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Catholicism, once the protean monster, still functions as a complex component of French identity. No consideration of modern France would be complete without reference to the enduring impact and influence of Catholicism on the life of the nation. This volume sets out to capture some of the variety and significance of the Catholic phenomenon in twentieth-century secular France, and to express something of its extraordinary vitality and interest. Each contribution focuses on a specific theme or period crucial to an understanding of the role played by French Catholics and the Catholic Church. Collectively, these studies reveal that Catholics were involved in almost every event of consequence and voiced an opinion on almost every issue, from nationalism and immigration to politics. Equally, the volume offers a collage of insights which reflects the fragmentation of Catholic activity and attitudes as the century progressed.

This book highlights the historical scholarship that is one of the lasting legacies of interwar Polish Jewry and analyses its political and social context. As Jewish citizens struggled to assert their place in a newly independent Poland, a dedicated group of Jewish scholars fascinated by history devoted themselves to creating a sense of Polish Jewish belonging while also fighting for their rights as an ethnic minority. The political climate made it hard for these men and women to pursue an academic career; instead they had to continue their efforts to create and disseminate Polish Jewish history by teaching outside the university and publishing in scholarly and popular journals. By introducing the Jewish public to a pantheon of historical heroes to celebrate and anniversaries to commemorate, they sought to forge a community aware of its past, its cultural heritage, and its achievements — though no less important were their efforts to counter the increased hostility towards Jews in the public discourse of the day. In highlighting the role of public intellectuals and the social role of scholars and historical scholarship, this book adds a new dimension to the understanding of the Polish Jewish world in the interwar period.

From the ranks of the early Christian faithful emerged colourful personalities who seized the imagination and held the attention of the rest of their community. This they achieved either by their readiness in times of persecution to die for their faith as martyrs or by their sometimes extravagant efforts to subsume their physical desires and needs to spiritual ends as ascetics. Their actions not only inspired contemporaries; they played a key role in the development of the Christian faith and the organisation of the Church. Intriguing in themselves because of their often extreme behaviour, they remain venerated figures in the Christian tradition. This book provides a short introduction to these remarkable figures and the thinking behind their actions. It places them in their historical and cultural context. Also, the book offers a portrait of the period and its impact on subsequent Roman society and on the Church.

The essay that forms the core of this book is an attempt to understand the developments that have occurred in Orthodox Jewry in America in the last seventy years, and to analyse their implications. The prime change is what is often described as ‘the swing to the right’, a marked increase in ritual stringency, a rupture in patterns of behaviour that has had major consequences not only for Jewish society but also for the nature of Jewish spirituality. For the book's author, the key feature at the root of this change is that, as a result of migration to the ‘New Worlds’ of England, the United States, and Israel and acculturation to its new surroundings, American Jewry—indeed, much of the Jewish world—had to reconstruct religious practice from normative texts: observance could no longer be transmitted mimetically, on the basis of practices observed in home and street. In consequence, behaviour once governed by habit is now governed by rule. This new edition allows the author to deal with criticisms raised since the essay, long established as a classic in the field, was originally published, and enables readers to gain a fuller perspective on a topic central to today's Jewish world and its development.