"Christendom no longer exists", wrote Kierkegaard; on a final analysis that means France pays de mission. In other words the problem is not external (Church and State) but internal (religion and culture). This is the theme of Alexander Dru's book specially written for this series. The bulcome of the French Revolution was that it revealed the new situation in which the Church was to fulfil her mission. The process of adaptation and the response to this situation occupies a century and a half. It is part of the history of this process that is here described. While the political solution reached in France is adopted by Rome, in Germany the succession of events is different. Catholicism revived there spiritually and intellectually; and it is for this reason that the present volume pays particular attention to that country thus throwing light on a part of history that is usually neglected. It is a period dominated by the rival schools of Tübingen and Mainz and by great names -Schlegel, Müller, Brentano, Görres, Möhler, Kettler - as finally the Church emerges as a spiritual and dynamic organism rather than as a static corporation endowed with powers and privileges.