The Catholic Church and the Dutch Bible

In The Catholic Church and the Bible: From the Council of Trent to the Jansenist Controversy (1564-1733), Els Agten studies the impact of Jansenism and anti-Jansenism on the ideas regarding vernacular Bible reading and Bible production in the Low Countries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The book provides a review of book censorship during this time. Furthermore, it analyses the ideas and the writings of ten protagonists, including theologians, Bible translators, ecclesiastical authorities and representatives of Port-Royal. In particular, the author demonstrates how, even as their opponents took a more cautious position, the Jansenists encouraged the laity, including women and children, to read the Bible without any restrictions.