Publisher's Synopsis
127 short chapters the story of one of the world’s largest religions.
A History of the Catholic Church tells in 127 short chapters the story of one of the world’s largest religions from its roots in Jewish history to the pontificate of Benedict XVI. In a taut narrative, it describes how the small community of those who believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God grew into a powerful institution whose patriarch, the pope, claimed both secular and spiritual jurisdiction over all the nations of Christendom.
There are chapters on the major challenges it faced such as the rise of Islam, the schism with the Orthodox Church, the Protestant Reformation, French Revolution, Bolshevism, Nazism and secularism. There are also short chapters on Catholic art, architecture, philosophy and literature.
It is not an academic treatise but a selection of episodes chosen to entertain as well as inform the reader.
