Rethinking the Enlightenment

Faith in the Age of Reason

Joseph Stuart

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English

Sophia Institute Press
15 October 2020

European history; Religion & beliefs; Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church

"The Enlightenment was a complex cultural movement that radically transformed both religion and society -- a movement Christians fended off when, in the name of ""reason,"" the Church in France was dethroned in a most bloody and utterly unreasonable way. The Enlightenment also ushered in a wave of genuine Christian inspiration and reform, however, and it opened vast new avenues for the faith to flourish.

In this compelling and edifying book, scholar Joseph Stuart investigates this paradox, masterfully exploring the tense interaction of the Enlightenment and Christianity as two cultures, two lived realities, and two overlapping ways of life.

On page after page, you'll see that the ""Age of Reason"" was more than just merciless confrontation between reason and religion. Indeed, it brought forth many Christians -- including ""the Enlightenment Pope,"" Benedict XIV, and groups of coffee-drinking monks -- who embraced both faith and reason as powerful tools for strengthening Church and society.

In other cases, culture-changing Christians such as John Wesley and St. Louis de Montfort opted simply to sidestep the Enlightenment by building up Christian culture from within -- a strategy that led to the explosion of powerful evangelical movements across the world.

In Rethinking the Enlightenment,

Dr. Stuart demonstrates that the three primary strategies Christians employed during the Enlightenment -- conflict, engagement, and retreat -- are time-tested methods that should be employed in our own anti-Christian age. Conflict without engagement is senseless; engagement without conflict is weak; and without retreat, both strategies lack wisdom. If we pursue all three today with the help of the Holy Spirit, then a tough, intellectually sophisticated, and evangelically oriented Christianity can emerge -- just as it did in the tumultuous Age of the Enlightenment"

By: Joseph Stuart
Imprint: Sophia Institute Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 226mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 544g
ISBN: 9781622828227
ISBN 10: 1622828224
Publication Date: 15 October 2020
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Joseph T. Stuart, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of History and Fellow of Catholic Studies at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. His research and publications concern the life and work of cultural historian Christopher Dawson, the cultural history of the Great War, and the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century.