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Reviewed by:
  • Church, Society and Religious Change in France, 1580–1730
  • Jacques M. Gres-Gayer
Church, Society and Religious Change in France, 1580–1730. By Joseph Bergin. (New Haven: Yale University Press. 2009. Pp. xviii, 506. $55.00. ISBN 978-0-300-15098-8.)

Scholarship on the Church and society in France is a crowded field. As Joseph Bergin readily acknowledges, the work of John McManners on the eighteenth century did not leave one stone unturned. In 1683 pages, McManners described how the church's presence or relationship evolved to the times of the French Revolution. Although more humble in format and [End Page 145] price, Bergin's work is no less impressive. For him, evolution is the operative concept. Centering on the internal history of the French Church, he describes its complex organization (part 1), clerical structure (part 2), bishops and priests as "agents of change" (part 3), and the effect of these "instruments of change" on French Catholicism at large (part 4). The last part offers an assessment of the key agents of this religious change: the sodalities, the Dévots, and the Jansenists.

Bergin, who is well versed in Catholic reform efforts in France (he previously wrote on Cardinal François de La Rochefoucauld, an early, major "agent of change"), seems to hesitate to use the concept in favor of a more elusive term. Bergin demonstrates that he knows perfectly well what to be a Catholic in seventeenth-century France meant, and he knows how to communicate this knowledge in a way that makes sense to both the believer and the historian. For example, in the pages devoted to spirituality (pp. 310–28), he communicates the depth of a personal relationship with God; and his observations on the question of "frequent Communion" suggest the awe experienced by devout Christians for a God made present through transubstantiation—far from the respectful familiarity of Catholics after the Second Vatican Council (pp. 265–68). Too often, similar syntheses of topical research on socioreligious themes limit themselves to repeating their results without much of an appreciation or evaluation, or simply repeat the usual clichés on popular religion. In contrast, Bergin, although faithful in his exposition, comments, nuances, and sometimes criticizes these findings.

However, in his evaluation of change, the author does not seem to regard the presence of the Protestant minority as a major factor. As he states, this belongs more to the external history of church and politics on which he is preparing a companion volume. However, as the last chapter on Jansenism implies, the constant scrutiny of the "little flock" was more than a motivation for reform or renewal. As this volume excellently shows, it influenced the content of this change. This remarkable work, therefore, will be very useful in "Church and Society" classes in colleges and universities and, it is hoped, will be complemented by a second volume of equivalent quality.

Jacques M. Gres-Gayer
The Catholic University of America
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