic literature combined with social and ecclesiastical reform

In Central Eastern Europe the theme of the modernist crisis in the ecclesial milieu is still a hotly debated topic. In the Czech lands this phenomenon differs in a number of moments from other countries, for instance in that the Czech reformers openly called themselves modernists willingly since 1895, as the protagonists of the revival movement of Catholic literature. This study is divided into three parts. The first one outlines the development of Czech historiography of the modernist and anti-modernist crisis in the Czech lands, which has undergone a dynamic development especially in the last thirty years. In the second part, it summarizes its results and the current state of knowledge of this historical phenomenon. The author focuses here on the specific and unique elements of Czech modernism, for the understanding of which a broader historical context of the church history of the Czech lands is necessary. In the third part the author presents the current challenges and prospects of research in this area.

The Supernatural and the Liberation of Man. On the Relationship Between Religion and Emancipation in Stanisław Brzozowski’s Writings

The article characterizes two different variants of the relationship between religion and emancipation that appear in Stanisław Brzozowski’s writings. A comparison of the two articles (Religia i społeczeństwo [Religion and Society] and Alfred Loisy i zagadnienia modernizmu katolickiego [Alfred Loisy and the Issues of Catholic Modernism]), written over a period of only three years, leads to the conclusion that the radical change in the philosopher’s views on the relationship between the supernatural and human activity is the key to interpreting the difference in his opinions on religion. At the end of the article, however, I draw attention to the fact that both positions – negating religion from an emancipatory position and affirming it – can be found in Brzozowski’s earlier writings, which leads one to believe that the aforementioned difference between the two views can be captured not only diachronically, but also synchronically. The latter approach could serve to consider the hypothesis according to which Brzozowski’s position on the relationship between religion and emancipation was dependent on his views on the relationship between emancipation and the rational, cognitive element.

Balsdon Fellowships: Sanctity and the refashioning of early modern Catholicism: Saints and their causes between Rome and locality

Balsdon Fellowships: Sanctity and the refashioning of early modern Catholicism: Saints and their causes between Rome and locality

Book Review: Kindred Spirits: Friendship and Resistance at the Edges of Modern Catholicism by Brenna Moore

Book Review: <i>Kindred Spirits: Friendship and Resistance at the Edges of Modern Catholicism</i> by Brenna Moore

Review of Black Saints in Early Modern Catholicism

Review of Black Saints in Early Modern Catholicism

Friendship, Mysticism, and Resistance: Review of Kindred Spirits: Friendship and Resistance at the Edges of Modern Catholicism

Friendship, Mysticism, and Resistance: Review of Kindred Spirits: Friendship and Resistance at the Edges of Modern Catholicism

Making Truth in Early Modern Catholicism

Review of Andreea Badea, Bruno Boute, Marco Cavarzere, and Steven Vanden Broecke, eds, Making Truth in Early Modern Catholicism, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2021, reviewed by Elisa Frei

The Poet Discovers Sources (of the Self ). Adam Zagajewski and Charles Taylor

The article shows Adam Zagajewski’s relationship with Charles Taylor’s thought. The author argues that the poet’s dialogue with the philosopher is not limited to quotations and direct references but is also revealed at a deeper level. Based on Zagajewski’s essays and interviews, the author concludes that the poet studied Sources of the Self and The Ethics of Authenticity, and probably also drew on later works dealing with the condition of religion in a disenchanted world (“A Catholic Modernity?” and A Secular Age). Zagajewski borrowed from Taylor’s historical argument about the genealogy of modern identity. He also alluded to the philosopher’s diagnoses of the Enlightenment-Romantic lineage of modern Europeans and his conviction that the struggle for more demanding forms of spiritual life is preserved. The most direct traces of the conversation with Taylor can be found in the essays from The Defense of Ardor. The author suggests that Zagajewski also alludes to Taylor’s diagnoses in poems (e.g., “Tierra del Fuego”, “Senza flash”, and “The Kingfisher”), in which the motifs of spiritual lobotomy and the epiphanic power of poetry appear.

Axiological and cultural specifics of the interpretation of the concept of "sin" in modern Catholicism (on the example of digitized sermons of the Russian Catholic clergy)

The object of the study is the process of communication of social groups, considered from the point of view of its value bases. The subject of the study is the conceptualization of the concepts of "sin" in the (digitized) sermons of Russian Catholic pastors, which are texts that are precedent for the environment of Russian Catholics. The purpose of the work is to establish the dominant trends in the interpretation of the concept of "sin" that exist in this community. To achieve this goal , the following tasks were set: 1) identify specific religious groups whose discourse analysis will clarify the existing interpretations of this concept; 2) select a relevant methodology that allows you to begin analyzing these interpretations; 3) correlate the results obtained with the basic text that establishes framework interpretations (in this case, it will be the catechism of the Catholic Church). The research methodology is based on the application of a comprehensive philosophical and cultural method based on axiological, anthropological and hermeneutic approaches. Content analysis and discourse analysis are used as specific methods. The scientific novelty of the work consists in establishing the possibilities and limits of the axiological "extensibility" of the concept of "sin" on the example of specific materials with a potentially wide audience (in addition to representatives of the community of Russian Catholics, any Internet users can enter it). Introducing the concept of "sin" as one of the cultural constants of Christianity as a whole, the considered sermons broadcast its stable canonical interpretations. There were no value reversals associated with possible responses to the transformation of social relations and the reflection of this process in the value consciousness of the authors of the studied sermons. At the same time, as a result of the scientific analysis of the collected material, unexpected results were revealed. Firstly, the sema "sin" is relatively rare in the digitized sermons of the Russian Catholic clergy. Secondly, while maintaining a negative assessment of sin, there is practically no meaningful analysis of this concept. Instead, a constellation of concepts built around "love" and "mercy" becomes a conjugate semantic field.

Essentialising Sex: Hermaphrodites and the Thresholds of Masculinity and Femininity in the Early Modern Catholic Church c.1700

AbstractThis article focuses on four individuals from France and Italy who were viewed as hermaphrodites and their attempts to become members of the Catholic clergy between c.1650 and 1720. Drawing on largely unexplored material from the archive of the Roman Congregation of the Council, this article argues that whether, and how, bodies were problematised as hermaphroditic depended on the different and changing thresholds of masculinity and femininity they were confronted with. Offering a fresh perspective on practices of constructing sex and sex difference, this article suggests that the decades c.1700 saw marked transformations in the defining and assigning of sex both in theory and social practice. Medical and ecclesiastical decision‐makers shifted their attention from a broader spectrum of behavioural and bodily signs to the anatomy of genitalia. The trend towards heightened vigilance and intransigence towards perceived sexual ambiguity was, however, highly asymmetrical, targeting mainly individuals initially believed to be women.