Jansenism and England: Moral Rigorism across the Confessions examines the impact in mid- to later-seventeenth-century England of the major contemporary religious controversy in France, which revolved around the formal condemnation of a heresy popularly called Jansenism. The associated debates involved fundamental questions about the doctrine of grace and moral theology, about the life of the Church and the conduct of individual Christians. Thomas Palmer analyses the main themes of the controversy and an account of instances of English interest, arguing that English Protestant theologians who were in the process of working out their own views on basic theological questions recognised the relevance of the continental debates. The arguments evolved by the French writers also constitute a point of comparison for the developing views of English theologians. Where the Jansenists reasserted an Augustinian emphasis on the gratuity of salvation against Catholic theologians who over-valued the powers of human nature, the English writers examined here, arguing against Protestant theologians who denied nature any moral potency, emphasised man's contribution to his own salvation. Both arguments have been seen to contain a corrosive individualism, the former through its preoccupation with the luminous experience of grace, the latter through its tendency to elide grace and moral virtue. These assessments are challenged here. Nevertheless, these theologians did encourage greater individualism. Focusing on the affective experience of conversion, they developed forms of moral rigorism which represented, in both cases, an attempt to provide a reliable basis for Christian faith and practice in the fragmented intellectual context of post-reformation Europe.

Jansenism and England: Moral Rigorism across the Confessions examines the impact in mid- to later-seventeenth-century England of the major contemporary religious controversy in France, which revolved around the formal condemnation of a heresy popularly called Jansenism. The associated debates involved fundamental questions about the doctrine of grace and moral theology, about the life of the Church and the conduct of individual Christians. Thomas Palmer analyses the main themes of the controversy and an account of instances of English interest, arguing that English Protestant theologians who were in the process of working out their own views on basic theological questions recognised the relevance of the continental debates. The arguments evolved by the French writers also constitute a point of comparison for the developing views of English theologians. Where the Jansenists reasserted an Augustinian emphasis on the gratuity of salvation against Catholic theologians who over-valued the powers of human nature, the English writers examined here, arguing against Protestant theologians who denied nature any moral potency, emphasised man's contribution to his own salvation. Both arguments have been seen to contain a corrosive individualism, the former through its preoccupation with the luminous experience of grace, the latter through its tendency to elide grace and moral virtue. These assessments are challenged here. Nevertheless, these theologians did encourage greater individualism. Focusing on the affective experience of conversion, they developed forms of moral rigorism which represented, in both cases, an attempt to provide a reliable basis for Christian faith and practice in the fragmented intellectual context of post-reformation Europe.

This study examines the impact in mid- to late seventeenth-century England of the major contemporary religious controversy in France, which revolved around the formal condemnation of a heresy popularly called Jansenism.

Originally published in 1932, this book presents an account of the connections between Jansenism and Britain. Using a broad range of material, the text discusses the various ways in which British people came into contact with Jansenism, both at home and abroad. Illustrative figures, a chronology and bibliography are also included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Jansenism and European history.

The debate in 17th-century France between the Quietists and their opponents raised the question whether we should be willing to sacrifice the salvation of our own souls for love of another. Descartes’s views on freewill were cited by both sides.

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of Jansenism as a religious phenomenon in European life, and yet during the seventeenth century its followers denied its very existence. Jansenism, and the theology of Cornelius Jansen, powerfully infused French political life from the mid seventeenth century to the Revolution 150 years later - it impacted on the Enlightenment, the development of French constitutional thinking, the modernisation of the Catholic church and the destruction of the Jesuits. William Doyle has written an invaluable book. It explains exactly why Jansenism was so important, it recreates the religious and intellectual world which fostered it and examines the critical issues, such as the all-pervasive role of the Jesuits in European Catholic life. Anyone armed with this concise, straightforward book will find themselves immeasurably better prepared to understand the mentality both of France and much of Enlightenment Europe before the cataclysm of 1789.

Jansenism: An International Anthology is the first comprehensive anthology of Jansenist texts in English translation. Covering the full sweep of the Jansenist movement from the 1630s until the early nineteenth century, this anthology is a major asset to historians of early modernity, theologians, advanced and beginner students, and interested non-specialists. Readers of English can now directly hear the voices of the women and men, nuns and priests, and politicians and pamphleteers embroiled in some of the most dynamic controversies of early modern Christianity. While giving due attention to France, the anthology showcases the geographic breadth of Jansenism, from Portugal to Lebanon. Consequently, a team of translators have provided texts translated not just from French and Latin; selections from German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Arabic also appear here. Blanchard and Yoder present a diverse range of texts, including letters, tracts, periodical excerpts, books, treatises, and synodal documents. These readings cover the controversies over divine grace and penance for which Jansenism is infamous, but they also show the widening scope of Jansenists' reformist concerns as the movement developed and changed. They address issues such as liturgical reform, devotion to Mary and the saints, politics, religious toleration, prayer, gender and the role of women in the Church, polemics, and ecclesiastical reform. The whole volume is introduced by an essay introducing Jansenism, exposing the important themes, summarizing the relevant scholarship, and contextualizing the content that will follow. Jansenism: An International Anthology provides the first port-of-call for the study of Jansenism in English. The anthology presents a diverse and rich selection of primary source texts and draws on the best recent research into the fascinating and controversial transnational phenomena called "Jansenism."