What I'm Reading Now: "The Catholic Reformation" by Pierre Janelle

I've just started this book which purports, according to the publisher's blurb (The Bruce Company of Milwaukee) to offer a different interpretation of Church history in the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries:

"The Catholic Reformation began before the Protestant Revolt as a continuation of the Christian humanism movement of the late fifteenth century. It not only amended the discipline of the Church, but exerted its influence in every field of human endeavour."

This is the thesis of Dr. Janelle's book in which he corrects the world's generally mistaken impression that Catholic Reform, commonly termed the Counter-Reformation, was a consequence of and reaction against the Protestant Reformation. Analyzing the historical movement in all its aspects, he presents the first work on this subject ever published in English. . . .

I have the 1963 paperback edition. The Table of Contents:

Anarchy the Disease Within the Church -- Early Reactions against Disease in the Church -- Reformation Again Delayed -- Preparing for Trent -- The Council of Trent -- The Religious Revival among the Regulars -- Education and Scholarship -- The Catholic Reformation and Literature -- The Catholic Reformation and Art -- Piety and Mysticism -- The Catholic Reformation after Trent -- The Catholic Reformation in France -- The Catholic Reformation in Great Britain and Ireland -- The Missions

Here's some information about the author, whose books are out of print and hard to find:

Pierre Janelle was born on the 17th of September in 1891 in the village of Mouy in the French region of Oise. His father, Ernest Janelle, was a headmaster at several secondary schools in Paris including Lycée Charlemagne and Lycée Pasteur.

Pierre studied at the Sorbonne where he graduated in 1911 as an English academic. Between 1925 and 1928 he was also the holder of the Ernest Lavisse research scholarship awarded to him by the Sorbonne. In 1935 he obtained a D.Litt degree at the same university. . . 

As well as being an English Professor, Janelle wrote many influential books on religious history particularly surrounding the British Isles. Some of his books which can be found in the university library include Obedience in Church and State (1930) and The Catholic Reformation (1949). John Swinnerton Philimore an English Catholic covert [sic]*who was a professor of Glasgow University greatly influenced Janelle's interest in Britain's Catholic history and lent him many rare books so that he could carry out his research. Janelle also appeared as a guest speaker for the BBC in July 1948 to discuss his research on the religious history of Britain.

* [a covert convert?]

I'd really love to find a copy of this book: Robert Southwell, The Writer: A Study in Religious Inspiration, published by Sheed & Ward!

To conclude the author's Roll of Honour entry at the University of Glasgow:

Pierre Janelle died on 19th March 1964. He is remembered for his gallant military actions in the First and Second World War as well as his notable contributions to education and religious historical research.

I'm also reading Roland Millare's A Living Sacrifice: Liturgy and Eschatology in Joseph Ratzinger, which I purchased at Eighth Day Books last year in January (!) when the author was visiting Wichita:

A Living Sacrifice focuses on the inherent relationship between eschatology and the liturgy in light of Ratzinger’s insistence upon the primacy of logos over ethos. When logos is subordinated to ethos, the human person becomes subjected to a materialist ontology that leads to an ethos that is concerned above all by utility and progress, which affects one’s approach to understanding the liturgy and eschatology. How a person celebrates the liturgy becomes subject to the individual whim of one person or a group of people. Eschatology is reduced to addressing the temporal needs of a society guided by a narrow conception of hope or political theology. If the human person wants to understand his authentic sacramental logos, then he must first turn to Christ the incarnate Logos, who reveals to him that he is created for a loving relationship with God and others.

The primacy of logos is the central hermeneutical key to understanding the unique vision of Ratzinger’s Christocentric liturgical theology and eschatology. This is coupled with a study of Ratzinger’s spiritual Christology with a focus on how it influences his theology of liturgy and eschatology through the notions of participation and communion in Christ’s sacrificial love. Finally, A Living Sacrifice examines Ratzinger’s theology of hope, charity, and beauty, as well as his understanding of active participation in relationship to the eschatological and cosmic characteristics of the sacred liturgy.

It's a good follow up to re-reading and discussing the chapters on the Resurrection and Ascension in Pope Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth: Part Two: Holy Week from the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection with my best friend after Easter!