The Cambridge Companion to the Council of Trent

Nelson H. Minnich is professor in the Department of History and School of Theology and Religious Studies at The Catholic University of America. Recipient of numerous fellowships and a member of the Pontifical Committee of Historical Sciences, he is a scholar of early sixteenth-century conciliar and papal history. He has served as the editor of The Catholic Historical Review since 2005.

• 1. Introduction Nelson H. Minnich; 2. The organizational structure of the Council of Trent Nelson H. Minnich; 3. Schools of theology at the Council of Trent Christian D. Washburn; 4. Scripture and traditions at the Council of Trent: the fourth and fifth sessions 1546 Wim François; 5. Original sin and justification Michael Root; 6. Sacraments in general, baptism and confirmation John F. Baldovin, S. J.; 7. The sacrament of penance at the Council: innovation as a confirmation of the centuries-old tradition of confession Roberto Rusconi; 8. Presence and sacrifice: the Council of Trent on the eucharist Bruce D. Marshall; 9. Bishops Vincenzo Lavenia; 10. The Tridentine Proposal for the formation of the clergy: the seminaries Simona Negruzzo; 11. Pastoral Care Celeste McNamara; 12. The Decree on Marriage Gabriella Zarri; 13. Reform of the Religious Orders Michael Tavuzzi; 14. Sacred Art Marcia Hall; 15. Sacred Music David Crook; 16. The Papacy and the Application of Conciliar Decrees Agostino Borromeo.

'This book offers a concise, yet considered, wide-ranging as well as refreshingly unanachronistic (and unpolemical) survey of a meeting whose outcomes have shaped the teaching and experience of being a member of the Roman Catholic Church for over four centuries. For that reason alone, this volume is to be welcomed, and its editor, the ever-attentive and eagle-eyed Nelson Minnich, warmly congratulated for bringing together and managing such a talented and well-qualified team of contributors to good effect.' Simon Ditchfield, Journal of Jesuit Studies