New Books in Catholic Studies

Joseph W. Ho, "Developing Mission: Photography, Filmmaking, and American Missionaries in Modern China" (Cornell UP, 2022)

02 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Joseph W. Ho’s book Developing Mission: Photography, Filmmaking, and American Missionaries in Modern China (Cornell University Press, 2021) offers...

Mary J. Henold, "The Laywoman Project: Remaking Catholic Womanhood in the Vatican II Era" (UNC Press, 2020)

01 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In The Laywoman Project: Remaking Catholic Womanhood in the Vatican II Era (UNC Press, 2020), Mary J. Henold considers how these committed parishion...

Jennifer Scheper Hughes, "The Church of the Dead: The Epidemic of 1576 and the Birth of Christianity in the Americas" (NYU Press, 2021)

31 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Church of the Dead: The Epidemic of 1576 and the Birth of Christianity in the Americas (NYU Press, 2021) tells the story of the founding of Amer...

Katherine Harvey, "The Fires of Lust: Sex in the Middle Ages" (Reaktion Books, 2021)

26 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today we are with Katherine Harvey, author of The Fires of Lust: Sex in the Middle Ages (Reaktion Books, 2021). An illuminating exploration of the ...

Brenna Moore, "Kindred Spirits: Friendship and Resistance at the Edges of Modern Catholicism" (U Chicago Press, 2021)

20 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Kindred Spirits: Friendship and Resistance at the Edges of Modern Catholicism (University of Chicago Press, 2021), Brenna Moore takes us inside a...

Judith Herrin, "Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe" (Princeton UP, 2020)

14 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

At the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. ...

Dyan Elliott, "The Corrupter of Boys: Sodomy, Scandal, and the Medieval Clergy" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2020)

11 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the fourth century, clerics began to distinguish themselves from members of the laity by virtue of their augmented claims to holiness. Because cler...

F. Bruce Gordon, "Zwingli: God's Armed Prophet" (Yale UP, 2021)

22 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Zwingli: God's Armed Prophet (Yale, 2021) is a major new biography of Huldrych Zwingli--the warrior preacher who shaped the early Reformation. Zwi...

Tibor Martí and Roberto Quiros Rosado, "Eagles Looking East and West: Dynasty, Ritual and Representation in Habsburg Hungary and Spain" (Brepols, 2021)

17 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The fifteen contributors to Eagles Looking East and West: Dynasty, Ritual and Representation in Habsburg Hungary and Spain (Brepols, 2021) describe ...

Benjamin A. Cowan, "Moral Majorities Across the Americas: Brazil, the United States, and the Creation of the Religious Right" (UNC Press, 2021)

15 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This new history of the Christian right does not stop at national or religious boundaries. In Moral Majorities Across the Americas, Brazil, the Unite...

Cinthia Gannett and John Brereton, "Traditions of Eloquence: The Jesuits and Modern Rhetorical Studies" (Fordham UP, 2016)

14 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Traditions of Eloquence: The Jesuits and Modern Rhetorical Studies (Fordham UP, 2016) explores the important ways Jesuits have employed rhetoric, the...

Sean Brennan, "The Priest Who Put Europe Back Together: The Life of Rev. Fabian Flynn, CP" (Catholic U of America Press, 2018)

01 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Philp Fabian Flynn led a remarkable life, bearing witness to some of the most pivotal events of the twentieth century. Flynn took part in the invasion...

Charles Gallagher, "Nazis of Copley Square: The Forgotten Story of the Christian Front" (Harvard UP, 2021)

23 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nazis of Copley Square: The Forgotten Story of the Christian Front (Harvard UP, 2021) by Charles R. Gallagher, S.J., traces the machinations of far-...

Crawford Gribben, "The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland" (Oxford UP, 2021)

23 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today Crawford Gribben joins us to talk about his new book, The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland (Oxford UP, 2021). Ireland has long been regard...

Brandy Schillace, "Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkey's Head, the Pope's Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul" (Simon and Schuster, 2021)

19 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today I talked to Brandy Schillace about her book Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkey's Head, the Pope's Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transpla...

Ambrogio A. Caiani, "To Kidnap a Pope: Napoleon and Pius VII" (Yale UP, 2021)

17 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the wake of the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of France, and Pope Pius VII shared a common goal: to reconcile the Catholic ch...

Maria Jose de Abreu, "The Charismatic Gymnasium: Breath, Media, and Religious Revivalism in Contemporary Brazil" (Duke UP, 2021)

09 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In The Charismatic Gymnasium: Breath, Media, and Religious Revivalism in Contemporary Brazil (Duke University Press, 2021), Maria José de Abreu e...

Theresa Keeley, "Reagan's Gun-Toting Nuns: The Catholic Conflict Over Cold War Human Rights Policy in Central America" (Cornell UP, 2020)

09 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In Reagan's Gun-Toting Nuns: The Catholic Conflict Over Cold War Human Rights Policy in Central America (Cornell UP, 2020), Theresa Keeley analyzes ...

Kristy Nabhan-Warren, "Meatpacking America: How Migration, Work, and Faith Unite and Divide the Heartland" (UNC Press, 2021)

28 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Whether valorized as the heartland or derided as flyover country, the Midwest became instantly notorious when COVID-19 infections skyrocketed among wo...

Stephanie N. Brehm, "America's Most Famous Catholic (According to Himself): Stephen Colbert and American Religion in the 21st Century" (Fordham UP, 2019)

25 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For nine years, Stephen Colbert’s persona “Colbert”?—a Republican superhero and parody of conservative political pundits--informed audiences o...

Sonja Tiernan, "The History of Marriage Equality in Ireland: A Social Revolution Begins" (Manchester UP, 2020)

19 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 2015, the world witnessed an Irish social revolution. In a historic referendum vote, the Republic of Ireland voted to extend the constitutional rig...

Judith Pollmann, "Catholic Identity and the Revolt of the Netherlands, 1520-1635" (Oxford UP, 2011)

07 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today Judith Pollmann, professor of early modern dutch history at Leiden University in Leiden, The Netherlands, to talk about her book, Catholic Ide...

Peter Cajka, "Follow Your Conscience: The Catholic Church and the Spirit of the Sixties" (U Chicago Press, 2021)

27 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What is your conscience? Is it, as Peter Cajka asks in this provocative book, “A small, still voice? A cricket perched on your shoulder? An angel an...

Angeliki Lymberopoulou, "Cross-cultural Interaction Between Byzantium and the West, 1204-1669" (Routledge, 2020)

20 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The early modern Mediterranean was an area where many different rich cultural traditions came in contact with each other, and were often forced to co-...

Stefania Tutino, "A Fake Saint and the Real Church: The Story of a Forgery in Seventeenth-Century Naples" (Oxford UP, 2021)

15 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Stefania Tutino, Professor and Peter Reill Chair in European History at UCLA talks about her new book, A Fake Saint and the True Church: the Story of...

Virginia Miller, "Child Sexual Abuse Inquiries and the Catholic Church: Reassessing the Evidence" (Firenze UP, 2021)

13 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In Child Sexual Abuse Inquiries and the Catholic Church: Reassessing the Evidence (Firenze UP, 2021), Dr Miller analyses empirical findings, method...

David C. Kirkpatrick, "A Gospel for the Poor: Global Social Christianity and the Latin American Evangelical Left" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2019)

08 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 1974, the International Congress on World Evangelization met in Lausanne, Switzerland. Gathering together nearly 2,500 Protestant evangelical leade...

Gregory Bourke, "Gay, Catholic, and American: My Legal Battle for Marriage Equality and Inclusion" (U Notre Dame Press, 2021)

27 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Catholic Greg Bourke's profoundly moving memoir about growing up gay and overcoming discrimination in the battle for same-sex marriage in the US. In t...

Bonar L. Hernández Sandoval, "Guatemala's Catholic Revolution: A History of Religious and Social Reform, 1920-1968" (U Notre Dame Press, 2018)

25 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Bonar L. Hernández Sandoval's Guatemala's Catholic Revolution: A History of Religious and Social Reform, 1920-1968 (U Notre Dame Press, 2018) is an...

John Christopoulos, "Abortion in Early Modern Italy" (Harvard UP, 2021)

05 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today we have John Christopoulos, Assistant Professor of History at the University of British Columbia, to talk about his new book, Abortion in Earl...

Margo Shea, "Derry City: Memory and Political Struggle in Northern Ireland" (U Notre Dame Press, 2020)

23 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The city that sits on the River Foyle on the North side of the Irish isle in many ways has stood as a microcosm of the conflicts in Northern Ireland, ...

Frank Clooney on “The Scholar-Practitioner”

09 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

To what extent should scholarship foreground the beliefs and experiences of the scholar producing it? Where does the scholar-practitioners fit at the ...

Cécile Fromont, "Afro-Catholic Festivals in the Americas: Performance, Representation, and the Making of Black Atlantic Tradition" (Penn State, 2019)

09 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Edited by Dr. Cécile Fromont, Afro-Catholic Festivals in the Americas: Performance, Representation, and the Making of Black Atlantic Tradition (Pe...

Paul J. Contino, "Dostoevsky's Incarnational Realism: Finding Christ among the Karamazovs" (Cascade Books, 2020)

04 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Paul Contino’s Catholic reading of Dostoevsky’s final masterwork, premised on the novel’s “powerful capacity to inspire readers to be better p...

Christopher Ocker, "Luther, Conflict, and Christendom: Reformation Europe and Christianity in the West" (Cambridge UP, 2018)

04 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Martin Luther - monk, priest, intellectual, or revolutionary - has been a controversial figure since the sixteenth century. Most studies of Luther str...

Ruth Roth on the Wisdom of the Catholic Church

02 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What wisdom does the Roman Catholic Church hold for our modern world? Can it become more inclusive? Join us as we speak to Ruth Roth, a Roman Catholi...

D. G. Hart, "American Catholic: The Politics of Faith During the Cold War" (Cornell UP, 2020)

25 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In American Catholic: The Politics of Faith During the Cold War (Cornell UP, 2020), Darryl Hart's addresses the foundational changes in thinking ab...

Virginia Miller and David Moxon, "Leaning into the Spirit: Ecumenical Perspectives on Discernment and Decision-making in the Church (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019)

20 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Religions, indeed those of the same religion, getting along? Maybe. Dr Virginia Miller edits and contributes to an essay collection on how this thorn...

Eilish Gregory, "Catholics During the English Revolution, 1642-1660: Politics, Sequestration and Loyalty" (Boydell Press, 2021)

25 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Eilish Gregory, Catholics During the English Revolution, 1642-1660: Politics, Sequestration and Loyalty (Boydell Press, 2021) is the first book to ...

R. Chris Davis, "Hungarian Religion, Romanian Blood: A Minority's Struggle for National Belonging, 1920–1945" (U Wisconsin Press, 2019)

22 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Amid the rising nationalism and racial politics that culminated in World War II, European countries wishing to purify their nations often forced unwan...

Michael J. Pfeifer, "The Making of American Catholicism: Regional Culture and the Catholic Experience" (NYU Press, 2021

09 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Michael J. Pfeifer's The Making of American Catholicism: Regional Culture and the Catholic Experience (NYU Press, 2021 traces the development of Cat...

Thomas O'Loughlin, "Eating Together, Becoming One" (Liturgical Press, 2019)

19 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In November 2015, Pope Francis made a call to theologians to explore whether Catholic practice ought to be amended to include Christians from differen...

Hannah Marcus, "Forbidden Knowledge: Medicine, Science, and Censorship in Early Modern Italy" (U Chicago Press, 2020)

16 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today we speak to Hannah Marcus, Assistant Professor in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a...

R. Alan Covey, "Inca Apocalypse: The Spanish Conquest and the Transformation of the Andean World" (Oxford UP, 2020)

11 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The arrival in 1532 of a small group of Spanish conquistadores at the Andean town of Cajamarca launched one of the most dramatic – and often misun...

Gwyn McClelland, "Dangerous Memory in Nagasaki: Prayers, Protests and Catholic Survivor Narratives" (Routledge, 2019)

08 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On 9th August 1945, the US dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Of the dead, approximately 8500 were Catholic Christians, representing over six...

Leela Prasad, "The Audacious Raconteur: Sovereignty and Storytelling in Colonial India" (Cornell UP, 2020)

09 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Can a subject be sovereign in a hegemony? Can creativity be reined in by forces of empire? The Audacious Raconteur: Sovereignty and Storytelling in Co...

Glenn Sauer, "Points of Contact: Science, Religion, and the Search for Truth" (Orbis Books, 2020)

02 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As a scientist and practicing Catholic, Dr. Sauer brings a unique perspective to several of the important issues related to finding a space for dialog...

Tom Rastrelli, "Confessions of a Gay Priest: A Memoir of Sex, Love, Abuse, and Scandal in the Catholic Seminary" (U Iowa Press, 2020)

30 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Tom Rastrelli is a survivor of clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse who then became a priest in the early days of the Catholic Church’s ongoing scandals....

Jason Keith Fernandes, "Citizenship in a Caste Polity: Religion, Language and Belonging in Goa" (Orient BlackSwan, 2020)

27 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the mid-1980s, Goa witnessed mass demonstrations, violent protests and political mobilising, following which Konkani was declared the official lang...

Stefan Bauer, "The Invention of Papal History: Onofrio Panvinio between Renaissance and Catholic Reform" (Oxford UP, 2020)

19 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Stefan Bauer has written an outstanding study of one of the most important Catholic historians in early modern Europe. Bauer, who has just taken up a ...

John Loughlin, "Human Dignity in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition" (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019)

06 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Dignity is a fundamental aspect of our lives, yet one we rarely pause to consider; our understandings of dignity, on individual, collective and philos...

Harrison Perkins, "Catholicity and the Covenant of Works: James Ussher and the Reformed Tradition" (Oxford UP, 2020)

06 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Historians of early modern religion recognise the importance of the development of covenant theology in the formation of Calvinism. Harrison Perkins, ...

David Tavárez, "The Invisible War: Indigenous Devotions, Discipline, and Dissent in Colonial Mexico" (Stanford UP, 2011)

01 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

David Tavárez is a historian and linguistic anthropologist; he is Professor of Anthropology and Director of Latin American and Latino/a Studies at Va...

Deborah E. Kanter, "Chicago Católico: Making Catholic Parishes Mexican" (U Illinois Press, 2020)

11 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when a new group of migrants enters not just the social and economic life of a city, but also its religious institutions? Deborah E. Kant...

Francis J. Beckwith, "Never Doubt Thomas: The Catholic Aquinas as Evangelical and Protestant" (Baylor UP, 2019)

07 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Should you care how Protestant theologians and philosophers view a man generally regarded as of interest primarily to Catholics and as a pillar of Cat...

David Tavárez, "Words and Worlds Turned Around: Indigenous Christianities in Colonial Latin America" (U Colorado Press, 2017)

06 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Professor David Tavárez’s edited volume, Words & Worlds Turned Around: Indigenous Christianities in Colonial Latin America (Boulder: University of ...

Melissa J. Wilde, "Birth Control Battles: How Race and Class Divided American Religion" (U California Press, 2020)

03 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Although it has largely been erased from the collective memory of American Christianity, the debate over eugenics was a major factor in the history of...

42 Recall This Buck 2: Peter Brown on wealth, charity and managerial bishops in early Christianity (JP)

31 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Our Recall This Buck series began by speaking with Christine Desan of Harvard Law School about how key ideas—and the actual currency, physical coin...

Sohrab Ahmari, "From Fire, by Water: My Journey to the Catholic Faith" (Ignatius Press, 2019)

08 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Youthful arrogance. Hipster alienation. A lot of reading. A lot of drinking. Struggles to adjust to a land radically different from the one that one h...

Natalie Kimball, "An Open Secret: The History of Unwanted Pregnancy and Abortion in Modern Bolivia" (Rutgers UP, 2020)

23 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Natalie Kimball is the author of An Open Secret: The History of Unwanted Pregnancy and Abortion in Modern Bolivia, out this year from Rutgers Universi...

John D. Caputo, "Hoping Against Hope" (Fortress Press, 2015)

15 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

John D. Caputo has a long career as one of the preeminent postmodern philosophers in America. The author of such books as Radical Hermeneutics, The Pr...

Brian A. Stauffer, "Victory on Earth or in Heaven: Mexico’s Religionero Rebellion" (U New Mexico Press, 2019)

09 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In Victory on Earth or in Heaven: Mexico’s Religionero Rebellion (University of New Mexico Press, 2019), Brian A. Stauffer reconstructs the history ...

Robert P. George and R. J. Snell, "Mind, Heart, and Soul: Intellectuals and the Path to Rome" (TAN Books, 2018)

23 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In Mind, Heart, and Soul: Intellectuals and the Path to Rome (TAN Books, 2018), a cradle Catholic (Robert P. George; McCormick Professor of Jurisprude...

Michael O’Sullivan, "Disruptive Power: Catholic Women, Miracles, and Politics in Modern Germany, 1918-1965" (U Toronto Press, 2018)

13 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How did Catholic mysticism shape politics and religion in 20th-century Germany? What do seers, stigmatics, and Marian apparitions reveal about broader...

Mario T. García, "Father Luis Olivares, A Biography: Faith Politics and the Origins of the Sanctuary Movement in Los Angeles" (UNC Press, 2018)

11 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As the leader of the Sanctuary Movement in Los Angeles during the 1980s, Father Luis Olivares brazenly defied local Catholic authorities and the feder...

Tim Perry, "The Theology of Benedict XVI: A Protestant Appreciation" (Lexham Press, 2019)

02 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Tim Perry is adjunct professor of theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa and at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA. As the author of a n...

Giuliana Chamedes, "A Twentieth-Century Crusade: The Vatican’s Battle to Remake Christian Europe" (Harvard UP, 2019)

18 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Giuliana Chamedes' new book A Twentieth-Century Crusade: The Vatican’s Battle to Remake Christian Europe (Harvard University Press, 2019) explores h...

Fran Altvater, "Sacramental Theology and the Decoration of Baptismal Fonts" (Cambridge Scholars, 2017)

13 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Fran Altvater talks about the Medieval Pilgrimage, a practice that became central to Christian Europe in the early Middle Ages and evolved into the mi...

Jim Clarke, "Science Fiction and Catholicism: The Rise and Fall of the Robot Papacy" (Gylphi, 2019)

08 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ah, science fiction: Aliens? Absolutely. Robots? Of course. But why are there so many priests in space? As Jim Clarke writes in Science Fiction and Ca...

Eugene Schlesinger, "Sacrificing the Church: Mass, Mission, and Ecumenism" (Fortress, 2019)

05 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Eugene Schlesinger is the author of Sacrificing the Church: Mass, Mission, and Ecumenism (Fortress Press, 2019). Gene teaches in the Department of...

Julia Young, "Mexican Exodus: Emigrants, Exiles, and Refugees of the Cristero War" (Oxford UP, 2019)

23 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In Mexican Exodus: Emigrants, Exiles, and Refugees of the Cristero War (Oxford UP, 2019), Julia G. Young reframes the Cristero war as a transnational ...

Hans Boersma, "Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition" (Eerdmans, 2018)

03 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Hans Boersma is the author of Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition, published in 2018 by Eerdmans. He holds the Saint Benedict S...

Nora Jaffary, "Reproduction and its Discontents in Mexico: Childbirth and Contraception from 1750 to 1905" (UNC Press, 2016)

26 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Nora Jaffary’s Reproduction and its Discontents in Mexico: Childbirth and Contraception from 1750 to 1905 (University of North Carolina Press. 2016)...

Peter Jan Margry, "The Miracle of Amsterdam: Biography of a Contested Devotion" (U Notre Dame, 2019)

31 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

harles Caspers and Peter Jan Margry's The Miracle of Amsterdam: Biography of a Contested Devotion (University of Notre Dame, 2019) presents a “cultu...

Ricardo Cubas Ramacciotti, "The Politics of Religion and the Rise of Social Catholicism in Peru (1884-1935)" (Brill, 2018)

23 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In The Politics of Religion and the Rise of Social Catholicism in Peru (1884-1935): Faith, Workers, and Race Before Liberation Theology (Brill, 2018),...

Robert Louis Wilken, "Liberty in the Things of God: The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom" (Yale UP, 2019)

10 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Robert Louis Wilken, the William R. Kenan Professor Emeritus of the History of Christianity at the University of Virginia, has written an intellectual...

Jeffrey T. Zalar, "Reading and Rebellion in Catholic Germany, 1770-1914" (Cambridge UP, 2019)

25 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Popular conceptions of Catholic censorship, symbolized above all by the Index of Forbidden Books, figure prominently in secular definitions of freedom...

Paul Ramírez, "Enlightened Immunity: Mexico’s Experiments with Disease Prevention in the Age of Reason" (Stanford UP, 2018)

24 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Paul Ramírez’s first book explores how laypeople impacted the new medical techniques and technologies implemented by the imperial state in the fina...

Cindy Yik-Yi Chu, "The Chinese Sisters of the Precious Blood and the Evolution of the Catholic Church" (Palgrave, 2016)

03 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The history of Christianity in China has been dominated by accounts of men and of male institutions. In this important new work, Cindy Yik-Yi Chu, who...

Tricia Bruce, "Parish and Place: Making Room for Diversity in the American Catholic Church" (Oxford UP, 2017)

24 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What does a typical American Catholic parish look like? Tricia Bruce, an affiliate of the University of Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Religio...

Kevin Ingram, "Converso Non-Conformism in Early Modern Spain: Bad Blood and Faith from Alonso de Cartagena to Diego Velázquez" (Palgrave, 2018)

07 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

It was a delight to catch up with Kevin Ingram, professor of history at Saint Louis University, Madrid, to discuss his very impressive new book. Conve...

Dagmar Herzog, "Unlearning Eugenics: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Disability in Post-Nazi Europe" (U Wisconsin Press, 2018)

25 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In her new book, Unlearning Eugenics: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Disability in Post-Nazi Europe (University of Wisconsin Press, 2018), Dagmar Herzog...

Tracy Fessenden, “Religion Around Billie Holiday” (Penn State UP, 2018)

14 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Billie Holiday is one of the most iconic jazz performers of all time. Her voice is certainly unmistakable but for many her religious sensibilities may...

Lev Weitz, “Between Christ and Caliph: Law, Marriage, and Christian Community in Early Islam” (U Pennsylvania Press, 2018)

04 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Recent years have seen new waves of research in Syriac studies, the medieval Middle East, and family history. Combining all three, Lev Weitz’s Betw...

Joseph Sciorra, “Built with Faith: Italian American Imagination and Catholic Material Culture in NYC” (U Tennessee Press, 2018)

08 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Folklore scholar Joseph Sciorra is the Director for Academic and Cultural Programs at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute in Queens Colleg...

Tatyana V. Bakhmetyeva, “Mother of the Church” (Northern Illinois UP, 2016)

14 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In Mother of the Church: Sofia Svechina, the Salon, and the Politics of Catholicism in Nineteenth-Century Russia and France (Northern Illinois Univers...

James Chappel, “Catholic Modern: The Challenge of Totalitarianism and the Remaking of the Church” (Harvard UP, 2018)

07 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 1900 the Catholic Church stood staunchly against religious freedom and the secular state. By the 1960s, that position was reversed and Catholics be...

Mark Edward Ruff, “The Battle for the Catholic Past in Germany, 1945-1980” (Cambridge UP, 2017)

21 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Historical debates about the actions of the Roman Catholic Church in relationship to the Third Reich have never been restricted to academic presses an...

Marie Griffith, “Moral Combat: How Sex Divided American Christians and Fractured American Politics” (Basic Books, 2017)

20 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Marie Griffith‘s new book Moral Combat: How Sex Divided American Christians and Fractured American Politics (Basic Books, 2017) offers a portrait of...

Andrew R. Lewis, “The Rights Turn in Conservative Christian Politics: How Abortion Transformed the Culture Wars” (Cambridge UP, 2017)

06 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew R. Lewis is the author of the new book, The Rights Turn in Conservative Christian Politics: How Abortion Transformed the Culture Wars (Cambridg...

Adrian Reimers, “Hell and the Mercy of God” (Catholic U. of America Press, 2017)

26 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

A central theological and philosophical problem facing Christians is the question “How could a merciful God damn people to hell?” It is tempting t...

Did the Protestant Reformation Have to Happen?

21 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In the second podcast of Arguing History, historians Peter Marshall and Alec Ryrie address the question of whether the Protestant Reformation, an even...

Peter Marshall, “Heretics and Believers: A History of the English Reformation” (Yale UP, 2017)

19 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Few events in English history are as familiar to people today as the English Reformation, yet the vast amount of attention it has received can distort...

Gregory Reichberg, “Thomas Aquinas on War and Peace” (Cambridge UP, 2017)

30 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

When is war justified? What makes a just war? These are difficult questions to answer, but particularly so for Christians, followers of Jesus, who suf...

Patrick J. Hayes, “The Civil War Diary of Rev. James Sheeran, Confederate Chaplain and Redemptorist” (Catholic Univ. of America Press, 2016)

23 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

During the Civil War Father James Sheeran served as a Catholic chaplain for the 14th Louisiana Infantry. Between his various responsibilities Sheeran ...

Don Baker, “Catholics and Anti-Catholicism in Choson Korea” (U. Hawaii Press, 2017)

16 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Shortly after the introduction of Catholicism into Korea in the late 18th century, Korea’s Confucian government began to persecute Catholics. Why wo...

Elizabeth Hayes Alvarez, “The Valiant Woman: The Virgin Mary in Nineteenth-Century American Culture” (UNC Press, 2016)

16 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

When people think of the Virgin Mary in terms of American religious history, there is a tendency to focus on opposition. For instance, Catholic devoti...

Garrison Nelson, “John William McCormack: A Political Biography” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017)

16 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

John William McCormack served as Speaker of the House of Representatives throughout most of the 1960s, during which time he shepherded the legislation...

Piotr Kosicki, “Vatican II Behind the Iron Curtain” (Catholic Univ. of America Press, 2016)

01 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Many historians have documented the Second Vatican Council yet virtually no attention has been devoted to the Catholics who found themselves living be...

Matthew Pehl, “The Making of Working-Class Religion” (U. Illinois Press, 2016)

13 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Matthew Pehl is an associate professor of history at Augustana University. His book, The Making of Working-Class Religion (University of Illinois Pres...