Seminar Series: Dr. Sascha Becker, Monash University

Freedom of the Press? Catholic Censorship during the Counter-Reformation

Wednesday, May 4, 2022 12:00 PM to 1:15 PM EDT
Carow Hall, Lecture Hall 1

Presentation: Freedom of the Press? Catholic Censorship during the Counter-Reformation

Abstract: The Protestant Reformation in the early 16th century challenged the monopoly of the Catholic Church. The printing press helped the new  movement spread its ideas well beyond the cradle of the Reformation in Luther’s city of Wittenberg. The Catholic Church reacted by issuing indexes of forbidden books which blacklisted not only Protestant authors  but all authors whose ideas were considered to be in conflict with Catholic doctrine. We use newly digitized data on the universe of books censored by the Catholic Church during the Counter-Reformation, containing information on titles, authors, printers and printing locations. We classify censored books by topic (religion, sciences, social sciences and arts) and language and record when and where books were indexed. Our results show that Catholic censorship did reduce printing of forbidden authors, as intended, but also negatively impacted on the diffusion of knowledge.

The Seminar Series, now over 35 years old, invites scholars from around the world to share their work in a formal lecture, which is followed by a rigorous question and answer session. The Spring 2022 seminars will be hosted by Dr. Noel Johnson and coordinated by Lisa Hill-Corley and Kashiff A. Thompson. All papers made available will be posted on this site for downloading. For more information, call the Center: (703) 993-2316.

In person seminars will be held from 12 - 1:15pm in Carow Hall, which is on George Mason University's Fairfax campus. A light lunch for seminar participants will be available at 11:45 am.

Click here to see a list of our Spring 2022 schedule of speakers.