The World of Catholic Renewal 1540–1770 (New Approaches to European History, Series Number 12) - Tapa dura

'... by far the most reliable and authoritative such study now available ... deserves to be widely read.' The Expository Times

'Hsia skilfully incorporates recent work on gender, mysticism and imperialism to depict renewed Catholicism as a broad cultural phenomenon.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

' ... this ambitious and well-executed text ... provides a comprehensive survey of the post-Reformation recovery and expansion of the Roman Catholic Church from the Council of Trent to the eve of its crisis posed by the modern age ... [it] warrants inclusion not only in all libraries but also in all courses in early modern history and religion.' Journal of Ecclesiastical History

'Hsia's book is a fine survey of the church in this period for both the newcomer and the scholar.' Perspectives in Religious Studies

A history of Catholicism from the Council of Trent in the middle of the sixteenth century to the suppression of the Society of Jesus in the eighteenth century, this accessible study of Catholicism offers the first synthesis of the vast scholarship on Catholic renewal in Europe and on Catholic missions in the non-European world. Professor Hsia discusses the doctrinal and ecclesiastical renewal after Trent and the progress of Catholic reconquest in various lands. He also analyses the social composition of the Tridentine clergy and the papal curia and explores the making of early modern sainthood and the enclosure of religious women. Encompassing art and architecture, Hsia attempts to understand Catholic renewal as a vast historical development that shaped European civilization between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries and at the same time explores its expansion and encounter with non-Christian civilizations in America, Africa, and Asia.