"Catholicism as the key to Understanding the Religions of the World in the Eighteenth Century"

Mark Valeri, Interim Director of Program in Religious Studies, Director of Undergraduate Studies for Program in Religious Studies, and Reverend Priscilla Wood Neaves Distinguished Professor of Religion and Politics

This paper addresses Anglo-Protestant views of Catholicism during the eighteenth century, especially through the extraordinary 7-volume dictionary of “Religious Customs and Ceremonies,” by Bernard Picart and Frederic Bernard. The paper attempts to show how Picart and Bernard’s reading of Catholicism inflected their views of religions throughout the world, the importance of anti-ceremonialism to their interpretation, and ways in which Protestant analyses of Catholicism often defied common notions of an unconditional Protestant assault on all things Catholic.

This talk is part of the Department of History Colloquium Series.

For access to this paper, please get in touch with Uluğ Kuzuoğlu at ulugkuzuoglu@wustl.edu.

Light refreshments will be served.