Global Catholicism

by Ian Linden

"Global Catholicism charts the complex history of the forces of renewal unleashed on the Roman Catholic Church by the Second Vatican Council and the counter-forces that were mobilised against it during the last half century. Ian Linden offers a comprehensive analysis of how much the Catholic Church has lived up to the Council's promise, come to terms with pluralism, modernity, and different forms of spirituality and become a genuinely world Church, the only competitor to global Islam in the twenty-first century. He focuses notably on changes that had wider historical importance than the internal evolution of the Roman Catholic Church as a religious organisation: war and peace, nationalism and democratisation in Africa, liberation theology, military dictatorships, guerrilla movements in Latin America, Africa and Philippines, interaction with communist governments, inculturation and relations with resurgent Islam."--Jacket.