HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

The Church and the Age of Reason, 1648-1789 (1960)

by Gerald R. Cragg

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Penguin History of the Church (4)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
662334,604 (3.54)5
"Assessment of this formative period ranges from the Church life of France under Louis XIV to the high noon of rationalism and beyond, and also includes a chapter on Christianity and culture in the Baroque age."--Cover.
None
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 5 mentions

English (2)  Spanish (1)  All languages (3)
Showing 2 of 2
I had begun to think this book had taught me nothing at all--Cragg works in the historiographical tradition of "allude to names, ignore biography", so there's lots of "The evidence that a new day had dawned was furnished by the respect with which Cardinal Consalvi was received at the Congress of Vienna." Aside from the slightly tortuous syntax, that's the only mention of Cardinal Consalvi in this book, and it comes in the Epilogue. So a fair bit went over my head.

That said, I was able to work out a reasonable narrative from the book as a whole: the power of the state rises throughout this period, with the church often losing power (even, he suggests, in places like Spain, otherwise a strong supporter of Rome). This is aided by the tide of rationalism, deism and so on, which undermined the justifications for church power. And then, after the French revolution and its consequences, the restored monarchies or states took on the solid-seeming traditionalist mantle of religion: Catholicism in France, Protestantism elsewhere.

So, in the eighteenth century, we see Christian churches slowly lose power and influence, while the state gains it; after the revolutions, the church and state come together to create a very new, 'traditional' body of power. And that works wherever you look--the nineteenth century Anglican church was buried deep in the political structures of England; Catholicism was buried deep in the political structures of France and Spain, and so on and so forth.

No doubt this is the kind of wild generalization that will infuriate better informed contemporary scholars, but at least I got something from the book other than a chuckle at Cragg's deep repugnance for Unitarianism. Poor unitarianism. ( )
  stillatim | Oct 23, 2020 |
from westphalia to the frech revolution ( )
  vicarofdibley | Sep 4, 2006 |
Showing 2 of 2
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (1 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Cragg, Gerald R.Authorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Facetti, GermanoCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

Belongs to Series

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

"Assessment of this formative period ranges from the Church life of France under Louis XIV to the high noon of rationalism and beyond, and also includes a chapter on Christianity and culture in the Baroque age."--Cover.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.54)
0.5
1
1.5
2 1
2.5
3 6
3.5
4 4
4.5
5 2

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 202,657,775 books! | Top bar: Always visible