Book (Peer-Reviewed) by Christopher J Lane
McGill-Queen's University Press, 2021
Winner of Two 2022 Catholic Media Association Book Awards: History (Third Place) and History of T... more Winner of Two 2022 Catholic Media Association Book Awards: History (Third Place) and History of Theology (Third Place)
Shortlisted for the 2022 Ecclesiastical History Society Book Prize
The concept of vocation in an early modern setting calls to mind the priesthood or religious life in a monastery or cloister; to be “called” by God meant to leave the concerns of the world behind. Beginning in the mid-seventeenth century, French Catholic clergy began to promote the innovative idea that everyone, even an ordinary layperson, was called to a vocation or “state of life” and that discerning this call correctly had implications for one’s happiness and salvation, and for the social good.
In Callings and Consequences Christopher Lane analyzes the origins, growth, and influence of a culture of vocation that became a central component of the Catholic Reformation and its legacy in France. The reformers’ new vision of the choice of a state of life was marked by four characteristics: urgency (the claim that one’s soul was at stake), inclusiveness (the belief that everyone, including lay people, was called by God), method (the use of proven discernment practices), and liberty (the belief that this choice must be free from coercion, especially by parents). No mere passing phenomena, these vocational reforms engendered enduring beliefs and practices within the repertoire of global Catholic modernity, even to the present day.
An illuminating and sometimes surprising history of pastoral reform, Callings and Consequences helps us to understand the history of Catholic vocational culture and its role in the modernizing process, within Christianity and beyond.
Publications (Peer-Reviewed) by Christopher J Lane
The Catholic Historical Review, 2023
A Guide to John Henry Newman: His Life and Thought, ed. Juan R. Veléz (forthcoming October 2022, the Catholic University of America Press), 2022
Lived Religion and Everyday Life in Early Modern Hagiographic Material, eds. Jenni Kuuliala, Päivi Räisänen-Schröder, and Rose-Marie Peake (Palgrave Macmillan), 2019
Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 2018
In seventeenth-century France, secular law favoured parents’ authority in children’s choices of m... more In seventeenth-century France, secular law favoured parents’ authority in children’s choices of marriage, religion or the clerical state, despite Catholic theology and canon law favouring individual freedom. Negotiating this tension led many clerical writers – in advice on choosing a state of life found in devotional treatises, sermons and catechisms – to reconcile parental involvement with vocational liberty. Believing that the right choice of a state was virtually necessary for salvation, they urged parents and children to cooperate in discerning and accepting God’s call. Amid conflicts with French law and culture, pastoral persuasion helped to forge an enduringly influential strain in modern Catholicism.
Conference Presentations and Invited Lecture by Christopher J Lane
Invited lecture, remotely delivered: Las Casas Institute, Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University, 2023
American Catholic Historical Assocation Annual Meeting, 2022
Society for French Historical Studies, 2019
American Society of Church History Spring Meeting, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 2016
Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, 2011
Center for Renaissance Studies Graduate Student Conference, “Education: Forming and Deforming the Premodern Mind,” Newberry Library, 2009
Western Society for French History Conference, 2008
Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, 2006
Book Reviews by Christopher J Lane
Sixteenth Century Journal, 2017
Sixteenth Century Journal, 2012
Sixteenth Century Journal, 2011
Selected Popular Works by Christopher J Lane
Principles live online lecture, Christendom College, 2024
Front Porch Republic, 2024
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Book (Peer-Reviewed) by Christopher J Lane
Shortlisted for the 2022 Ecclesiastical History Society Book Prize
The concept of vocation in an early modern setting calls to mind the priesthood or religious life in a monastery or cloister; to be “called” by God meant to leave the concerns of the world behind. Beginning in the mid-seventeenth century, French Catholic clergy began to promote the innovative idea that everyone, even an ordinary layperson, was called to a vocation or “state of life” and that discerning this call correctly had implications for one’s happiness and salvation, and for the social good.
In Callings and Consequences Christopher Lane analyzes the origins, growth, and influence of a culture of vocation that became a central component of the Catholic Reformation and its legacy in France. The reformers’ new vision of the choice of a state of life was marked by four characteristics: urgency (the claim that one’s soul was at stake), inclusiveness (the belief that everyone, including lay people, was called by God), method (the use of proven discernment practices), and liberty (the belief that this choice must be free from coercion, especially by parents). No mere passing phenomena, these vocational reforms engendered enduring beliefs and practices within the repertoire of global Catholic modernity, even to the present day.
An illuminating and sometimes surprising history of pastoral reform, Callings and Consequences helps us to understand the history of Catholic vocational culture and its role in the modernizing process, within Christianity and beyond.
Publications (Peer-Reviewed) by Christopher J Lane
Conference Presentations and Invited Lecture by Christopher J Lane
Book Reviews by Christopher J Lane
Selected Popular Works by Christopher J Lane
Shortlisted for the 2022 Ecclesiastical History Society Book Prize
The concept of vocation in an early modern setting calls to mind the priesthood or religious life in a monastery or cloister; to be “called” by God meant to leave the concerns of the world behind. Beginning in the mid-seventeenth century, French Catholic clergy began to promote the innovative idea that everyone, even an ordinary layperson, was called to a vocation or “state of life” and that discerning this call correctly had implications for one’s happiness and salvation, and for the social good.
In Callings and Consequences Christopher Lane analyzes the origins, growth, and influence of a culture of vocation that became a central component of the Catholic Reformation and its legacy in France. The reformers’ new vision of the choice of a state of life was marked by four characteristics: urgency (the claim that one’s soul was at stake), inclusiveness (the belief that everyone, including lay people, was called by God), method (the use of proven discernment practices), and liberty (the belief that this choice must be free from coercion, especially by parents). No mere passing phenomena, these vocational reforms engendered enduring beliefs and practices within the repertoire of global Catholic modernity, even to the present day.
An illuminating and sometimes surprising history of pastoral reform, Callings and Consequences helps us to understand the history of Catholic vocational culture and its role in the modernizing process, within Christianity and beyond.