Velika povijest Crkve: Crkva u doba apsolutizma i prosvjetiteljstva

The fifth volume of the "Great History of the Church" (Handbuch der Kirchengeschichte)—a renowned multi-volume project edited and led by the celebrated German church historian Hubert Jedin—represents one of the most significant achievements of contemporary historiography. This volume covers the pivotal early modern period: the era of Catholic renewal, the Counter-Reformation, and the Baroque age, extending to the rise of absolutism and early Enlightenment movements in Europe. The volume offers an analytically profound and methodologically impeccable overview of the implementation of the decrees of the Council of Trent, the Church's internal spiritual and structural reorganization, and the activities of new religious orders, such as the Jesuits. Jedin and his collaborators analyze with exceptional precision the complex relationships between ecclesiastical authority and absolutist rulers, the expansion of missions in the New World and Asia, and the rich spiritual and artistic life of Baroque Catholicism. The work is distinguished by its objectivity, the wealth of its archival and bibliographic material, and its superb synthetic approach. "Great History of the Church V" is an indispensable and invaluable reference work for theologians and historians, as well as for all researchers of European cultural and religious heritage.