Global Catholicism: Diversity and Change Since Vatican II - Softcover

Ian Linden

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1850659567 ISBN 13: 9781850659563

Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd, 2009

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

'Every bishop and priest in the Catholic Church should sit down and read this remarkable book. Ian Linden has quietly demolished canards levelled against those who believe that the reforming work of the Second Vatican Council is not yet complete. Instead of imagining that life beyond the Council is ever upwards and onwards, he takes as seriously as Pope Benedict the ever-lurking reality of sin.' --The Tablet

'Too often, histories of Catholicism consist of lives of popes, or polemics on headline-grabbing issues like sexuality and gender. This book has an entirely different perspective --global, political and filled with many more brave and inspiring men and women of God than it is with clerical ghouls. It is not an out-and-out celebration, but the lasting impression Linden leaves is of a hidden and positive side of the Church, engaged around the world in the sort of challenging, often thankless but absolutely vital work with the most needy that doesn't make headlines but requires enormous courage, stamina and determination.' --The Independent

'Ian Linden begins his admirable new book with a Chinese proverb: when a tree falls it makes a big noise, when a forest grows nobody hears anything. Media interest in ecclesiastical affairs tends to focus on the falling trees reflected in sex scandals, 'unholy rows' and popes who demonstrate their fallibility. Global Catholicism does not evade these topics, but the book's starting point lies a long way from the marble halls of the Vatican and its sheltered inhabitants. The main task Linden sets himself is to chart how a Eurocentric body which had largely spread in the wake of empire has evolved over the past half-century into the world's most diverse and far-flung organization.' --Times Literary Supplement

Review:

'Ian Linden begins his admirable new book with a Chinese proverb: when a tree falls it makes a big noise, when a forest grows nobody hears anything. Media interest in ecclesiastical affairs tends to focus on the falling trees reflected in sex scandals, "unholy rows" and popes who demonstrate their fallibility. Global Catholicism does not evade these topics, but the book's starting point lies a long way from the marble halls of the Vatican and its sheltered inhabitants. The main task Linden sets himself is to chart how a Eurocentric body which had largely spread in the wake of empire has evolved over the past half-century into the world's most diverse and far-flung organization.'

About this edition

• Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1850659567
• ISBN 13: 9781850659563
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 337