Product Description

The Catholic Church through the Ages is a one-volume survey of the history of the Catholic Church from its beginning until (and including) the pontificate of John Paul II. The book explains the Church's progress by using Christopher Dawson's division of the Church's history into six distinct "ages," or 350-400 year periods of time, each cycle beginning with great enthusiasm and advancement and ending in decline and loss. Writing with the experience of twenty years of teaching, the author has fashioned an ideal text that combines substance with readability.

Undergraduates, graduates, and interested lay people have given the author an idea of what topics should be emphasized. As a result, he has emphasized such areas monasticism, the Crusades, medieval theology, the Inquisition, Reformation, French Revolution, the nineteenth century, and the Church in the United States.

As a supplement to each chapter, the author has included an annotated list of reading and audio-visual materials.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23930 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780809142347
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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About the Author
John Vidmar, OP, holds an STD from the Angelicum in Rome. He is the Provincial Archivist and adjunct professor of theology at Providence College in Providence, RI.

Customer Reviews

Substance with Readability
In the introduction to his book, Fr. Vidmar states, "After years of teaching adults, I have seen the need for a one-volume history of the Catholic Church that combines substance with readability."

He more than satisfies the need. Vidmar is a master historian, combining an understanding of the sweep of history with an appreciation for the potency of a minor detail. One such detail is his mention that one-half to two-thirds of all battlefield nurses during the American Civil War were Catholic nuns!

Since Fr. Vidmar follows Christopher Dawson's classic "six ages" formula, the book breaks down 2,000 years of history down into a half-dozen easily-digestible chunks.

Fr. Vidmar is the past author of "English Catholic Historians and the English Reformation" and his expertise shines through here. In addition to a thorough treatment of the tragic dissolution of the monasteries, he includes brief portraits of all the major characters of the English Reformation: Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell, Cardinal Wolsey, Edward VI, Thomas Cranmer, Mary Tudor, and several others.

He includes at the end of each chapter both a useful list of "Recommended Readings" and a section called "audio-visuals" suggesting movies and documentaries. For instance, the reading recommendations at the end of the chapter "Protestant and Catholic Reformations" include nonfiction books like Eamon Duffy's "The Stripping of the Altars" and Christopher Dawson's "The Dividing of Christendom," but also fictional works by Robert Hugh Benson. "Audio-visuals" includes the movies "The Mission" and "Black Robe," as well as episodes 5-9 of Kenneth Clark's masterful BBC documentary series "Civilisation," recently re-released on DVD.

In a glowing review of "The Catholic Church through the Ages," a writer in Homiletic & Pastoral Review called it "a scholarly examination of the Church's pilgrimage (including episodes of gross negligence or misconduct on the part of the institutional Church when that occurred)" from the perspective of "a loyal son of the Church." Just so.

Fr. Vidmar's book merits a wide, enthusiastic readership. And tradition-minded Catholics should not be wary in this instance of publisher Paulist Press, a company with a reputation for releasing "progressive" titles. They have published a marvelous work of history.

The BEST Book I Have Ever Read on This Subject
If you are looking for a well-written and comprehensive book on the history of the Catholic Church, this is it. Vidmar takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the twists and turns of the development of the Catholic Church--a journey that is first and foremost grounded in solid historical scholarship. What I like best, however, is Vidmar's easy, accessible writing style. That is to say, this book is actually READABLE, unlike most history books, which tend to be dull, dull, dull! The combination of sound scholarship (the book is loaded with maps, dates, interesting facts, and sidebars) and readability makes this an ideal book for classroom use (I plan to use it in my own) as well as a book for someone who is simply interested in the history of the Catholic Church. A rare gem!

Outstanding history of the church
I know neither RichLeonardi nor DesertWanderer nor the source of their evidently personal dispute, but it would be a shame if this book should suffer in any way for it. In case it matters, I do have a doctorate in history, and this book stands up as excellent history. It is, as the author concedes, intended for a broad audience and so it is more breezily written than what academic audiences expect. But this does not compromise its value. Vidmar does not ignore embarrassing or deplorable events in the Catholic Church's past, but he does peform the crucial task of placing all such problems in the proper historical context. A survey of this kind must emphasize certain themes to the neglect of others, and Vidmar focuses on controversial episodes such as the crusades and Nazism, a decision which makes sense in a book directed at a popular audience. I don't agree with every line of the text, but I have not seen a better, brief treatment of the history of Catholicism. Highly recommended.