Journal article
Christopher J. Lane
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, vol. 69(4), 2018
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, vol. 69(4), 2018
DOI
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APA
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Lane, C. J. (2018). Vocational Freedom, Parental Authority and Pastoral Persuasion in Seventeenth-Century France. The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 69(4). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022046917002743
Chicago/Turabian
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Lane, Christopher J. “Vocational Freedom, Parental Authority and Pastoral Persuasion in Seventeenth-Century France.” The Journal of Ecclesiastical History 69, no. 4 (2018).
MLA
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Lane, Christopher J. “Vocational Freedom, Parental Authority and Pastoral Persuasion in Seventeenth-Century France.” The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, vol. 69, no. 4, 2018, doi:10.1017/S0022046917002743.
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@article{christopher2018a,
title = {Vocational Freedom, Parental Authority and Pastoral Persuasion in Seventeenth-Century France},
year = {2018},
issue = {4},
journal = {The Journal of Ecclesiastical History},
volume = {69},
doi = {10.1017/S0022046917002743},
author = {Lane, Christopher J.}
}
Abstract
In seventeenth-century France, secular law favoured parents’ authority in children's choices of marriage, religion or the clerical state, despite Catholic theology and canon law favouring individual freedom. Negotiating this tension led many clerical writers – in advice on choosing a state of life found in devotional treatises, sermons and catechisms – to reconcile parental involvement with vocational liberty. Believing that the right choice of a state was virtually necessary for salvation, they urged parents and children to cooperate in discerning and accepting God's call. Amid conflicts with French law and culture, pastoral persuasion helped to forge an enduringly influential strain in modern Catholicism.