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Narrated by Matthew McAuliffe
John W. O'MalleyUnabridged — 8 hours, 20 minutes
Narrated by Matthew McAuliffe
John W. O'MalleyUnabridged — 8 hours, 20 minutes
The enduring influence of the Catholic Church has many sources-its spiritual and intellectual appeal, missionary achievements, wealth, diplomatic effectiveness, and stable hierarchy. But in the first half of the nineteenth century, the foundations upon which the church had rested for centuries were shaken. In the eyes of many thoughtful people, liberalism in the guise of liberty, equality, and fraternity was the quintessence of the evils that shook those foundations. At the Vatican Council of 1869-1870, the church made a dramatic effort to set things right by defining the doctrine of papal infallibility.
In Vatican I: The Council and the Making of the Ultramontane Church, John W. O'Malley draws us into the bitter controversies over papal infallibility that at one point seemed destined to rend the church in two. Archbishop Henry Manning was the principal driving force for the definition, and Lord Acton was his brilliant counterpart on the other side. But they shrink in significance alongside Pope Pius IX, whose zeal for the definition was so notable that it raised questions about the very legitimacy of the council. Entering the fray were politicians such as Gladstone and Bismarck. The growing tension in the council played out within the larger drama of the seizure of the Papal States by Italian forces and its seemingly inevitable consequence, the conquest of Rome itself.
Largely as a result of the council and its aftermath, the Catholic Church became more pope-centered than ever before. In the terminology of the period, it became ultramontane.
A concise and accessible overview of the Council and the history that led to it…O’Malley does an excellent job of narrating the dynamics at play as the Church picked up the pieces from the devastation of the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars.
An eminent scholar of modern Catholicism…O’Malley…invit[es] us to see Catholicism’s recent history as profoundly shaped by and against the imposing legacy of Pius IX.
[O’Malley’s] oeuvre now forms a satisfyingly coherent whole…As authoritative as it is accessible.
O’Malley gives an accessible, even-handed overview of the council with a minimum of interpretive gloss. He excels in describing the ways in which the council initiated deep changes that still affect the everyday lives of Catholics.
Provides an elegant historical narrative.
With Vatican I: The Council and the Making of the Ultramontane Church, John O’Malley, S.J., the worldwide dean of church historians, has completed his trinity of works on church councils… O’Malley completes his masterclass in church history and ecclesiology of the last 500 years, telling us as much about the church now as then.
A gripping good read…With characteristic economy and clarity, O’Malley tells the story of Vatican I and the making of the ultramontane church—and, most importantly, why it matters.
Much needed and very informative…O’Malley’s book shows the many ways in which the church we know is still very much shaped by the First…Vatican Council. Put differently, the modern church is still, in certain ways, the work of reactionaries.
This excellent book fills a critical need for an up-to-date and comprehensive account of the events, the personalities, and the elaboration of the doctrine at the First Vatican Council. O’Malley draws from the best and most recent historical sources published in multiple languages to weave together masterfully the complex convergence of social, political, intellectual, and ecclesial movements that contribute to a culture of ultramontanism, the horizon against which one must understand both the event of the council and its teaching.
O’Malley offers a comprehensive and gripping narrative of Vatican I…In his eminently accessible volume, O’Malley repeats the success of his earlier histories of Vatican II and Trent…[He] weaves together the doctrinal issues with the personalities of the principal historical characters in the drama of controversy and conflict…[This] belongs to a long and productive career of exposing a wide readership to the fascinatingly complex history of the Church.
O’Malley is not new to writing re-assessments of pivotal events of modern Roman Catholic history. One can think of his important volumes on What Happened at Vatican II and Trent: What Happened at the Council, which have proven to be trend-setting in their interpretation of present-day Roman Catholicism. In this new book on Vatican I it is as if he has completed the trilogy on the three modern councils…O’Malley’s strength lies in the comprehensiveness of his historical reconstruction.
[A] judicious work of scholarship, carefully researched and elegantly narrated.
The best available [work] in English on Vatican I…O’Malley’s account of the debate over infallibility is masterful…The descriptions of the council’s setting and procedure convey a feel for what the bishops experienced there.
To be the premier historian of the modern ecumenical councils would seem an odd bit of praise, but John O’Malley, S.J., is exactly that and with characteristic grace. His history of Vatican I is a marvelous bookend to his field-shaping history of Vatican II and possesses the lucidity, insight, and erudition we associate with one of the world’s leading historians of Catholicism. It immediately becomes the standard history.
An eminent scholar of modern Catholicism…O’Malley…invit[es] us to see Catholicism’s recent history as profoundly shaped by and against the imposing legacy of Pius IX.
06/01/2018
Ultramontanism is the authority the Holy See has over other dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church, which vests the Pope with particular prerogatives, most notably the infallibility of the Pope's teaching office. O'Malley (theology, Georgetown Univ.; The Jesuits) details the events that led up to and include the Vatican I council which promulgated the doctrine. Although Pius IX—who convened the council—welcomed the result, O'Malley focuses on the uprising that began with those disillusioned with the social upheavals following the Enlightenment and French Revolution. O'Malley illuminates this bottom-up movement with illustrations from independent journals, such as Louis Veuillot's 19th-century French Roman Catholic newspaper L'Univers and the writings of ultramontane converts, such as Henry Edward Manning. The final two chapters deal with Vatican I itself and the aftermath of the First Vatican Council. O'Malley also provides a translation of dogmatic constitution Pastor Aeternus, which includes the chapter on papal infallibility. VERDICT A fascinating and dispassionate glimpse into a pivotal and dramatic period of Catholic Church history.—James Wetherbee, Wingate Univ. Libs., NC
| BN ID: | 2940169840353 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Blackstone Audio, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 10/16/2018 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
