The Visual Culture of Catholic Enlightenment

Christopher M. S. Johns

ISBN 10: 0271062088 / ISBN 13: 9780271062082

Published by Pennsylvania State University Press, 2014

. . 2014. 1st Edition. Hardcover. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780271062082

Synopsis:

Until relatively recently, most scholars considered the notion of a Catholic enlightenment either oxymoronic or even illusory, since the received wisdom was that the Catholic Church was a tireless and indefatigable enemy of modernist progress. According to Christopher Johns, however, the eighteenth-century papacy recognized the advantages of engaging with certain aspects of enlightenment thinking, and many in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, both in Italy and abroad, were sincerely interested in making the Church more relevant in the modern world and, above all, in reforming the various institutions that governed society. Johns presents the visual culture of papal Rome as a major change agent in the cause of Catholic enlightenment while assessing its continuing links to tradition. The Visual Culture of Catholic Enlightenment sheds substantial light on the relationship between eighteenth-century Roman society and visual culture and the role of religion in both.

About the Author: Christopher M. S. Johns is the Norman and Roselea Goldberg Professor of History of Art at Vanderbilt University.

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Visual Culture of Catholic Enlightenment
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
Publication Date: 2014
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: New
Edition: 1st Edition