It must be frankly admitted that there is no good synopsis of the Council of
Trent for beginners. That Jedin's _Geschicte des Konzils_ is only half
translated into English (and years ago, at that) is a fair indicator of how
little scholarly curiosity has been focused on this council in the
English-speaking world.
The works mentioned in earlier letters are as good as far as they go. Hsia's
sixteen-page chapter is sketchy, but his annotated bibliography (with some
works in languages other than English) is a helpful beginning. An alternate
avenue of attack to to follow the abundant literature on the Catholic
Reformation / Counter-Reformation question. Shortly, Harvard Univ. Pr. will
be publishing some Oxford lectures on the topic by John O'Malley; these should
be helpful in figuring out Trent's place in the religious uproar of the
sixteenth century. Another avenue of attack is to follow the career of
Charles Borromeo, whose implementation of Trent in his archdiocese of Milan
was more influential across Europe than the conciliar decrees themselves.
As to Pat Sloane's question on biblical translation/interpretation: The
decree on Scripture came out of the first of Trent's three "sittings"
(1545-48). I admit I haven't looked at those procedures in a while; however,
I think the council fathers assumed that the decree would be enforced wherever
there was an intact hierarchy and a cooperative secular power to do it. These
doctrinal decrees were meant precisely to provide a standard by which to
identify heresy. The council fathers understood the followers of Luther to be
heretics, not merely "separated brethren."
Dave Collins SJ
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