The Church and the Age of Reason, 1648-1789

The period from the Peace of Westphalia to the French Revolution lay between bitter religious war and the age of industrialism and republicanism.

The Church in general, reacting strongly against the turbulence of the Civil War and the Thirty Years War, placed a premium on order, moderation and stability.

Movements suspected of enthusiasm, such as Puritanism, Quietism and Jansenism, fell into disrepute, and the authority exercised by the state in religious affairs became more pronounced. It was an age dominated by Reason which, until it provoked a reaction in such movements as Pietism and Evangelicalism, posed a formidable challenge to Christianity.

Gerald Cragg’s elegant and stimulating assessment of this formative period ranges from the Church life of France under Louis XIV to the high noon of rationalism and beyond, and also includes a chapter on Christianity and culture in the Baroque age.

Previously published in The Pelican History of the Church series.