The second volume of this study of the relations between the Catholic Church and society in eighteenth‐century France covers the topics of popular religion; the clergy and morals; the Jansenist controversy in its religious and political aspects; the expulsion of the Jesuits; the religious minorities and the issue of toleration; and the crisis of the ancien régime in its politico‐religious dimension. The section on the ‘religion of the people’ considers, in particular, the distinctions between the intentions of the clergy in imposing their version of Christianity on the people and how these wer ... More

The second volume of this study of the relations between the Catholic Church and society in eighteenth‐century France covers the topics of popular religion; the clergy and morals; the Jansenist controversy in its religious and political aspects; the expulsion of the Jesuits; the religious minorities and the issue of toleration; and the crisis of the ancien régime in its politico‐religious dimension. The section on the ‘religion of the people’ considers, in particular, the distinctions between the intentions of the clergy in imposing their version of Christianity on the people and how these were popularly interpreted and incorporated into the social order. The statistical evidence concerning religious practice and conviction is critically assessed. The meanings and importance of processions, pilgrimages, superstitions, hermits, confraternities, and literacy and Bible reading are discussed along with the world of magic and sorcery. The efficacy of confession and writings on morality is considered with reference to sexual mores, business practice, and the theatre. The role of religious issues in political affairs is discussed in detail, linking the Jansenist quarrel and the role of the Jesuits to the developing struggle between the crown and the parlement of Paris, giving due consideration to the role of ideas and how ecclesiastical affairs impinged upon the sovereign courts. An extended evocation of the life of the Protestant and Jewish communities introduces the debate on toleration and how it further embroiled the Gallican Church in political controversies. The final section describes the role of churchmen, from bishops to the disaffected lower clergy, in the coming of the Revolution. As in the first volume, the influence of Enlightenment thought is examined in all sections in relation to the rising force of anti‐clericalism and to tensions within the ecclesiastical establishment.