(Download) "Pope Leo XIII and the Catholic Response to Modernity (In DEFENSE OF OLD Europe) (Essay)" by Modern Age * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Pope Leo XIII and the Catholic Response to Modernity (In DEFENSE OF OLD Europe) (Essay)
- Author : Modern Age
- Release Date : January 22, 2007
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 203 KB
Description
We often refer to the latest developments in our times as "modern," but we tend to forget that the modern age actually began five hundred years ago--back in the 1500's with the Renaissance, the Reformation, the birth of modern science, the age of exploration, and the first stirrings of political change that led to the end of feudalism and the rise of the modern state. We also tend to forget that the oldest continuing institution of Western civilization, the Roman Catholic Church, was the principal opponent of many of these changes and formulated strategies to counter some of these movements for several centuries. Not surprisingly, a common view of the Catholic response to modernity over this period is the critical one expressed by Thomas Bokenkotter in his popular book, A Concise History of the Catholic Church. The author claims that "the Catholic Church's reaction to the rise of modernity was largely defensive and negative ... the result was a state of siege mentality that characterized modern Catholicism down to our day." (1) He argues that this siege mentality damaged the Church in crucial respects, but it was finally ended by the Second Vatican Council in 1962-65 when the Church embraced modern civilization in an optimistic manner and liberated Catholicism from its long-standing distrust of modernity.