Catholic Vietnam: A Church from Empire to Nation (From Indochina to Vietnam: Revolution and War in a Global Perspective Book 5)

In this important new study, Charles Keith explores the complex position of the Catholic Church in modern Vietnamese history. By demonstrating how French colonial rule allowed for the transformation of Catholic missions in Vietnam into broad and powerful economic and institutional structures, Keith discovers the ways race defined ecclesiastical and cultural prestige and control of resources and institutional authority. This, along with colonial rule itself, created a culture of religious life in which relationships between Vietnamese Catholics and European missionaries were less equal and more fractious than ever before. However, the colonial era also brought unprecedented ties between Vietnam and the transnational institutions and culture of global Catholicism, as Vatican reforms to create an independent national Church helped Vietnamese Catholics to reimagine and redefine their relationships to both missionary Catholicism and to colonial rule itself. Much like the myriad revolutionary ideologies and struggles in the name of the Vietnamese nation, this revolution in Vietnamese Catholic life was ultimately ambiguous, even contradictory: it established the foundations for an independent national Church, but it also polarized the place of the new Church in post-colonial Vietnamese politics and society and produced deep divisions between Vietnamese Catholics themselves. "Charles Keith explores the complex position of the Catholic Church in modern Vietnamese history. By demonstrating how French colonial rule allowed for the transformation of Catholic missions in Vietnam into broad and powerful economic and institutional structures, Keith discovers the ways race defined ecclesiastical and cultural prestige and control of resources and institutional authority. This, along with colonial rule itself, created a culture of religious life in which relationships between Vietnamese Catholics and European missionaries were less equal and more fractious than ever before. However, the colonial era also brought unprecedented ties between Vietnam and the transnational institutions and culture of global Catholicism, as Vatican reforms to create an independent national Church helped Vietnamese Catholics to reimagine and redefine their relationships to both missionary Catholicism and to colonial rule itself. Much like the myriad revolutionary ideologies and struggles in the name of the Vietnamese nation, this revolution in Vietnamese Catholic life was ultimately ambiguous, even contradictory: it established the foundations for an independent national Church, but it also polarized the place of the new Church in post-colonial Vietnamese politics and society and produced deep divisions between Vietnamese Catholics themselves."--Publisher's description Frontmatter List of Illustrations (page viii) Acknowledgments (page ix) Foreword (page xiii) Introduction (page 1) 1. A Church between the Nguyen and the French (page 18) 2. A Colonial Church Divided (page 55) 3. The Birth of a National Church (page 88) 4. Vietnamese Catholic Tradition on Trial (page 118) 5. A National Church Experienced (page 147) 6. The Culture and Politics of Vietnamese Catholic Nationalism (page 177) 7. A National Church in Revolution and War (page 208) Epilogue. A National Church Divided (page 242) Notes (page 249) Bibliography (page 289) Index (page 305) Explores the position of the Catholic Church in modern Vietnamese history. By demonstrating how French colonial rule allowed for the transformation of Catholic missions in Vietnam into powerful economic and institutional structures, this title discovers the ways race defined cultural prestige and control of resources and institutional authority. Keith explores the complex position of the Catholic Church in modern Vietnamese history. Much like the revolutionary ideologies and struggles in the name of the Vietnamese nation the revolution in Vietnamese Catholic life polarized the place of the new Church in post-colonial Vietnamese politics and society A church between the Nguyẽ̂n and the French A colonial church divided The birth of a national church Vietnamese Catholic tradition on trial A national church experienced The culture and politics of Vietnamese Catholic nationalism A national church in revolution and war Epilogue : a national church divided.