Global Catholicism

Forces as divergent as Jihadist Islam and Richard Dawkins are making religion more central to our lives today. Ian Linden has been an active lay member of the Catholic Church for many years and has witnessed firsthand such important movements as liberation theology. In this book, he charts the complex history of the forces of renewal unleashed by the Second Vatican Council and the counter-forces that gathered during the last half century. It focuses notably on changes that had wider historical importance than the internal evolution of the Roman Catholic Church as a religious organisation: war and peace, nationalism and democratisation in Africa, liberation theology, military dictatorships, guerrilla movements in Latin America, Africa and Philippines, interaction with communist governments, inculturation and relations with resurgent Islam. It views the Catholic Church as a unique example of a religious organisation responding in a unique way to globalisation. Most unusually it adopts a perspective from the global "South" pointing to the future axis of Catholicism in the 21st. century. The book weaves together the interaction of ideas and action, doctrine and life, in an innovative and interdisciplinary way.

"Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Georgetown University." Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-224) and index.

"A critical analysis of the Catholic Churches around the world by areas (North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Europe), with attention to their origins, internal challenges, and external pressures"--

This is the untold story of how black saints - and the slaves who venerated them - transformed the early modern church. It speaks to race, the Atlantic slave trade, and global Christianity, and provides new ways of thinking about blackness, holiness, and cultural authority.

This book explores the endeavors and activities of one of the most prominent early modern Irishmen in exile, the Franciscan Luke Wadding. Born in Ireland, educated in the Iberian Peninsula, Wadding arrived in Rome in 1618, where he would die in 1657. In the "Eternal City," the Franciscan emerged as an outstanding theologian, a learned scholar, a diplomat, and a college founder. This innovative collection of chapters brings together a group of international scholars who provide a ground-breaking analysis of the many cultural, political, and religious facets of Wadding’s life. They illustrate the challenges and changes faced by an Irishman who emerged as one of the most outstanding global figures of the Catholic Reformation. The volume will attract scholars of the early modern period, early modern Catholicism, and Irish emigration.

Geopolitics of Global Catholicism uncovers the key trends in today’s Catholicism, providing an incisive analysis of its deep entanglement with national, regional, as well as global politics. This book offers an exciting exploration of five versions of local Catholicism(s) and sheds light on the various theo-political constellations that not only differ widely across these national contexts but also have global geopolitical consequences. It is built around a novel theoretical argument showing that Catholic geopolitics contains not only a spatial dimension (as classic geopolitical studies would have it) but also a temporal one. As a consequence, the Catholic role in the world cannot be simply understood as a result of the spatial expansion of the Church but rather as a result of the complex relationships between Catholicism and colonization, inculturation, backwardness, and modernization(s). To counter the lingering Eurocentrism of most studies of the Catholic Church, this book’s case studies explore Catholic geopolitics in five non-European contexts, focusing mainly on the Global South (plus the United States): Latin America (Brazil), North America (the United States), Asia (India and China), and Africa (the Democratic Republic of the Congo). These case studies also show that the successes and failures of Catholicism cannot be explained by a recourse to a single, top-down interpretation of Catholic geopolitics, but rather by exploring the various Catholic spatio-temporal constellations on the global, regional, and local levels. With the accelerating diversification of the Church and the growing role of the Global South, these local and regional influences gain further importance as they are likely to increasingly define the future of Catholicism. This book will be of utmost interest to scholars of International Relations, Religious Studies, Political Science, and Theology, as well as Geopolitics, especially to those studying the global rise of religion. Its accessible language will also appeal to the wider public beyond academia, especially those interested in global Christianity, as well as church leaders, and members of Catholic organizations.

This book systematically assesses the political and social values of the more than 1.3 billion Catholics around the globe, by far the largest denomination of Western Christianity. Based on an extensive analysis of data from the World Values Survey and other global opinion surveys, the book sheds new light on the value systems and opinions of Roman Catholics. The authors highlight core problems and challenges the Church is currently facing in adapting to the modern world, including Catholic anti-Semitism, religious and sexual tolerance, and opinions towards democracy, while also offering an anthropological reflection on how well the Church is adapting or failing to adapt to the requirements of an open society.

A collection of 15 articles from the June 2021 edition of La Civiltà Cattolica, the highly respected and oldest Catholic journal published from Rome. Forging our Culture: Ignatius, Luther, Charles V and Magellan in the year 1521 by Giancarlo Pani considers how a number of events in the sixteenth century collectively propelled Europe into the Modern Age. Ignatius of Loyola’s devotion to St Peter is well-know, Pedro de Leturia asks what aspects of his spirituality are clearly inspired by St. Francis of Assisi? With over 70 per cent of the world’s Catholics now living outside Europe and North America, the Catholic Church is truly a global Church. However, it faces many challenges. Thomas P Rausch, a theologian at Loyola Marymount University in USA, summarized the issues. In Jacob and Esau Embrace: An Orthodox Rabbinic Declaration on Christianity Drew Christiansen argues that, in an age of secularization, Jews and Christians should bear witness in a special way to God’s holiness and his intrinsic link with the moral life. Cristian Peralta reflects whether the lack of certainty we are experiencing during the is pandemic something new and what are the certainties on which to build a sustainable future? Theological and Anthropological Consequences of Environmental Damage. An African reflects by Wilfred Sumani reminds us how nature conservation should be promoted not only for the sake of economic sustainability, but also for its theological and anthropological importance.