Content

This unit will trace the changing nature of the papacy throughout the period 1565-1958. Attention will focus on the main occupiers of the Roman See and the external challenges faced by each. These include a fractured Christianity, the rise of the nation state, the challenges of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, the growth of nationalism, the ‘social question’ and some of the intellectual challenges of the early twentieth century. Consideration will also be given to the papacy in its relation with various states and national and local Churches. Some attention will also be devoted to its role in missionary endeavours, ecumenism and the arts and sciences.

Unit code: CH9162C

Unit status: Approved (Major revision)

Points: 24.0

Unit level: Postgraduate Elective

Unit discipline: Church History

Delivery Mode: Face to Face

Proposing College: Catholic Theological College

Show when this unit is running

Learning outcomes

1.

Identify and assess the character and relative significance of several holders of the papal office from 1565-1958

2.

Articulate an appreciation of the changing role of the papacy within the wider historical context of Church history

3.

Demonstrate knowledge of the major challenges and opportunities each pope faced in exercising the Petrine ministry

4.

Situate the evolving role of the papacy in this period specifically in response to the changing political, social, cultural and historical circumstances of the time

5.

Critically evaluate the recent writing on the role of the papacy in this period and its wider significance in terms of Catholic historiography

6.

Analyse and interpret both primary and secondary sources in a critical fashion and demonstrate competence in the methodologies and conventions of advanced research in the discipline of history.

Pedagogy

Lectures and seminars

Indicative Bibliography

  • Atkin, Nicholas, and Frank Tallett. Priests, Prelates and People: A History of European Catholicism since 1750. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
  • Burleigh, Michael. Earthly Powers: The Clash of Religion and Politics in Europe from the French Revolution to the Great War. London: Harper Collins, 2005.
  • Chadwick, Owen. A History of the Popes: 1830–1914. Oxford History of the Christian Church. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
  • Coppa, Frank. The Papacy in the Modern World. London: Reaktion Books, 2014.
  • Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014.
  • Kent, Peter C., and John F. Pollard, eds. Papal Diplomacy in the Modern Age. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 1994.
  • O'Malley, John. A History of the Popes: From Peter to the Present. New York: Sheed & Ward, 2010.
  • Pollard, John F. Money and the Rise of the Modern Papacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
  • ———. The Papacy in the Age of Totalitarianism 1914-1958. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
  • Wright, A. D. The Early Modern Papacy: From the Council of Trent to the French Revolution, 1564–1789. Longman History of The Papacy. London: Longmans, 2000.

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Seminar or Tutorial

2000 word seminar paper

2000 30.0
Essay

5,500 word essay

5500 70.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Prof Albert Haddad on 16 Aug, 2022

Unit record last updated: 2022-08-16 15:46:13 +1000