The World of Catholic Renewal, 1540–1770

The second edition of The World of Catholic Renewal offers an updated synthesis of the vast scholarship on the history of Catholicism from the Council of Trent in the middle of the sixteenth century to the suppression of the Society of Jesus in the eighteenth century. Professor Hsia discusses the doctrinal and ecclesiastical renewal after Trent and the progress of Catholic reconquest in various lands. He analyses the social composition of the Tridentine clergy and the papal curia and studies the making of early modern sainthood and the enclosure of religious women. Encompassing art and architecture, Ronnie Hsia attempts to understand Catholic renewal as a vast historical development that shaped European civilization and also explores its expansion and encounter with non-Christian cultures in America, Africa, and Asia. The new edition of this acclaimed textbook offers an additional chapter on The Catholic Book as well as an updated bibliography.

• First synthesis of the vast scholarship on Catholic renewal in Europe • Second edition of a widely praised book • The thematic approach on a broad range of subjects (holy women, art, architecture…) will appeal to students in European history, religious history and social history

1. The Council of Trent; 2. The new religious orders; 3. The triumphant church; 4. The militant church; 5. The martyred church; 6. The papal curia; 7. Bishops and priests; 8. Counter-reformation saints; 9. Holy women, beatas, demoniacs; 10. Art and architecture; 11. The Catholic book; 12. The Iberian church and empires; 13. The Catholic mission in Asia; 14. From triumph to crisis.

‘… by far the most reliable and authoritative such study now available … deserves to be widely read.’ The Expository Times

‘Hsia skilfully incorporates recent work on gender, mysticism and imperialism to depict renewed Catholicism as a broad cultural phenomenon.’ The Times Higher Education Supplement

\' … deserves to be widely read …\' Newdirections