All but one of the fourteen papers collected in this volume were presented at an international conference in Leuven in 2008. The organisers (and then editors) proposed comparing ‘modernism’ as it occurred in Reformed and Catholic contexts, especially ‘Liberal Protestantism’ (typically dated around 1850–80) and ‘Roman Catholic Modernism’ (1890–1910). (A third variety – ‘liberal Catholicism’ – represented by the 1830 foundation of L'Avenir and later papal condemnations, for example Mirari Vos [1832], and Syllabus of Errors [1864], focused primarily on political liberties.) After an introductory exposition, a first section (‘Manifestations and Developments’) presents eight essays on these movements (three Catholic, four Protestant, one comparative) in their socio-cultural and chronological contexts. A second section (‘Reactions and Confrontations’) of five essays (two Catholic, three Protestant) then examines anti-modernist reactions. A final essay weaves together ‘heroic’ self-perceptions among figures in both confessions. The volume's most singular contribution is evident in its footnotes: it brings an entire world of both primary and secondary sources to scholars who cannot read Dutch. As a corollary, frequently off-stage figures – like Abraham Kuenen (1828–91), Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920) and Anton Gerard Van Hamel (1842–1907) – assume leading roles. Reformed and Catholic theologians share at least three common moves: (i) experimental positivism and historical method are applied to subject matters; (ii) supernatural elements are eliminated and replaced by naturalistic accounts; (iii) metaphysical legitimating foundations yield to moral ones. Contrasts follow as expected: Protestants struggle with Scripture as they apply positivist and historical methods; Catholics wrestle with church identity and structure (cf. Loisy's The Gospel and the Church, 1902) and metaphysics (i.e. neo-medievalist scholasticism). A parallel contrast is seen in reception: revisionist Reformed readings of Scripture are rejected from below by congregants preferring supernaturalist orthodoxy (for example, miracles); revisionist Catholic readings of ecclesiastical structures and legitimating metaphysics are disciplined from above by a highly centralised and authoritative hierarchy. These are not insignificant differences: in the Reformed case, individual belief is threatened; in the Catholic case, the communal body's existence is at stake. Readers might legitimately ask what new insights are gained by comparing such contrasting cases. Moreover, for any scholar of the ‘modern’, ‘modernity’ and ‘modernism’ – whether in Early Modernity (die Neuzeit), the Enlightenment, the nineteenth century, the post-1918 ‘modern times’ or the post-1945 ‘modern age’ – this volume's unmediated use of the terms can be confusing and even frustrating. For centuries, the ‘modern’ has been a strongly contested ideological concept requiring contextualisation and deconstruction. (Cf. Stephen Toulmin, Cosmopolis: the hidden agenda of modernity, 1982; Jeffrey Herf, Reactionary modernism, 1984; Reinhart Koselleck, Futures past: on the semantics of historical time, 1985; Matei Cӑlinescu, Five faces of modernity, 1987.) While this volume's comparison of Catholic and Protestant ‘modernist’ variants signals a valuable beginning, future explorations will benefit by clarifying the complexities, instabilities and even internal contradictions inherent in ‘modernity’. Highly recommended for all academic libraries and for use in graduate courses.