The third volume of Kurtz’s Church History begins by examining the intricate relations between the different branches of Christendom during the seventeenth century. The author details the aggressive counter-reformation efforts led by the papacy and the Jesuits, particularly in Bohemia and France, where the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes shattered the Huguenot community. The narrative contrasts these Catholic restorations with the internal consolidation and fierce theological battles within Protestantism. The Lutheran church struggled with orthodoxy and its internal divisions, notably the syncretist and pietist controversies, while the Reformed church faced the deep-seated disputes arising from the Arminian controversy and the synod of Dort.
Moving forward into the turbulent religious landscape of England and Scotland, the text traces the rise of Puritanism, the execution of Charles I, and the brief theocratic experiment of the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. The narrative examines how the Restoration and the subsequent Act of Toleration under William of Orange finally stabilized the Anglican state church while defining the legal limits for dissenters. Throughout these political upheavals, the author highlights the remarkable endurance of persecuted minority groups, such as the Waldensians in Piedmont and the Cameronians in France, who maintained their faith through decades of armed conflict and martyrdom.
The volume devotes considerable attention to the inner life of the Roman Catholic Church, analyzing the complex phenomena of quietism, jansenism, and the bitter controversies surrounding the moral casuistry of the Jesuits. The narrative details the suppression of the Jesuit order by Clement XIV, a monumental turning point driven by intense political pressure from European Catholic courts. Alongside these institutional struggles, the text explores the flourishing of Catholic scholarship, particularly through the Benedictines of St. Maur, and the tragic decline of foreign missions in China and Japan due to internal ecclesiastical rivalries and native persecutions.
The final section of the book addresses the intellectual fermentation of the eighteenth century, marked by the rise of deism, naturalism, and the sweeping rationalism of the Enlightenment. The author traces how these philosophical currents eroded traditional orthodox beliefs across both Protestant and Catholic Europe, paving the way for the radical secularism of the French Revolution. The volume concludes with a survey of various anti-ecclesiastical parties, separatist movements, and new religious sects, providing a panoramic view of the forces that shaped the modern religious world.
