Enlightened Monks: The German Benedictines 1740-1803, Ulrich L. Lehner (Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 2011) 266pp., hardback, £55.00, ISBN 978 0 199595 12 9.

This is a revisionist study by an assistant professor of historical theology and church history at Marquette University, Milwaukee.  Traditionally the Benedictines have been regarded as enemies of the Enlightenment but Lehner argues persuavively that many of the German Benedictines integrated the oldest of the Enlightenment in their own system of thought.

The book sets out to investigate the social, cultural, philosophical and theological challenges faced by the Benedictines in this period.  The Enlightenment, it appears, affected the self-understanding and lifestyle of the monks.  It had an impact on their communication, their teaching, their relationships to both wealthy authorities and the academic world.  The conclusion explains the reasons for the dying away of the Catholic Enlightenment - the end of the academic institution, the aftermath of the French Revolution and the rise of Ultramontanism.  The lucid text is fully documented and in addition to a very full index there is a bibliography which is differentiated and extends to thirty pages including archival sources, primary and secondary sources.

It is a scholarly work which should be in all major libraries.