| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 92.2

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 226 words from this article are provided below; about 354 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 92.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

The Church Confronts Modernity: Catholic Intellectuals and the Progressive Era. By Thomas E. Woods Jr. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. xii, 228 pp. $29.50, ISBN 0231-13186-0.)

Thomas E. Woods Jr. has written the first major study of American Catholic intellectuals during the Progressive Era. His thesis is evident in his title. Catholic intellectuals challenged the emerging Progressive Era mentalité. In four separate chapters on pragmatic philosophy, a secularized sociology, progressive education, and economic issues, Woods outlines the Catholic confrontation with major movements of the era. Woods relies to a considerable extent on Eldon Eisenach's argument (presented in The Lost Promise of Progressivism, 1994) that behind the emerging Progressive Era mentality was an attempt to create a "national ethic that discouraged excessive attachment to competing creeds or sources of authority" (p. 8). A fifth chapter focuses on Catholic challenges to this Progressive Era attempt to base American nationality on a humanitarian ethic devoid of dogma and religious beliefs. Although the Catholic intellectuals Woods examines were hostile to the antidogmatic and pragmatic temperament of the times, they were not uniformly opposed to elements of modernity that they found useful within and compatible with Catholicism. But the selective Catholic appropriation of elements of the Progressive program tended to undermine the Progressives' goals; Catholic intellectuals used these elements for their own Catholic purposes.

. . .

There are about 354 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.