English 233: Introduction to Western Humanities - Baroque & Enlightenment

Aspects of the Council of Trent

[Required readings are indicated with bullets.]

• (8.1)  The Council of Trent is discussed succinctly but helpfully in our frame text, Matthews and Platt, The Western Humanities, 2^nd Ed., pp. 336-37, which should be read in conjunction with the discussion there of the Counter-Reformation in general (pp. 335-38).  

There is also a detailed discussion of the Council of Trent in the Catholic Encyclopedia, and a brief one at the American University WWW site, which is a major source for important Catholic documents.  The Council of Trent lasted 18 years, stretching through the papacies of three separate popes:  Paul III, Julius III, and Pius IV.   Take a look at the range of subjects covered during the first seven sessions of the Council of Trent (between 15 December 1545 and 3 March 1547, the first of three phases of the overall Council). It is highly recommended, but not required, that you work your way through the Decrees and Canons of the Sixth Session (issued 13 January 1547).  These concern the central topic of justification.  

• (8.2)  Required, however, is a brief excerpt from these decrees and canons on justification.

• (8.3)  In addition, you should study our excerpt from the "Tridentine Creed" promulgated in November 1564 by Pope Pius IV in his bull Injunction Nobis. This should be read in the light of our discussion of the Doctrine of the Apostolic Succession.

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      This page last updated 11 October 2000.