The Inner Life of Catholic Reform : From the Council of Trent to the Enlightenment

In The Inner Life of Catholic Reform , Ulrich Lehner offers a longue durée overview of the sentiments and spiritual ideas of the 250-year long time span following the Council of Trent, known as Catholic Reform. While there have been many studies of the so-called Counter-Reformation, the political side of Catholic Reform, and of its institutional and social history, the sentiments, motivations and religious practices of Catholic Reform--what Lehner calls the "inner life"--have been mostly neglected. Reform, Lehner argues, was not something that occurred merely through institutional changes, new laws, and social control. For early modern Catholics, church reform began with personal reform and attempts to live in a state of grace. Lehner seeks to take these religious commitments seriously and understand them on their own terms. The central question he asks is "What did Catholics do to obtain salvation, to make themselves pleasing to God?" Lehner examines how the spiritual ideas that emerged from attempts to wrestle with the question of the salvation of souls changed the Catholic view of the world. Drawing on a plethora of published and unpublished sources and a wide array of secondary literature--with an emphasis on Europe, but integrating material from Africa, America, and Asia--Lehner documents this transformative period in history, when Catholicism became a "world religion." In The Inner Life of Catholic Reform, Ulrich Lehner offers a longue durée overview of the sentiments and spiritual ideas of the 250-year long time span following the Council of Trent, known as Catholic Reform. While there have been many studies of the so-called Counter-Reformation, the political side of Catholic Reform, and of its institutional and social history, the sentiments, motivations and religious practices of Catholic Reform--what Lehner calls the "inner life"--have been mostly neglected.Reform, Lehner argues, was not something that occurred merely through institutional changes, new laws, and social control. For early modern Catholics, church reform began with personal reform and attempts to live in a state of grace. Lehner seeks to take these religious commitments seriously and understand them on their own terms. The central question he asks is "What did Catholics do to obtain salvation, to make themselves pleasing to God?" Lehner examines how the spiritual ideas that emerged from attempts to wrestle with the question of the salvation of souls changed the Catholic view of the world.Drawing on a plethora of published and unpublished sources and a wide array of secondary literature--with an emphasis on Europe, but integrating material from Africa, America, and Asia--Lehner documents this transformative period in history, when Catholicism became a "world religion." "While studies abound about Catholic Reform and its institutional or social history, its spiritual motives and practices, what one could call its "inner life," have been widely neglected. This book examines how these spiritual ideas and practices shaped the Catholic Reform and Catholic view of the world and led to a diverse but peculiarly theological imagination, a new outlook on the self and the world, and influenced human behaviors and sentiments. It tells the story of how the idea of the "inner reform of the soul" shaped a world religion. The historicization of these religious practices and beliefs makes this book also highly accessible to historians and anthropologists. It relies on a plethora of published and unpublished sources, and a wide field of secondary literature. Although the emphasis is on Europe, this book takes a global perspective by integrating material from Africa, America and Asia as it was in this era that Catholicism became a "world religion.""-- Provided by publisher Cover The Inner Life of Catholic Reform Copyright Dedication Contents Preface 1. The Dynamics of Reform 2. The Varying Theologies of the Priesthood 3. The Homily 4. Teaching the Faith in a Parish 5. The Spiritual Formation of the Family 6. Lay Movements Transforming the Church 7. Eucharist and Confession 8. Transformation through Prayer 9. Symbols and Images 10. Mary and Joseph: Images of Hope Conclusion Notes Bibliography of Primary Sources Bibliography of Secondary Sources Index The Inner Life of Catholic Reform offers a longue durée overview of the sentiments and spiritual ideas of the 250-year long time span from the ending of the Council of Trent to the Catholic Enlightenment, known as Catholic Reform. The Inner Life of Catholic Reform offers a longue duree overview of the sentiments and spiritual ideas of the 250-year long time span from the ending of the Council of Trent to the Catholic Enlightenment, known as Catholic Reform.