Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #136054 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 605 pages

Customer Reviews

An outstanding Catholic alternative to Will Durant
«History is a cosmic battleground between Heaven and Hell.» - Warren H. Carroll

The first of a projected six-part *History of Christendom*, the next three volumes of which have already been published, *The Birth Of Christendom* is history with a difference : as its author, Warren H. Carroll, PhD, confesses at the very outset, it «is written by a Catholic, from a Catholic perspective, with the conviction that Jesus Christ founded a church and that the visible church He founded is the Roman Catholic Church which, through its succession of Popes in particular, has remained, and always will be his Church.»

But a history of Christendom- of which this is, according to the author, the only example ever published in the twentieth century- is not just a history of the Church: it is the history of the «Christian public order», which «includes as a major element the lay or temporal order insofar as it is penetrated and influenced by Christianity. The greater the degree of this penetration or influence, the more significant is the temporal history so affected, for the historian of Christendom.»

*The Birth of Christendom* therefore begins much earlier than with the birth of the Church, with an account of the events, Divine and human, that set the stage for «The Incarnation of the Lord» (to borrow the title of Chapter 14), the most momentous of which being Creation and Original Sin.

The first thirteen chapters of the book are predominantly a history of Israel, for the Jews were after all God's Chosen People, the one with whom He made His first Covenant, and to whose prophets He provided some foreknowledge of the coming of His Son.

But Carroll does not neglect the Providential role played by two Pagan civilizations, the Greek and the Roman, and more especially by two men, Alexander and Octavian : the former's Hellenization of the East «provided a cultural unity» and a common language that paved the way for evangelization, while the latter's establishment of the Pax Romana came at the appointed time : «The central event of history was drawing very close. The Prince of Peace needed to begin His work in a time of peace.» (p279)

Carroll's interest, therefore, extends also to «the world which revelation had not yet reached». The Gentiles and Pagans he often characterizes as inspired by the devil (like the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, «those masters of satanic cruelty») and more occasionally as glorious, though Pagan virtue can only go so far, and « cosmic despair ... lies at the end of every pagan road, even the most brilliant». India definitely belongs to the former category : its «strange doctrines» and «convoluted mysticism» evince «a satanic spiritual climate». However brilliant the Buddha and the Mahavira may have been, and however benevolent their moral example, India's metaphysics destroys the very possibility of rationality : «in that world, there is no choosing, no either-or, no law of non-contradiction, everything and anything can be true, nothing is false.»

Ancient Greece on the other hand is to be praised : «Second only to the Jews, the Greeks are the most extraordinary people in history... Only our people, which has lost so much else, has lost or is losing its respect for the Greek mind and achievements.» Part of their brilliance the Greeks owed to «the incomparable Aristotle», in whose philosophy «the mind could know itself, know that it knew external, objective reality, and know *how* it knew that reality- an achievement of enormous magnitude for one man so early in the history of thought.»

But the focal point of the volume is of course Christ. There is no entry for «Jesus» in the index. However, the reader will find two pages of references on JESUS CHRIST, OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, the only capitalized entry. In the three chapters and more than one hundred pages that are devoted to Him, Carroll throws away all the skepticism of «our present age of secularism and apostasy» to present a fully orthodox image of Christ as the Incarnation of God, born of a consecrated virgin, miracle-maker and the Redeemer of mankind. Though fully knoweldgeable about modern controversies, Carroll makes a very strong case for a return to admirable scholars of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, showing how many sound and unrefuted arguments have simply been forgotten «in our change-obsessed age.»

From then on, the book becomes a chronicle of Christianity's spread through the Roman Empire, with a history of the Popes and martyrs up to the reign of Constantine, whom Carroll rescues from much inimical scholarship and presents as a genuine convert to Catholic Christianity and the Founder of Christendom proper.

*The Founding of Christendom* is an extremely well-researched and well-argued work, at once scholarly and exciting, and never afraid to swim against the tide. Particularly praiseworthy is its wonderful, twenty-two page annotated bibliography, a true gateway to the best scholarship on the period (the origins to 324 A.D.), stating the religious orientation of most volumes and Carroll's estimate of their scholarly worth.

Brilliant Historical Context
First of all, it is worth note that Carroll admits his bias right from the beginning, and thus honestly admits to what would have been obvious from the first few pages of his work. Among the "objective historians", the lack of bias is paramount, and is established by attacking, diminishing, and demeaning whatever subject they approach. Carroll, by way of contrast, admits a pre-existing bias, and is thus free to explore, explain, and defend his subject matter.

The Founding of Christendom accomplishes three great ends. First, it provides a succinct and riveting chronological study of the "History of the World." I admit I was quite shocked to discover that Carroll picks up his work not from AD0, but from the moment of Creation itself. Audacious! And yet his historical approach provides a new view of Genesis.

Secondly, Carroll's portrait of the evolution of Judaism, through the birth of Christ gives a compelling view of the necessity of the Old Testament as a precondition to the New.

Finally, the extent to which "Foundation" establishes chronological context is particularly impressive. Without so much as a "Meanwhile, in Greece..." Carroll manages to firmly establish the temporal relationship of Biblical events within the broader context of world history. It is one thing to look at a wall chart displaying events in different civilizations at different times, and quite another to understand the relationship between Philistine domination of the Israelites and the Homeric legends of ancient Greece. Certainly other works have hinted at the similarities between the Phillistines, Goliath and the Grecian demi-gods, but Carroll's was the first work that made it click so clearly.

Finally, this is the best of the four comparably excellent volumes for one primary reason: this volume has the least number of references to "August, the ancient dying time of Rome," the phrase of resort that may be Carroll's one true weakness.

History the way it should be written.
Warren Carroll is a master at his craft. He writes history the way it should be written. His histories are true-to-life: full of heroes and villains engaged in the great struggle of good against evil. You'll find no economic or material determinism here. Carroll states at the outset that he is presenting an unabashedly Catholic history of Christendom. But, rest assured, these histories are no whitewash. The Catholic Church is presented with all its warts along with all of its glories. I have just finished the fist two volumes of this series and look forward to starting the third (and buying the yet-to-be-published volumes). The only way these volumes could have been improved would have been with the addition of maps helping to set the stage where the history is played out. Some of the ancient place names are obscure and many modern place names do not correspond exactly with similar ancient ones.