The Church and the Age of Enlightenment (1648-1848): Faith, Science, and the Challenge of Secularism

by Dominic A. Aquila, Mike Aquilina (Editor)

Overview

Catholics—both religious and the laity—made significant contributions to science, the arts, and the betterment of human life during the Enlightenment, the period between the Reformations and the modern world.

Scholar Dominic A. Aquila writes that it is not uncommon for historical accounts of the time to conclude that the Church stood in the way of the scientific revolution and that faith and reason could not coexist. In The Church and the Age of Enlightenment (1648–1848), Aquila outlines Catholic contributions in mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, the arts, and politics, and highlights key figures of the era including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, St. Vincent de Paul, Queen Christina of Sweden, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Aquila begins by looking back at the work of important figures such as Copernicus, Francis Bacon, and Galileo, all of whom died before the 1648. Aquila bookends the Enlightenment era by wars due to dynastic rivalries and social change—beginning with Europe’s Thirty Years War, which prompted a rethinking of religious and political practices, and ending with the Napoleonic Wars.

Aquila also highlights key works of visual arts and music from the period, including Giovanni Bellini’s Frari Triptych, the world-renowned Oberammergau Passion Play, and George Fredric Handel’s Messiah.

In this book, you will learn:

• the Church has been western civilization’s primary patron of art and science for centuries;
• Blaise Pascal believed that the Biblical revelation of God is the story of God’s action in human history;
• Isaac Newton was unique among the Enlightenment elite because he believed in God;
• the separation of Church and state was influenced by Catholic thinkers;
• Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson embodied Enlightenment ideals in the American colonies; and
• one of the most enduring outcomes of the Enlightenment is the heart-felt desire for continual improvement of life for more people.

 

Books in the Reclaiming Catholic History series, edited by Mike Aquilina and written by leading authors and historians, bring Church history to life, debunking the myths one era at a time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781646800322
Publisher:	Ave Maria Press
Publication date:	11/25/2022
Series:	Reclaiming Catholic History
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	581,031
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Dominic A. Aquila is a professor of history and director of institutional effectiveness and assessment at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, where he was founding dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and served as provost and vice president for academic affairs and dean of graduate studies. Aquila was a professor of history and the founding dean of the School of Liberal Arts at the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He also taught at a number of other colleges and universities, including Franciscan University of Steubenville, University of Rochester, and Rochester Institute of Technology.

Aquila has doctorate degrees in higher education administration from Texas Tech University, and in history from the University of South Africa. He earned an advanced degree in history from the University of Rochester. Aquila has an MBA from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in music from the Julliard School. He also did graduate studies in composition at the Eastman School of Music. Aquila has published a number of scholarly and popular articles in the Catholic Social Science Review, Image a Journal of Religion and the Arts, Our Sunday Visitor,Religions, and Social Justice Review. He is also involved in many professional organizations related to higher education and has received many awards for his work. He served as a consultant and mentor to organizations competing in Our Sunday Visitor Foundation’s 2021 Challenge for Catholic Innovators.

Aquila and his wife, Diane, have eleven children and eight grandchildren. They live in Houston.


Mike Aquilina is a Catholic author, popular speaker, poet, and songwriter who serves as the executive vice president of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He is the editor of the Reclaiming Catholic History series.

Table of Contents

Reclaiming Catholic History: Series Introduction ix

Chronology of The Church and the Age of Enlightenment (1648-1848) xiii

Map xviii

Introduction xxi

Chapter 1 The Thirty Years' War and Its Aftermath 1

Up Close and Personal: St. Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) 16

You Be the Judge: Was the Thirty Years' War fought over religion or politics? 19

Chapter 2 What Is the Enlightenment? 23

Up Close and Personal: St. Marie of the Incarnation (1599-1672) 46

You Be the Judge: Was the Enlightenment project heretical? 51

Chapter 3 The Religious Enlightenment 55

Up Close and Personal: St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) 71

You Be the Judge: Should you take Pascal's wager? 76

Chapter 4 The Enlightenment in the Tradition of European Renewal Movements 79

Up Close and Personal: Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689) 99

You Be the Judge: Are the arts mirrors or shapers of society? 103

Chapter 5 The New Politics of the Enlightenment 107

Up Close and Personal: I Napoletani: Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) and St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) 120

You Be the Judge: Is the social contract the best way to view the human person and human relations? 133

Chapter 6 The Enlightenment in Action: The American and French Revolutions 139

Up Close and Personal: Eroica: A Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) 166

You Be the Judge: Was the American Revolution an enlightened or a conservative revolution? 175

Conclusion 179

Notes 181

Index 187

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Dominic Aquila has provided a great service to the Church and Catholics in the modern world in this new book. With masterful narrative and insightful focus, Aquila illustrates the military, political, and cultural events of this crucial time period in history. Additionally, he expands the commonly held understanding of the Enlightenment by showing its complexities and the influence of Catholics and the Church during a time of great upheaval that reverberates to the modern day. Aquila’s volume is an excellent addition to the outstanding Reclaiming Catholic History series and should be required reading for all students of Catholic history.” —Steve Weidenkopf, author of The Church and the Middle Ages (1000–1378)

“Dominic Aquila’s crisp dissection of the events that followed the Thirty Years’ War to the close of the French Revolution reveals the impressive effort of the Catholic Church to challenge the secularizing zeitgeist of the age.” —Elizabeth Lev, art historian and instructor at Duquesne University’s Italian Campus

“In this excellent book, Aquila introduces us to the world of the Enlightenment, a troubled but brilliant past that has deeply shaped our present age. He captures both its troubles and brilliance and its triumphs and tragedies through the lives of the most remarkable Catholics of the day. A must-read for history buffs who love the Church!” —Christopher T. Baglow, director of the Science and Religion Initiative at the McGrath Institute for Church Life, University of Notre Dame