Global Catholicism in the Twenty-first Century

This book explores key themes and issues confronting modern Catholicism. Bringing together cutting-edge research in the field of religious studies and the sociology of religion, it offers a systematic overview of the global Church in its contemporary context. It examines Catholicism from a social scientific perspective, and provides an analysis of a major global social institution from the point of view of its presence in a range of diverse social settings. Topics covered include Catholicism and post-secularism; digital Catholicism; Catholic practice in the context of modernity; global Catholicism in a multi-faith world; Catholicism and world politics; the tensions between Catholic thought and social action; the Church’s relations with major faiths such as Judaism and Islam; and religion and social change driven by modernity. 

Andrew P. Lynch holds an MA (Hons) from the University of Auckland and a PhD from the University of Sydney, both in Sociology. He researches in the area of the sociology of religion and specializes in the study of contemporary Catholicism, with a focus on the Catholic Church as a global religious institution and its activities in local settings. He is also interested in the interconnections between the Church and modernity and the tensions and outcomes that this relationship is having on church and society. His PhD thesis examined the Catholic Church and social change in the 1960s with an emphasis on Vatican II and its project of updating the Church. He has published a number of academic journal articles and book chapters focusing on global Catholicism from a sociological perspective, which includes studies on subjects such as modern monasticism, Catholicism and the internet, religious freedom in China, and the Church and the public sphere. He has also published book reviews on studies in religion for the International Sociological Association (ISA), and has presented at a number of international conferences on the subject of religion and Catholicism in modern times. He is a member of the ISA’s Research Committee 22 on the Sociology of Religion, and other associations. He currently teaches sociology at the University of Sydney and at the Australian Catholic University.