by SamuelGregg (Author)
Since the dawn of the Enlightenment, modernity and the Papacy have experienced a difficult though never severed relationship. The Modern Papacy goes beyond the caricatures to demonstrate how the popes - specifically John Paul II and Benedict XVI - have articulated a sophisticated critique of the post-Enlightenment world, one that acknowledges the real progress made in modernity while simultaneously highlighting its political and philosophical shortcomings. Far from falling on deaf ears, the nature of their engagement with the modern world has sparked criticism and praise from Catholics and non-Catholics alike - sometimes in surprising ways. Whether the subject is faith and reason, religion and the modern sciences, the roots and future of Europe, or the origin and ends of human freedom, John Paul II and Benedict XVI pose questions that simply cannot be ignored, regardless of whether one likes their answers.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 176
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 14 Mar 2013
ISBN 10: 1441136843
ISBN 13: 9781441136848
Book Overview: The Modern Papacy offers one of the most important and influential strands of conservative, and perhaps libertarian, political thought. This volume focuses on the social and political thought of the previous and current Popes, John Paul II (1920 - 2005) and Benedict XVI (1927-). It focuses on the development of Catholic thinking in the context of the emergence of modern capitalism, mass democracy and Communism in the 20th century.