The Catholic Church: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles) - Hardcover

Kung, H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679640924 ISBN 13: 9780679640929

Publisher: Random House USA Inc, 2001

Synopsis

Presents the history of the Roman Catholic Church from its origins to the present, discussing the role of the Pope, the schisms that split the Church, and its role in the twenty-first century.

About this title

Review

Hans Küng is well known as the scholarly enfant terrible of the Catholic Church. This "turbulent priest" was active in the Second Vatican Council and made his name questioning traditional church doctrines as papal infallibility. In 1979, amidst a great furore, the Vatican censured his writings as being inconsistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church.

It's not surprising then, that Küng's latest book is not so much a 'short history' of the Catholic Church as a justification of his disagreements with its hierarchy, projected back through time. In eight major sections Küng chronicles the early days of Christianity, then takes us through the church's relationship with the Roman Empire, charting the rise of the papacy, the full flowering of its power in the Middle Ages and its eventual corruption. He then goes on to outline the papacy's decline in the face of the Reformation and modernism, and finishes with an extended criticism of the modern papacy. Küng outlines the key events in the European history of the Catholic Church, but he never mentions the Church outside Europe. In addition, the whole history is angled to support his anti-papal, de-centralist agenda.

While one may lament such a subjective and narrow approach, Küng should be praised for his desire that the Catholic Church adapt to modern needs, and for his call that she be faithful to the essential principles of the Christian faith. Standing on its own The Catholic Church is a highly subjective and incomplete offering, but read with other excellent histories of the papacy and Christianity, such as Eamonn Duffy's Saints and Sinners, Chidester's Christianity, and Bokenkotter's Concise History of the Catholic Church it provides an interesting counterpoint. --Dwight Longenecker

Review

"This much-needed book tells the truth about the Catholic past for the sake of the church's future." --James Carroll

"Hans Küng has done more to shape contemporary Catholic hope than anyone else, and with The Catholic Church he does it again." --James Carroll, author of Constantine's Sword

"One of the greatest theologians of the twentieth century, Hans Küng . . . is one of the world's great mavericks. . . . Indeed, he was once called 'the greatest threat to the Catholic Church since Martin Luther.'" --The Independent (London)

"A well-told, sweeping, and often incisive portrait." --Kirkus Reviews

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0679640924
• ISBN 13: 9780679640929
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 221