Includes bibliographical references (p. 325-417) and index.

Introduction: Catholic Higher Education in 1900 -- 1. Awaking to the Organizational Challenge. Symptoms of Crisis. Realignment of Secondary and Collegiate Education -- 2. Rationalizing the Catholic System. The Problem of Unity and the Role of the Catholic University. The Origins and Early Development of the CEA. The High School Movement and Standardization. Standing Firm by the Ratio Studiorum. Biting the Curricular Bullet -- 3. The Impact of World War I. The NCWC and the Issue of Centralization. Standardization Once Again. The Students' Army Training Corps -- 4. A New Beginning: Catholic Colleges 1900-1930. The Catholic University of America. Catholic Women's Colleges, 1900-1930. The University Movement, 1900-1925 -- 5. The Intellectual Context. The Scholastic Revival. Neoscholasticism and the Catholic Worldview -- 6. The Beginnings of the Catholic Renaissance. Americanism and Its Medieval Scholastic Background. The Postwar Catholic Resurgence.

Developments in the Colleges -- 7. The Catholic Revival Reaches Full Flood. 1928 and After: The Post-Al Smith Context. Creating a Catholic Culture. Catholic Action: Background and Beginnings. Catholic Action and the Colleges. Philosophy and Theology -- 8. Institutional Developments: Moving into Graduate Work. Graduate Work: Background and Beginnings. Graduate Expansion in the 1920s. Jesuit Self-Criticism and Reform -- 9. The Tribulations of the Thirties. Problems with Accreditation. Reorganization and Its Tensions. Graduate Work Once Again -- 10. World War II and Institutional Shifts. Specialized Wartime Programs. Research, Development, and Expanding Educational Horizons. Graduate Work and Related Developments. The Sister Formation Movement -- 11. Assimilative Tendencies and Curricular Crosscurrents. Catholic Colleges and the Race Issue. Catholics and the Postwar Student Movement. Debating the Liberal Arts. The Drive for Curricular Integration. Religion versus Theology --

12. Controversy: Backlash Against the Catholic Revival. The Anti-Catholic Backlash. The Catholic Campaign Against Secularism. Secularism and the Family Crisis. John Courtney Murray and the Church-State Issue -- 13. Transition to a New Era. The Historical Recovery of Americanism. Self-Criticism and the Search for Excellence. The Splintering of the Scholastic Synthesis -- 14. The End of an Era. The Contagion of Liberty. Accepting Modernity.

"Written by the leading interpreter of American Catholicism, Contending with Modernity is the first history of American Catholic higher education to examine both intellectual and institutional dimensions of the subject.".

"Taking a narrative approach, Philip Gleason begins his account with an overview of old-style Catholic colleges in the 1800s and the internal conflicts that influenced the founding of The Catholic University of America, the first modern Catholic university. From there, Gleason depicts Catholic educators around 1900 as they began to accept modernization in the organizational sphere but rejected it in the realm of ideas and beliefs.".

"Convinced of the truth of their religious and intellectual position, the restructured Catholic colleges grew rapidly after World War I and moved into the postwar era with enhanced self-confidence. Gleason examines trends such as "Catholic Action" and argues that the economic collapse at home during the 1930s and rise of totalitarianism in Europe furthered the critique of secularism and led to a firm Catholic commitment to educate for a "Catholic Renaissance."".

"In the 1960s, changes in church teaching as a result of the Vatican II Council and cultural upheavals in American society reinforced the internal transformation already under way." "The resulting "identity crisis," according to Gleason, demonstrates how Catholic educators have come full circle since 1900, as they once again face the task of envisioning Catholic colleges and universities as a distinctive element of higher education."--BOOK JACKET.