Augustinian Piety And Catholic Reform

This volume reveals the political, religious, theological, institutional, and mythical ideals that formed the self-identity of the Augustinian Order from Giles of Rome to the emergence of Martin Luther. Based on detailed philological analysis, this interdisciplinary study not only transforms the understanding of Augustine's heritage in the later Middle Ages, but also that of Luther's relationship to his Order. The work offers a new interpretative model of late medieval religious culture that sheds new light on the relationship between late medieval Passion devotion, the increasing demonization of the Jews, and the rise of catechetical literature. It is the first volume of a planned trilogy that seeks to return late medieval Augustinian theology to the historical context of Augustinian religion.

"This book sheds new light on the unfolding of Reformation in England by examining the ideological development of Catholicism in the formative years between the break with Rome and the consolidation of Elizabethan Protestantism. It argues that the undoubted strength of Catholicism in these years may have come less from its traditionalism, and its resistance to change, than from its ability to embrace reforming principles. The humanist elements within Henry VIII's religious policies encouraged the development of the Erasmian potential already well established in English Catholic thought. A dominant strain of Catholic ideology emerged which attempted not only to defend, but also to reform the Catholic faith, and to promote the study of Scripture, the use of the vernacular, and the refashioning of doctrine. This provided the basis for attempts to launch a Catholic Reformation under Mary I, and remained influential during the early years of Elizabeth, until reconfigured by the experience of exile and the drive for Counter-Reformation uniformity." "Dr. Wooding shows that Catholicism in this period was neither a defunct tradition, nor one merely reacting to Protestantism, but a vigorous intellectual movement responding to the reformist impulse of the age. Its development illustrates the English Reformation in microcosm: scholarly, humanist, practical, and preserving its own peculiarities distinct from European trends. It shows that reform was not a Protestant reserve, but a broad concern in which many participated. Rethinking Catholicism in Reformation England makes an important contribution to the intellectual history of the Reformation."--BOOK JACKET.

[Omslag] The thought of Saint Augustine stands as one of the central fountainheads of not only theology but Western social and political theory. Political Augustinianism examines modern political readings of Augustine, providing an extensive account of the pivotal French, British, and American schools of interpretation. Bruno guides readers through these modern strands of interpretation, examines their historical, theological, and socio-political context, and discusses the hermeneutical underpinnings of the modern discussion of Augustine's social and political thought.

Dating to the early 5th century AD, the Enchiridion of St. Augustine is a superb example of early Christian instruction and virtues, summating the pillars of the faith in a manner inspiring. Augustine of Hippo was among the first Roman Christians to develop and author a comprehensive spiritual philosophy. As bishop of Hippo Regius, his theological studies and writings provided an excellent foundation to religious scholarship; many of the books he authored served as an example to later authors. A great revival of interest in the early Church Fathers following the Reformation, and again in the 19th century, brought Augustine's works to renewed appreciation and prominence. Detailing how the Christian believer can better his faith with prayer and practice of the virtues set out by Jesus Christ in the Gospels, the book itself is composed in answer to a person named Laurentius. Apparently a Christian curious about his creed, Laurentius sought the advice and counsel of St. Augustine of Hippo.

Early Modern Catholicism makes available in modern spelling and punctuation substantial Catholic contributions to literature, history, political thought, devotion, and theology in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Rather than perpetuate the usual stereotypes and misinformation, it provides a fresh look at Catholic writing long suppressed, marginalized, and ignored. The anthology gives back voices to those silenced by prejudice, exile, persecution, or martyrdomwhile attention to actual texts challenges conventional beliefs about the period.The anthology is divided into eight sections entitled Controversies, Lives and Deaths, Poetry, Instructions and Devotions, Drama, Histories, Fiction, and Documents, and includes sixteen black and white illustrations from a variety of Early Modern sources. Amongst the selections are texts which illuminate the role of women in recusant community and in the Church; the rich traditions of prayer and mysticism; the theology and politics of martyrdom; the emergence of the Catholic Baroque inliterature and art; and the polemical battles fought within the Church and against its enemies. Early Modern Catholicism also provides a context that redefines the established canons of Early Modern England, including such figures as Edmund Spenser, John Donne, John Milton, William Shakespeare, and BenJonson.

This book invites readers into Tolkien's world through the lens of a variety of philosophers, all of whom owe a rich debt to the Neoplatonic philosophical tradition. It places Tolkien's mythology against a wider backdrop of Catholic philosophy and asks serious questions about the nature of creation, the nature of God, what it means to be good, and the problem of evil. Halsall sets Tolkien alongside both his contemporaries and ancient authors, revealing his careful use of literary devices inspired by them to craft his own "mythology for England."

God's Ploughman, provides a unique study of the life and ministry of one of early modern England's most significant preachers. Rather than offering a biography or analysis of sermons, the author creates a new genre, the 'preaching life.' The result is an integrative study that situates Latimer's life and ministry within the rapidly changing religious, cultural, and political environment of Tudor England. COMMENDATION "Mike Pasquarello, well-versed in homiletics and historical theology, is perfectly positioned to repossess one of the most significant sixteenth-century English preachers and prelates, Hugh Latimer. Letting Latimer speak can only deepen our understanding of the great age of religious reform and the resistances reformers encountered." - Peter Iver Kaufman, University of Richmond, USA

The volume contains studies by eleven distinguished scholars, concerning changes in ethical and religious consciousness during this important era of Western culture — themes consonant with the scholarship of Charles Trinkaus. It begins with three general essays: the Renaissance discovery of human creativity (William Bouwsma), the Renaissance and Western pragmatism (Jerry Bentley), and the new philosophical perspective (F. Edward Cranz). The remaining contributors deal with similar issues in Petrarch (Ronald Witt), Nicholas of Cusa (Morimichi Watanabe), Lorenzo Valla (Salvatore Camporeale), Marsilio Ficino (Michael Allen and Brian Copenhaver), Savonarola (Donald Weinstein), Battista Carioni (Paul Grendler), and Calvin (Heiko Oberman). The volume opens with a tribute to Trinkaus by Paul Oskar Kristeller and concludes with bibliographies of Trinkaus's publications and of works on Valla in English (Pauline Watts and Thomas Izbicki). Publications by Charles Trinkaus: • Edited by C. Trinkaus and H.A. Oberman, The pursuit of holiness in late medieval and renaissance religion, ISBN: 978 90 04 03791 5 (Out of print)

From Pulitzer Prize–winner Garry Wills, the story of Augustine’s Confessions In this brief and incisive book, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Garry Wills tells the story of the Confessions--what motivated Augustine to dictate it, how it asks to be read, and the many ways it has been misread in the one-and-a-half millennia since it was composed. Following Wills's biography of Augustine and his translation of the Confessions, this is an unparalleled introduction to one of the most important books in the Christian and Western traditions. Understandably fascinated by the story of Augustine's life, modern readers have largely succumbed to the temptation to read the Confessions as autobiography. But, Wills argues, this is a mistake. The book is not autobiography but rather a long prayer, suffused with the language of Scripture and addressed to God, not man. Augustine tells the story of his life not for its own significance but in order to discern how, as a drama of sin and salvation leading to God, it fits into sacred history. "We have to read Augustine as we do Dante," Wills writes, "alert to rich layer upon layer of Scriptural and theological symbolism." Wills also addresses the long afterlife of the book, from controversy in its own time and relative neglect during the Middle Ages to a renewed prominence beginning in the fourteenth century and persisting to today, when the Confessions has become an object of interest not just for Christians but also historians, philosophers, psychiatrists, and literary critics. With unmatched clarity and skill, Wills strips away the centuries of misunderstanding that have accumulated around Augustine's spiritual classic.